Chinese New Year In Melbourne
Celebrate the Year Of The Pig. Experience Chinese New Year in Australia at Melbourne's Chinatown Festivities in February 2007
Chinese New Year is celebrated in Melbourne with a two day festival complete with lion dancing, fireworks, entertainment, activities, street stalls and excellent food.
Chinese New Year is celebrated in Melbourne every year and has become a renowned and well loved festival with cultural activities, Chinese opera and singing, fireworks, lion dances, karaoke, children’s activities, competitions, dragon parades, arts and crafts, stalls selling delicacies, Chinese calligraphy and so much more. Melbourne has a large Chinese population who throw themselves into this annual celebration. Herald in the Year Of The Pig at the FCA Chinese New Year Festival from 17 to 18 February 2007.
New Years Eve - Saturday 17th February
Festivities begin on New Years Eve, Saturday the 17th at 11.00am and for enthusiastic revellers the celebrations continue most of the night, concluding at 12.30am. The street festival is full of colour, celebration, noise, activity and exuberance. Red and gold adorn shop frons and the scents of Chinese delicacies waft from stalls and restaurants and the sound of beating drums and firecrackers part the celebrating crowd as lion dances pass up the street. The atmosphere is charged with excitement and anticipation as adults and children alike join in the festivities.
Performances
Stages are set up for performers from local community performers to international guests. Crowds gather quickly at the stages for the more popular events and being early is advisable.
Buddhist Ceremony
A temporary Buddhist temple is erected on the street and a blessing ceremony commences at around 10.30pm.
Karaoke Competition
At 8.30pm a karaoke competition begins on the main stage, from the sublime to the ear rending, participants sing their hearts out. Sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, sometimes a cacophony, but always entertaining, it is worth a few minutes to listen to the competing singers.
Midnight
At midnight a magnificent display fireworks and the banging of firecrackers accompanies the final and most spectacular lion parade.
New Years Day – Sunday 18th February
Celebrations continue on new Years Day with more activities, performances and guests. The highlight of the day is the awakening of the Millennium Dragon and its parade through Chinatown. To bring good luck and good fortune to yourself and your family try to touch the dragon as it passes. The streets are once again filled with stalls and lion dances, cracking fireworks and excellent food. The celebrations continue until 6.00pm when exhausted revellers head for home and sleep.
Date:
17 – 18 February 2007
Time:
11.00am – 12.30am on Saturday 17th
10.00am - 6.00pm on Sunday 18th
Where:
Chinatown, Little Bourke St, Melbourne
For further information:
Phone 03 9650 6468 or Fax 03 9650 6313 or e-mail
