Hundreds of people lined the streets of Chester town centre in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The city marked the traditional annual festival on Sunday, with a series of colourful events including a parade and live performances.
The Chinese New Year fell on 22 January 2023, with the celebrations commencing at 11 am on Eastgate Street. The performances included Tai Chi and skilled weapon demonstrations by professional artists from Ji Siu Tai Chi Chuan Chester.
“It takes a long time to organise an event such as this. We’d been training for a year, but you could see everyone was happy and having fun. Often families travel from all over to see the event,” said a dragon dancer, part of Ji Siu Tai Chi Chuan Chester.
The procession gradually made its way up through Northgate Street and into the new Chester Market Square, where the dragons performed more dances and demonstrations. Outside the market, Julie, a 36 -year-old mother of two explained her experience.
“I bring my children to watch the event every year. Just the colours, the costumes, It’s all so lovely to see. I never got to see parades like this when I was younger, it’s important to let children embrace different cultures,” she said.
What is Chinese New Year?
The festival is centred around ushering out the old year and is meant to bring luck and prosperity in the forthcoming year. Defined by the lunar calendar, new year’s day changes date every year. This year we celebrate the year of the Rabbit replacing the Tiger in 2022.
Lunar Calendars are created upon the earth’s passage around the sun with an estimated 2 billion people celebrating the event worldwide. The lunar new year typically occurs across 16 days. There are often family banquets, and outdoor spectacles involving fireworks and dancing dragons.
What does the year of the Rabbit represent?
There are 12 Chinese zodiac signs that make up the lunar calendar including tiger, dragon, snake, horse, and more. The Rabbit symbolises longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture. It’s predicted that 2023 will be a year of hope and is expected to be less tumultuous than the previous year of the Tiger.
The final stop for the parade was inside Storyhouse where Cllr John Leather, The Lord Mayor, gave a speech recognising the hard work and effort of all involved and emphasised the importance of being a multicultural city.
As the celebrations continued into the afternoon, tutors and volunteers from Wah Lei Saturday Mandarin school based at the University of Chester delivered educational workshops in The Kitchen, Storyhouse.
“We hosted a cultural activities afternoon including paper cutting, calligraphy and face painting,” said Lydia Bishop, volunteer at Wah Lei Association.
She continued: “The characters that the children are making represent the spring season, as Lunar New Year is a spring holiday. At times like this, we cherish the opportunity to introduce our culture to the wider community here in Chester.”
As one of the world’s most celebrated festivals, Mainland China will enjoy the Chinese New Year free from Covid-19 travel restrictions this year. Millions of people are expected to visit their families across the country as this is the first-time restrictions have been lifted over the holidays.
“The celebrations aren’t all that different in China, in fact, it’s very similar to Christmas Day here in the UK. A big family and friends’ reunion with food and music to celebrate,” explained Kylie, a mandarin tutor at Wah Lei Association.
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