They pigged out!
Brooklynites got an early start on their Lunar New Year celebrations on Saturday during a festive event hosted by bigwigs at a Sunset Park shopping center. The bash entertained attendees of all ages by showcasing classic customs used to ring in the Chinese New Year, which officially began on Feb. 5, according to a spectator.
“My son is really into Chinese drums, so we wanted to show him a good performance,” Bay Ridgite Tom Liddy said of his 2-year-old son Tommy.
The first day of the Lunar New Year traditionally kicks off a 15-day festival featuring feasts, firecrackers, and family time following the first new moon of the year. And each year in Chinese culture honors a different animal in the Zodiac calendar, with Tuesday beginning of the Year of the Pig, an animal that represents wealth and treasure in the Chinese tradition.
The pre-new year festivities at Beyond at Liberty View Industrial Plaza included a cooking demonstration by James Beard award-winning author Grace Young, who showed locals how to prepare her stir-fry noodles with chicken and ginger mushrooms, as well as musical and dance performances.
Members of the local Wan Chi Ming Dragon Dance Team led a parade featuring marchers in colorful dragon costumes through the Third Avenue shopping center between 30th and 31st streets. And a lion dance, which tradition claims brings good fortune and wards off evil, capped off the day’s events.
