Barcelona welcomes the Chinese New Year

Barcelona kicked off the Chinese New Year celebrations on Saturday with a parade where elements of the Chinese and Catalan cultures met near the city’s Arc de Triomf monument. Both countries share fireworks and dragons as icons. Thousands of people gathered to follow or to take part in the parade. During the day, a food and culture fair will also take place for public to visit.

The parade included percussion, powder and figures, as well as the traditional Chinese dragons and lions, which should attract luck and move away bad spirits. Children dressed up with traditional dresses also paraded, along with Catalan traditional elements, including giants, devils and blunderbusses.

On Friday the Chinese year 4716 started with the dog taking over the rooster as the protagonist. The rat, the bull, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig are the twelve animals alternating as the symbols of every year. Every year another element is also allocated for this horoscope: fire, water, earth, wood and metal. This is the year of the Earth Dog, the same as 1958.  

60,000 Chinese people in Catalonia

The Chinese is the second foreign community in the country with 60,000 inhabitants –including 20,000 in the capital–. Several Chinese associations in Catalonia take part in the celebrations every year along with Catalan entities. Around 200 individuals also contribute to the organization volunteering in the events.