photos by Gabi Porter

Lion dances, firecrackers, and garlands of red lanterns Monday couldn't dispel the economic worries facing New York's Chinese community this Lunar New Year. The city's estimated 302,000-strong ethnic Chinese community ignored sub-freezing temperatures for a noisy and colorful display marking the start of the Year of the Ox. At the Sarah D. Roosevelt park in Manhattan's Chinatown children shrieked with delight -- and mothers rushed to cover infants' ears -- at the storm of firecrackers meant to drive off bad spirits. Immigrant Marian Cheng took her children Benjamin, 10, and Alysa, eight, out of school for the day to make sure they could enjoy their Chinese heritage.

"Red, that's the color of luck," she said, pointing to the lanterns, streams of bangers and the Chinese communist flag floating along the Stars and Stripes.

Cheng said there'd be nothing easy about this year, though.

"The ox is humble and strong and patient. But the ox is also about having to work very hard," she laughed. [AFP]

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There will be celebrations across the city and around the world today as people mark the Year of the Ox. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. The holiday, also known as the Chinese New Year, is traditionally a time for gift giving and celebration. Each year is named after one of 12 animals. Festivities in the city include the annual firecracker ceremony and culture festival in Chinatown.

"For Chinatown, the Chinese New Year is always good because it's the start of a new beginning," said Better Chinatown Society President Nathan Conan. "Anything that's bad should be gone and we welcome the new beginning. So it's a good cultural festival to remind the Chinese who they are and where they came from."

"The lion dance basically is when the lion comes in," said Gregory Gong of the New York Freemason Athletic Club. "It's supposed to get rid of all the evil spirits and everything like that and it's supposed to bring good luck and good fortune to whoever it is."

The holiday is celebrated by more than a billion people around the world. [NY1]

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If you're still recovering from December 31, there's no need to worry about having to do it all over again. The Chinese New Year celebration for the Year of the Ox -- which begins on [Monday] January 26, 2009 (year 4707 on the Chinese calendar) -- is more laid-back than the usual Dick Clark spectacle...

New York: January 26, February 1. More than 400,000 fireworks will rain down over Manhattan's Roosevelt Park on January 26, while a parade is slated for February 1. On that day, some 500,000 spectators will watch martial arts performances, traditional dancers from Mexico and Bolivia and live bands playing from decorated floats -- all while a continual burst of confetti poppers fills the streets with brightly colored paper. The January 31 parade in Flushing, Queens, brings together all of that borough's East Asian groups, and Brooklyn's 8th Avenue Chinatown hosts the most homegrown parade in New York, with the whole neighborhood taking to the streets in celebration. [CNN]

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