I was walking along Parnell Street yesterday afternoon when I ended up in the middle of a ceremony for the Chinese New Year. There were around thirty people out on the street in traditional costumes and dress, holding banners, flags and banging drums and cymbals. In the midst, a dragon danced to the beat and the procession moved from door to door of each Chinese premises along the road, stopping at each entrance to perform the ritual. The same set of red and gold banners were moved along, hung from each doorway as the party moved from door to door. First the dragon would enter the premises and dance around inside. It would rub and dance against the door on its way in and out, as if marking the door with luck or blessing for the proprietors and customers. From the top of each entrance hung a cabbage on a piece of string; after coming back onto the street the dragon continued to dance before turning back and reaching up to take the food in its mouth. Now the rhythm really intensified, a tumultuous, rumbling din of drums and cymbals as the dragon crouched down to eat the food and then leapt up, throwing it out of its mouth in all directions. People were clapping and smiling, and the party then moved behind the dragon as he danced to the next doorway, where the banners had already been hung and the ritual would be repeated. It was spectacular.
2009 is the 4707th Chinese year, the calendar dating back to the crowning of the Yellow King in 2697BC. 'New year's day' changes each year: the Chinese calendar is based on cycles of the moon rather than set dates, so new year is celebrated on the first day of the first Chinese lunar month (the next cycle sees 2010's new year fall on 14th Feb). 'New moon time', the equivalent of midnight of New's Years Eve, fell at 15:55 in China this Monday, 07:55 in Ireland.
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