COREY LOWENSTEIN - clowenst@newsobserver.com
Patrick Chang, carries the head of the dragon as he performs with nine other members of the Triangle Area Chinese American Society (TACAS) Arts Center youth group during the Dragon Dance.
RALEIGH -- Dragons came to town in their many forms Saturday, each one signaling the celebration of a new year of strength and good luck.
They filled the Expo Center at the State Fairgrounds on backgrounds of red, displayed on banners, doors, T-shirts, and paintings throughout a crowd of thousands at the Triangle Area Chinese American Society’s annual Chinese New Year Festival.
One danced on stage, its bright and bobbled yellow-orange spine rippling from the movement of eight puppeteers below, marking China’s most important holiday.
“Chinese believe we are the descendants of the dragon, which symbolizes prosperity, power and peace,” said Anne Chang, of Raleigh, who has been involved in the society since it began in 1983.
What began as a small celebration at a local church has ballooned over the last decade. It’s now in its eighth year at the Expo Center, which was packed with visitors Saturday. The society expected 5,000 people to attend, according to its website.
Festivities included dozens of vendors with traditional Chinese food, dances, opera singing, instrumental performances, Tae Kwon Do exercises, paper folding lessons, and Chinese calligraphy and painting demonstrations. In China, festivities last for 15 days, but the Triangle-wide version lasts for one day. The beginning of the new year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar; this year’s new year actually began on Monday.
Part of the reason for the event’s expansion is the growth of the Chinese community in the Triangle, Chang said, which has grown by the thousands since she moved to the area in 1968.
Volunteers spent days preparing food for the event, said Houmin Chang, a volunteer.
In China, fish is always a must in New Year’s meals because it is a symbol of prosperity, he said. Saturday’s offerings included New Year’s cake and more common Chinese dishes like noodles and sweet-and-sour chicken.
Food is a central part of the New Year’s celebration and is akin to the kind of feasts Americans enjoy on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Houmin Chang said. Families come home and reunite for the holiday, celebrating new beginnings with a meal.
“Chinese just like to eat, especially at the New Year,” he said.
Calligrapher and artist Ellen Ko dipped her brush, made with a bamboo top, into black then green, swiping both colors in thin and thick lines, bringing bamboo to a blank card.
“Bamboo means strength,” she said. “(It’s) hollow on the inside. ... Sometimes you need to be more rigid and sturdy and others more flexible.”
She painted bamboo, plum blossoms and birds for onlookers, explaining how each represents virtues in Chinese culture.
“I enjoy meeting people and reaching out to people,” said Ko, who was trained in Chinese brush painting as a child.
Heather van Cleeff and her 4-year-old daughter, Lucie, were among dozens of families that took part in the festival through the society’s Families with Chinese Children program. Van Cleeff adopted her daughter from China four years ago and recently joined the group, which reaches out to American parents who have adopted children from China.
Lucie and her fellow dancers donned traditional silk mandarin outfits Saturday, their hair in two side buns bordered with tiny flowers for the New Year’s Greeting scarf dance. Lucie wanted to learn the dance after seeing it at the festival last year, van Cleeff said.
The experience has enabled the family to learn more about Chinese culture and has cultivated self-confidence and friendships, she said.
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