From North America to Europe and Asia, the Lunar New Year kicked off the Year of the Dragon with frenetic festivities.
Chinese New Year 2024 fell on February 10.
The date changes every year but occurs each year between January 21 and February 20.
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon.
For the Chinese, the dragon signifies dignity, prestige and good omen.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism has unveiled a mascot nicknamed
"Jixiang Long"
, literally the lucky dragon, displaying a welcoming gesture and a
"smiley"
face, auspicious clouds for ears as a good luck charm. and a nose shaped like a gold bar.
"The divine animal is an inseparable element of Chinese civilization and an important spiritual symbol for Chinese people, embodying our hope and pursuit of peace, joy and good fortune
," said Lin Cunzhen, professor and vice-president. dean of the design school at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, chief designer of the mascot.
Lion dance performance in Rabat, capital of Morocco, on January 22.
HUO JING / XINHUA
The United Nations has included the Lunar New Year as a floating UN holiday in its calendar of conferences and meetings for 2024.
Many countries recognize the Spring Festival as a national event and about a fifth of humanity celebrates it in different ways, said Dai Bing, deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations.
On the East Coast of the United States, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra have scheduled a series of Lunar New Year concerts.
In 2012, the New York Philharmonic gave the first concert of this type in the region.
Since then, he has collaborated with Chinese artists to celebrate the Lunar New Year for twelve consecutive years.
For the fifth year in a row, New York's Lincoln Center performed
The Sound of Spring
, a Lunar New Year concert, on February 11.
This year, it welcomed musicians from China with traditional Chinese instruments, including the
erhu
(small two-stringed violin) and the
suona
(double-reed wind instrument).
The concert attracts nearly a thousand people each year.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have scheduled family days allowing local people to discover Chinese cultural heritage.
National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, including the Brooklyn Nets, have hosted or will host Lunar New Year-themed events.
2024 marks the twelfth consecutive year that the Nets have celebrated it with a China-themed night, which is the largest and most established in the entire NBA league, says Catherine Carson, executive vice president of international partnerships within BSE Global, the parent company of the Barclays Center and the Nets, among others.
The Nets commemorated the Chinese New Year on January 26 when they hosted the Detroit Pistons at their home arena at the Barclays Center.
For various celebrations, California offers more than 40 opportunities to participate in events in person or virtually.
The United Nations Postal Service officially issued special stamps celebrating the Year of the Dragon on January 19.
WANG FAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE
In San Francisco, which has the largest Chinatown in the United States, the Lunar New Year has been celebrated since 1860. The New Year's Parade is one of the few remaining illuminated nighttime parades in North America, and the largest New Year's parade outside of Asia.
In London, the London Eye Ferris wheel shimmered in red and gold, two colors that symbolize joy and prosperity in Chinese culture, during the countdown to the Chinese New Year on February 9 (taking into account the time difference 12 hours).
Before the colorful transformation of the wheel, the whole of the United Kingdom was ready for the Chinese meeting.
On February 1, the London Science Museum kicked off with an exhibition of time-sounding clocks collected by Chinese emperors in the 1700s, showcasing more than three centuries of exchanges between China and the United Kingdom.
More than twenty magnificent clocks borrowed from the Palace Museum in Beijing were shown for the first time in the United Kingdom.
These timepieces reveal the history of early trade between the two countries, as many were made by British craftsmen, designed for the Chinese market and exported to the southern coast of China to be exchanged for silk, tea and porcelain.
The exchange of goods led to the exchange of skills, as evidenced by some of the exhibits whose manufacture used Chinese and European technologies.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend the February 11 carnival organized by the London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA) featuring a colorful parade, stage shows and food stalls all around Trafalgar Square.
Dragon dance performance during a Spring Festival event in Santiago, Chile, January 13.
XINHUA
Far north, in Scotland, Edinburgh has enjoyed a festive atmosphere since February 3 with a succession of activities, including presentations of
hanfu
(a style of traditional Chinese clothing), Chinese calligraphy workshops and exchange games. red envelopes containing money, among other distractions.
Thailand and other Asian countries shine with the lights of the Spring Festival.
Large Chinese New Year celebrations are held in provinces and cities across the country, as well as a series of cultural festivals featuring performances and illuminations in honor of the Year of the Dragon.
In Singapore, New Year celebrations include displays of Chinese cultures called River Hongbao (the latter meaning a monetary gift bringing good luck to children and single adults) at Gardens by the Bay, the New Year festival of Chinatown and the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay.