Happy (Lunar) New Year
Growing up in Denver I never understood the fuss over the Chinese – or lunar – New Year. In the middle of the country, where many residents of Asian and Pacific Island descent are several generations assimilated into American culture (myself included), there simply isn’t a strong cultural center. Denver’s Chinatown – or Hop Town, as it was called – was razed in 1940 and replaced by what’s now known as Lower Downtown and the Ballpark District.
It’s different in New York, where the largest Chinatown in the United States is alive and well.
I was happy to venture out to the Firecracker Ceremony and the start of Chinese New Year on Feb. 14. While much of the city was wrapped up in Valentine’s Day nonsense, the crowds in Chinatown were decidedly more interested in partying. Fireworks and dragons, families and photographers. Everywhere we turned there was something going on. It was something unique from the rest of my collected experiences.
For New York, apparently, Feb. 14 was only the beginning of the Lunar New Year celebrations. According to Gothamist, walking tours of Chinatown will be available Feb. 20, followed by a larger parade Feb. 21.
Here’s some video of what I saw (shot with the Sanyo Xacti CG10 pocket camcorder I unboxed here):
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Tags: camcorder, chinatown, chinese new year, dragon, lunar new year, new york city, nyc, sanyo, tiger, unboxing, valentine's day, video, xacti
