Happy New Year from everyone here at the Tralee Chamber Alliance. 2022 was a roller coaster ride. Lifted restrictions saw a return to live events and we kicked off with a fantastic St Patrick’s Day Parade followed by a spectacular homecoming for Sam Maguire.
We were thrilled to welcome back the International Rose of Tralee Festival and Christmas took on an extra special glow up in the Island of Geese with the new Christmas Market whipping up enough festive cheer to melt even the North Pole. A sensational fireworks display on New Year’s Eve provided the perfect ending to 2022 but there’s one more celebration to come. The Chinese New Year is just around the corner.
Anjie Baily, who co-ordinated Tralee’s inaugural Chinese New Year Festival in 2020 is looking forward to pulling out all the stops again this year.
“We are expecting a wonderfully colourful mix of culture and tradition and food, dance and music.”
Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar, often referred to as the Spring Festival in mainland China. This event will see a series of immersive and exciting activities, including a display of cheongsam (traditional Chinese dress) by some student nurses from MTU, Lions and Dragon Dances in the town centre, a 1000 Lights Ceremony and a Taste of Asia food market, including a demonstration in dumpling-making.
“Dumplings were served at Chinese New Year as a celebration food because they contained a meat filling which was a real treat as meat was scarce. They were shaped into little balls to represent nuggets of gold, something to bring good fortune and luck.” Anjie tells me.
The celebrations will commence in Tralee town centre on Saturday January 28 from 1pm to 5pm, so if you ever wanted to know more about acupuncture, traditional Chinese herbal medicine or what your animal sign is in the Chinese horoscope, now’s your chance.
By Georgie Downes