As many people are getting back into the swing of work and school following the holiday season, Ottawa’s Chinese community is gearing up for its own holiday celebration.
Chinese New Year is Jan. 23 this year, kicking off nearly a month of celebrations in Ottawa’s Chinese community.
This year marks the Year of the Dragon, which is considered the best of the zodiac signs and is said to bring prosperity.
Members of the Chinese community say it is considered a lucky year to have a baby.
“I think there will be a rush of babies coming this year,” says Tony Fan, of the Success Ottawa Lion Dance Troupe.
For more than 15 years, Fan has paraded through the streets and businesses of Chinatown.
He performs the traditional lion dance born out of an ancient Chinese story where villagers all gathered on the streets to chase away a lion terrorizing their village.
The dance is supposed bring prosperity and ward off evil spirits.
One of the biggest annual celebrations in Ottawa will take place on Jan. 28 when Fan along with the rest of his dance troupe, will dance down Somerset from Preston to Bay streets between 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Fan is expecting a bigger crowd than usual for this special year.
“It is the best in terms of the twelve zodiac signs because the dragon represents the empress,” says Fan.
“People who are born in the year of the dragon are supposed to have the best life, the best of everything.”
Fan compares the celebration of Chinese New Year to Christmas, where everyone takes a week off to spend time with friends and family.
The celebrations, however, carry on into the middle of February with several events organized by the Chinese Community Association of Ottawa.
It has organized three events this year, the first one being a banquet at the Ottawa Convention Centre on Jan. 30.
The association will also host two other events on Feb. 5 and 12.
The first runs from 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Mother Teresa Catholic High School, where there will be traditional Chinese music, martial arts, a lion and dragon dance, children’s games, a fashion show, and food.
There will also be booths set up for local businesses.
The event on Feb. 12 will be at the Rideau-Carleton Raceway and it will have similar activities.
Jin Sheng Xue, a member of the Chinese Community Association of Ottawa, says that it usually only has one of these types of events but, because it is a special year, it decided to add another.
“Every year, we have a Chinese New Year celebration but we don’t always have time for a dinner,” says Jin. “This year, the local community can sit down and celebrate the New Year together.”
Hang Hu, owner of the Art Flow Gallery on Somerset Street, is organizing the artistic performances for these events.
Hu has been involved in organizing Chinese New Year celebrations for a decade.
The dragon, of course, will be the theme for this year’s events, which includes mostly traditional Chinese singing and dancing as well as paintings from Hu's gallery.