Dublin's Chinese New Year Festival

• By: Editor
• On: 10/Nov/08
• In: Dublin Travel Tips

The Chinese New Year 2009 will be the Year of the Ox (or the Year of the Brown Cow as it's also known) and marks the 4707th Chinese calendar year.

There are a total of twelve animals that rotate as follows:

2009 Year of the Ox, 2010 year of the Tiger, 2011 year of the Rabbit, 2012 year of the Dragon, 2013 year of the Snake, 2014 year of the Horse, 2015 year of the Ram/Sheep, 2016 year of the Monkey, 2017 year of the Rooster, 2018 year of the Dog, 2019 year of the Boar and 2020 year and so the same animals are used again starting with 2021 year of the Ox and so on…

Each year the festival in Dublin continues to grow and gain more exposure. The Chinese New Year is a symbol of the Spring’s coming  - sometimes the Chinese refer to it as ‘The Spring Festival’. The Chinese calendar is calculated by the solar and lunar calendar and precise measurements of the sun's longitude that gives the Chinese New Year date. 

The Chinese New Year represents a new beginning and leaves the past behind.  Many Chinese people clean their houses, pay off any outstanding bills and make a fresh start in honour of a new year. And of course they celebrate it in style all over the world with many festivals and parades and various other festivities

Now back to Dublin. The Chinese New Year Festival showcases an amazing colourful and entertaining parade with eye-catching floats of all shapes and sizes, drummers, fire crackers, people dressed in costumes, Chinese arches, lanterns, lights and much more, and not forgetting the highlight of the parade…the dragon. 

The dragon is usually made of fine and bright coloured silk and bamboo shoot, stretching one hundred feet in length in the parade, young Chinese men that dance their way through the bustling parade normally carry the Dragon swirling him in all directions to give the effect he too is dancing. 

The Chinese New Years Eve parade will take place on Sunday the 25th of January.

The Chinese community have long been in Ireland and their first restaurants in Ireland date back as far as the 1950’s, today the Chinese community have grown considerably in Ireland and have fine Chinese restaurants dotted in every city, town and village in the county. 

A visit to the food market is a must when you visit the New Years festivities and sample the wonderful delights on offer. Why not visit the many mouth watering cooking demonstrations that take place and treat yourself to some take away. 

From the colour and electric atmosphere of the parades, to tempting Chinese food, traditional and modern Chinese music, dance, art, film, martial arts, and more, you name it the Chinese New Year festival in Dublin has it!

The festival in Dublin is very welcoming and introduces its traditions and culture to the Irish and other nationalities.

All events are in planning stage and are subject to change so check www.dublin.ie/cny for updates and a press release on Dublin City Councils website.

Looking for accommodation in Dublin or why not check out Dublin hotels and book securely online today. 

We'd love to hear from you if you have anything you'd like to add.