Happy Year of the Sheep!

This past Wednesday I went to a Chinese New Year’s event. Technically I think it was Chinese New Year’s Eve.  The event was not a big deal in itself, but since I was already headed into town that night, I decided to go a bit early and check out the Well Wishing Ribbon Ceremony:

To ring in the Year of the Sheep the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival invites you to join us on the Millennium Bridge on Wednesday 18th of February at 5.30pm to tie ribbons and hang your special wishing cards with your hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Enjoy Dragon dancing and further entertainment on the bridge. All are welcome on this unique special gathering amongst friends and family on Chinese New Year’s Day!

The Millennium Bridge sounds like a big deal, but it’s really just a plain old bridge that is not very big.  It was pretty crowded with everyone there for the event and all the regular folks who were just trying to get across the river.  Somehow that worked in its favor though, making it all seem more exciting and well attended.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I just headed to the bridge and thought I would know it when I saw it.  I got to the bridge and heard some music, so I tried to walk toward the sound.  I had trouble getting through the crowd, and didn't realize that the music was moving, and it was moving towards me!  After a bit of trying to fight my way through, someone wearing an event vest ushered us all to the side, and right after him came the folks playing the cymbals and a dragon!  He was inches from me, it was kind of cool :)  The dragon dancers did a great job of dancing around while simultaneously blinking the eyes, flapping the mouth, and twitching the ears.

"Help," the dragon says, "I can't get through!"

Peek-a-boo!

After he passed I was able to find someone with the wish cards, thought of some good wishes for the new year, and tied it on along with the others.

I heard the volunteers talking about candles floating down the river, so I hung out for a bit to see what that would be like.  It was a pretty nice day, but the wind over the bridge was so cold!  They started dropping the candles, which were in a lotus flower shaped holder, into the water before it was dark, but I was glad because I didn't want to hang out in that cold any longer and I had a Girls Night Out wine tasting to get to.  He only dropped them one at a time, so it was not a glorious light show or anything, but I was still glad to be there for it.

It was interesting to see how Dublin handles these festivities.  We all tied our ribbons onto a length of fishing line that was strung right under the railing, for easy cleanup.  They also had two kayakers waiting about 20 yards down from the bridge to scoop up all of the candles, presumably to prevent litter.

It was a small event, but I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to lots more events as the weather gets warmer!