Sunday, January 22, 2012

It’s the Year of the Dragon!


NEWS

Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley will play host to the 2012 Valley Chinese New Year Festival from January 20 to 22. Presented by Brisbane City Council, the annual street festival of music, dance, song and cuisine is one of the most important celebrations in the Lunar Chinese calendar.


In Asian culture, the Chinese New Year is also known as the Lunar New Year. It is the oldest and most important festivity in the Chinese lunar calendar where people from all over Asia celebrate for new hope, wealth, health and fortune for the coming New Year. Brisbane’s Chinatown Mall will be full of fabulous activities featuring Chinese culture and beliefs throughout three days of street celebration.
There will be a Chinese lion dance, dragon parade complemented with the drum music and firecracker; and also Chinese cuisine, cultural dance and song, Chinese Opera, Kung Fu, competition and many more activities. It provides a real cultural experience and understanding of Asian tradition through the connection with Asian communities.
Every year, the festival attracts approximately 40,000 people to celebrate this street event at Chinatown, Fortitude Valley.
Event times are: Friday 20 January: 6pm - 10pm
Saturday 21 January: 6pm - 10pm
Sunday 22 January 12 noon - 5pm

Info courtesy of visitbrisbane.com.au




Occupying the fifth position in the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolise such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful.

They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled. While Dragons frequently help others, rarely will they ask for help. Others are attracted to Dragons, especially their colourful personalities, but deep down, Dragons prefer to be alone. Perhaps that is because they’re most successful when working alone. Their preference to be alone can come across as arrogance or conceitedness, but these qualities aren’t applicable. Dragons have tempers that can flare fast!

Flames sometimes come out of your nostrils?

You’re a dragon if you were born in 1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 or, of course, 2012. Well, more or less. The Chinese calendar actually runs a little over each following year, so if you want to make absolutely sure there’s a very good reason for that scaly tail you carry everywhere around with you, do some additional research, okay? Famous Dragon People: Calista Flockhart, Colin Farrell, Courtney Cox, Courtney Love, Dinah Shore, Isabella Rossellini, Julia Ormond, Juliette Binoche, Reese Witherspoon, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bullock, and Wynonna Judd