Chinese New Year Celebrations Here and Beyond

You Say Sheep, I Say Goat: In between snowstorms, Greenacres School held its ninth annual Lunar New Year Celebration, which includes the traditions of China, Korea and other Asian countries that follow the lunar calendar. On Tuesday 2/10, Ms. Cooper's fourth grade class led the lion parade throughout the school—with its own Southern Chinese lion head and accompaniment of Chinese drums, gongs and cymbals.

Each year, many Greenacres parents collaborate to purchase New Year decorations to embellish the lunchroom, entrances and bulletin boards in the school; to make cultural presentations in their children's classrooms and to organize a Chinese New Year lion parade. Red envelopes, clementines and other goodies that symbolize prosperity for the coming year are distributed to the children.

Preparations for the Lunar New Year are underway all over the world. According to the lunar calendar, the first day of the New Year is Thursday, 2/19/15. This begins the Year of the Goat (or Sheep). Lasting for 15 days until March 5th, the Lunar New Year is celebrated by more than 11 countries in Asia—from Beijing to Manila, from Bangkok to Sydney. People born in a year of the goat are very serene and calm. Therefore they tend to have fewer health problems.

You can celebrate here in town at the Chinese Lunar Year celebration at Scarsdale Public Library on Saturday, February 28, between 2 and 5 p.m. Families can enjoy performances, arts/crafts, games and food. The program will feature traditional dancing by adult and youth groups, fashion shows for adults and children of traditional costumes, music and, of course, Chinese food. There will be crafts and games for children of various age groups, including coloring, games run by high school students taking Chinese language classes, goat crafts made from paper, and creating the traditional Chinese knots.

The event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Scarsdale Chinese Association.

An estimated 1.4 billion Chinese people worldwide, or 20% of its population, are preparing to celebrate. Marked by festivities ranging from firework festivals to underwater dragon dances, the New Year is rung in with a big bang!

Are you up for an adventure next weekend? Take in an authentic Chinese New Year lion parade. Lion and dragon parades will circle the streets of Chinatown on Sunday, February 22nd, starting at 1:00 PM. Here are links for the parade route and photos from last year's festivities: