According to my trusty international holiday calendar, complete with lunar cycles, this Sunday is the first new moon and therefore the start of the Chinese New Year! 2006 is the Year of the Dog, and the celebration usually lasts for fifteen days.
The annual Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown is next Sunday, February 5. Festivities are always a blast (fireworks at 3:30pm), with the lion and dragon dances a standout. The parade is a true delight, running from 2-5pm on H Street NW between 6th and 8th.
But if you’d like to kick-off the celebration this weekend, you can hit the Freer Gallery for a tour of the Arts of China. Meet at the information desk at 1:15pm this Sunday. Both the Freer and the Sackler make up the Asian Arts branch of the Smithsonian and always have fascinating exhibitions. Currently the Sackler is hosting an installation by Chinese-American artist Mei-ling Hom, “Floating Mountains, Singing Clouds,” while the Freer has “100 Years of Tea,” a showing of ceramics related to the tea ceremony.
And there’s always your own private tea ceremony at Georgetown’s Ching Ching Cha, the loveliest oasis in the city.
End the celebrations with the Chinese New Year Gala, held at the National Theater with a revue called “Myths and Legends,” which from the pictures alone looks to be worth a trip. It’s on February 16 and 17 at 8pm.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.
