h. nazan ışık—
17 February 2019—
New York City celebrated Chinatown’s annual Chinese New Year Parade on Sunday, 17 February 2019.
Each new year is marked by the characteristics of one of the 12 zodiac animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, as explained on History.com. And, 2019 is the year of the Pig.
The 2019 Chinese New Year Parade started on Mott and Canal Streets at 1:00 pm. I was late. So I decided to go to Eldridge and Forsyth Streets and towards Grand Street, which was the finish point of the parade. I am sure I missed a lot, but I was happy with what I saw: the traditional Chinese dragon dancing, participants in colorful costumes, martial art performers and more…
After the parade ended, I went to Mott Street, which was the beginning of the parade.
The street still was carpeted with colorful confetti…
And, people were still enjoying the event, and opening up more confetti boxes…
“Which one is messy, Chinese New Year or Times Square New Year celebration?” I asked sanitation workers who started cleaning streets.
One answered with a smile, “Times Square it is. This is nothing! We’ll clean this in two-three hours.”
It was a very colorful, and very joyful event.
Photos: © h. nazan ışık / NKENdiKEN
© h. nazan ışık