29 January 2017 at Leeds Town Hall. The event begun at 11 am, there were a wide of performance to celebrate the Lunar New Year such as Lion Dance, Lunar New Year food and crafts, etc.
Lunar New Year is not same as the New Year on the first of January, it is the biggest festival for most Asian. It is commonly called “Lunar New Year” as it is based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. In Hong Kong, people like to visit to their family and friends, the festival usually begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar and ends on the 15th day.
There is a story about the Asian Lunar Zodiac. Long time ago, the Jade Emperor which is the Emperor in Heaven, he ordered that animals would be designated as calendar signs and the twelve that arrived first would be selected. At that time, the cat and the rat were good friends and the cat said to the rat that they should arrive early and sign up but the cat usually woke up late so the rat promised that he would wake the cat up as they are good friend. However, on the morning when the rat got up and he didn’t wake the cat up and went directly to the gathering place. On the way, the rat met the tiger, ox, horse, and other animals that ran much faster. In order not to be slower than the other animals, the rat climbed on the ox’s body and let the ox carried him. At last, the ox and him arrived first. The ox thought he would be the first, however, the rat had already slid in front and became the first. Meanwhile, the cat was too late so when the cat finally arrived, the selection was over so the cat hates the rat so much. That's why many people nowadays said when the cat meet the rat, the cat will chase and kill it. The order of the Zodiac is rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig and the year of the animals that represent 2017 is rooster, that’s why we called it
“Year of the Rooster”.
Actually, the reason that people like to perform lion dance is because they believe that having a lion grace people. Also, presenting it with red packets filled with money means bring people luck for the rest of the year. In Hong Kong, people like to eat tangerines during Lunar New Year because of the sound of the word in Cantonese is similar to the meaning of “luck”. Therefore, people believe that eating tangerines can bring them luck in the year. Hence, tangerine is the most important symbol during the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong.
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