Happy Chinese New Year from NYC! =D

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day! Today was great weather out in New York City and there was tons to see and tons of people! Here are some pictures of today. Unfortunately I would've had more but my Dad accidentally deleted a whole bunch of them =/ .

Morning started out with constant ringing and dialing of the phone to wish everyone a happy new year. We the family shared the first meal of the year which consisted of all vegetarian dishes. Then we all went out to enjoy the festivities! You could hear the unmistakable sounds of the drums and cymbals crashing though the streets and following them you can see the many Lion Dances in Chinatown. The one above is around Bowery Street right outside the Manhattan Bridge and I tell you it was very hard to get good pictures.

It's extremely crowded and the Lion Dancers are constantly moving from store to store and street to street! I had one shot of them tearing apart the cabbage in front of a business to bring them good luck just for you wonder readers but alas my Dad deleted it >=( .

We were in a restaurant for dim sum (though we call it "yum chai" meaning drink tea) and the Lion Dancers came inside and went around the tables bringing luck to the businesses. Also if you offer a red envelope to the "Lion" you can rub it's head or bum for luck! Above is a photo of the table next to us giving a red envelope. Below is my sister rubbing the Lion's Head and getting her good luck for the year.

We also walked down Mott street where hundreds of people gathered and set off these make shift confetti shooters. There would be literally 10 or 20 of them going off at once and filling the whole sky and street with confetti. Also a special thing is in certain shooters were these little red papers with Chinese characters that float down on red parachutes. Everyone would run to get them. Though I'm not sure what they mean my Dad explained in China getting one of those would mean that you would be pregnant with a son. Sons were prized in Chinese culture because they would carry the family name. After my sister heard this, she balked and said "I'm not ready for a kid!"

Don't worry if you missed this weekend's festivities in NYC they will be going on next weekend as technically Chinese New Year festival is about a week or more. So if you have the time stop on by in the early - late afternoon and enjoy the once a year festivities!

For more posts about Chinese New Year and Chinese Culture you can check out my other blog posts HERE.