Chinese Lunar Year 2013 Celebrations in New York: Ready For The Year Of The Snake?

The Year of the Snake is almost here, are you ready? 

Millions of people across the world are gearing up to celebrate the Lunar Chinese New Year, the most important and widely celebrated of traditional Chinese holidays. It's a time of the year when many travel home to be with their families, and honor deities and ancestors through parades, communal eating and reveling and music playing. 

Feb. 10, Chinese communities all over the U.S. will party for the Year of the Snake, a Chinese Zodiac symbol in the sixth position, which stands for traits like gracefulness, intelligence, and materialism, according to International Business Times. "Snakes are said to be analytical and effective at getting what they want, enjoying luxurious things and seeking the peace they need to thrive in the world...2013 is the year of the water snake, which is said to be highly motivated, insightful and influential," noted the Times.

While still an important cultural tradition, according to the Times Ledger, people tend to be less enthusiastic about the Year of the Snake than they are other Zodiac symbols.

"The Year of the Snake, however, is not nearly as popular. In fact, according to Peter Tu, chairman of the Lunar New Year Festival Committee, some people instead refer to it as the Year of the Small Dragon, since associations with the slithering animal are not always positive," the Times Ledger reported.

One of the largest populations of Chinese in America, New York is hosting numerous events to ring in the Chinese Lunar New Year, also often referred to as the "Spring Festival."

Manhattan will draw out the occasion even longer than usual this year, splitting its New Year celebrations over two weekends in February. 

The borough will start the New Year with a bang with the Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival Feb. 10 at 11 a.m. in Roosevelt Park, according to the Times. Featuring an array of traditional dancers - such as lion, unicorn, and dragon dance groups - as well as singers and folk musicians, the fireworks ceremony is meant to scare off evil spirits, and will march through the main streets of Chinatown. 

Manhattan is saving the main event for last, though. The big Chinese Lunar New Year parade will take place Feb. 17. Starting at 1 p.m. and lasting around three hours, dancers, ornamented floats, and marching bands will take over the streets as they celebrate the Year of the Snake from the intersection of Mott and Hester down to East Broadway and then up near the Grand Street subway stop.  

"Ornate, wildly colored dragons gyrate through the streets of Chinatown for the annual lunar New Year Parade-the largest of its kind on the East Coast. More than 5,000 revelers, including magicians, acrobats, traditionally garbed beauty queens, and the famed dragon puppets manned by martial artists dance their way from Mott Street down Grand, Canal, and then East Broadway, spilling over into virtually every side street of New York City's storied Chinatown district ... The route is punctuated with the area's restaurants serving holiday dishes with names that mean "good luck" and "fortune," exudes New York Magazine. 

On the Upper East Side in Manhattan, the China Institute in America is also hosting several of its own Chinese New Year celebrations Feb. 10. Festivities include the very popular Lion Dance (free at 11 a.m.), as well as instructional workshops on dumpling making, calligraphy and couplet making, and paper cutting. 

Outside of Manhattan, Flushing, Queens, home to the city's largest Chinese and East Asian populations, will host its own Lunar New Year parade on Feb. 16 at 11 a.m.  

"Saturday, the eve of the 15-day holiday's start, a Lunar New Year parade will march though Elmhurst," reported the Times Ledger. "The festivities will begin at 11 a.m. at Clement Clarke Moore Homestead Park, at Broadway and 45th Avenue, the same location where the march will kick off at 11:30 a.m. The procession, led by newly elected U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) will then continue west along Broadway to St. James's Episcopal Church, at 84-07 Broadway, where there will be a fair showcasing services offered to the community."