The Year of the Wood Dragon’s Gonna Roar Right in With These Lunar New Year Festivities

The only thing better than popping bottles at the stroke of midnight is celebrating the Lunar New Year. To usher in the auspicious Year of the Wood Dragon, which kicks off on February 10, the China Institute went all out with this year’s celebrations, which will take place on February 4 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Non-stop Lunar New Year activities, delicious Chinese food and we get to be in bed at a reasonable hour? Count us in.

The China Institute in America’s Family Festival will begin with a traditional lion dance to usher in good luck and fortune for the year to come and a Taishun string puppet performance. Other activities throughout the afternoon include rice dough sculpturing workshops, Song dynasty tea whisking and tasting, Nan Song dynasty pottery sculpting, 3D sugar painting, New Year woodblock printing, dumpling making and Taizhou embroidery demonstrations. Master artisans visiting from Zhejiang will lead the workshops for an authentic cultural experience. Purchase tickets here.

For more Lunar New Year celebrations, stop by P.S. 150 at 28-42 Trinity Pl., on Sunday, January 28 for their second annual Downtown Lunar New Year Celebration. The community event will feature raffles and giveaways, traditional dances, Chinese shadow puppetry and Mandarin/English bilingual storytelling, among others. Buy your tickets here.

And mark your calendars for the Seaport’s Lunar New Year event on February 17. Cohosted with the New York Chinese Cultural Center and the South Street Seaport Museum, festivities include traditional lion dances, as well as Chinese crafts and calligraphy workshops you can register for in advance. More details TBD; visit the Seaport’s website for updates.  

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