Lunar New Year Festivities Liven Up Lower Manhattan

Ted Kulczycky pops a confetti canon in Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year on Sunday, February 9. I I Photo credit to Gabriela Kressley

Hundreds gathered to ring in Lunar New Year with the annual parade in Chinatown and the Lower East Side of Manhattan on February 9.

The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. On the traditional Chinese calendar, this New Year fell on January 25, but the celebration in Manhattan took place over a week later.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Rat. In Chinese culture, rats are seen as a sign of wealth and surplus.

Entertainment at the annual parade includes traditional lion dances, floats, and the sound of hundreds of confetti cannons going off. Revelers who sought out the source of the noise were met with thousands of colorful confetti pieces, streamers, and parachutes falling from the sky.

“I caught a parachute, so that means I’m gonna have good luck,” said Amy, a local who lives in Chelsea.

Despite her close proximity to the parade festivities, this was Amy’s first year attending the Chinatown celebration. 

“I used to live in London, and I used to love Chinatown parades and the lion dances,” Amy said. “I’ve lived in New York for nine years and I’m always out of town or I always miss it.” 

Others traveled into the city just for the parade, like Serah-Marie McMahon and Ted Kulczycky who came down from Toronto, Canada.

“We spend a lot of time in Chinatown [in Toronto],” McMahon said. “And Chinatown’s not doing very well because of the coronavirus and people being jerks, so I read that the expectancy for the turnout this year was gonna be really low, and we wanted to support it.” 

Former presidential candidate supporters of Andrew Yang walk in the Lunar New Year parade. I I Photo credit to Gabriela Kressley

The parade had appearances  from New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio and campaigners for former 2020 presidential candidate, Andrew Yang. 

Despite it being an Asian holiday, many other ethnic groups took part in the celebration, including a large group of men playing bagpipes who marched in the parade. 

For more information on Lunar New Year events in New York, visit nycgo.com.