Family Oriented Chinese New Year Activities

The Brooklyn public Central Library, Dweck Center, will be having this year's Chinese New Year Festival on Sunday, February 10th at 1:30 pm. The Festival is open for all ages featuring music and magic. This picture shows one of the acrobats that attended last year's celebration at the library. Kids will delight in the colorful costumes, music and juggling. For more information visit:
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/pdf/events/calendar-print/08-janfeb.pdf

Also in Brooklyn there is a lot going on at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for the Chinese New Year. On Sunday, February 3rd, families can participate in a free indoor event with their paid admission to the BBG. The indoor event runs from 10am to 4:30 pm. There are interactive family workshops you can attend, taste traditional foods and take tours to see the Asian plants at the BBG. Tours run in English and Chinese. The Flower Market is open sunday 10am to 4:30 pm.

Performance schedules for the day are as follows:

12 pm to 1 pm
Red Silk Dancers - Silk and Sword. Watch the dancers perform "Sunflower" using silk flowers, "Red Silk" performance using ribbons and see swords clashing in the "Fire Swords" performance.

1:30 pm to 2:15 pm
Korean Traditional Music and Dance Institute of New York. See the women perform their "Floral Fan Dance". Watch the men perform their fan dance entitled "Hwa Sun Mu" and see other performances including drums and other tradtional instruments.

3 pm to 3:50 pm
Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera. See a combination of acrobat and dance and this popular Chinese ensemble performs

There are also chrildren's workshops throughout the day:

12 pm to 4 pm - Fun with Paper Flowers. Children will recreate a real flower of their choice from the market using paper and can take the craft home.

12 pm to 4 pm - Lucky Citrus. Children will learn how and why oranges, tangerines and other citrus fruits play an important part in the celebration of the Chinese New Year. They will also make their very own citrus fragrant sachet to take home.

12 pm to 4 pm - Pot Up A Lucky Bamboo. The bamboo is a symbol of good fortune for many years in Chinese Tradition. Children can pot their own lucky bamboo stalk to take home.

There are also adult programs throughout the day as well. The cafe is open from 10 am to 4:30 pm. If you are interested, you can purchase and enjoy food from China, Korea and Vietnam from the special Lunar New Year Menu.

For more information on ticket prices for the admission into the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens visit their website at:
http://bbg.org/vis2/2008/lunarnewyear

All around greater New York there will be parades. Visit China Town. Some boroughs will also have firework displays.

M.Soozan.