Want to experience Chinese New Year? The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association’s annual traditional Chinese New Year Celebration and Lion Dance. Starting at approximately 12:00pm, February 21st, this colorful procession will make its way throughout Chinatown for about 1 1/2 hours.
The 2010 Chinese New Year actually is on Sunday February 14th, the local community decided to hold the event the weekend after Valentine’s. This is in keeping with Chinese New Year’s traditions, because Chinese New Year is a holiday that is usually celebrated for 15 days.
Chinese New Year Celebration was brought to North America by the Chinese immigrants in gold rush period, from 1860s. With the desperation of homesick and eager to share their culture, the Chinese gold miner hold parade, which was not normal in native China, to celebrate the Chinese New Year with locals. Nowadays, this traditional celebration has been continued in many cities with significant Chinese population in North America.
In China, Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is an important traditional holiday. There are many kinds of activities and event hold from the first day of the first month in Chinese calendar and ends the 15th. People will pour out their money to buy presents, food, decorations, clothing, and other materials. It is similar as Christmas in Canada. There are many traditional food and decorations that symbolize good luck, happiness, wealth, longevity. Red color has been used in various way, which people believe it’s the best color in celebration.
“New-year visit” is a practice known as visiting kin, relatives, and friends. (In Chinese, we call it 拜年(bainian)). People will wear new clothes to signify a new year, new start. Red packets, the red envelop with luck money, will be given to juniors and children by the elders and marrieds.
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