Chinese New Year festival lights up city in northern Thailand

The Chinese New Year festival is lighting up in one of Northern Thailand’s major cities. Last night, a large crowd gathered in Nakhon Sawan to watch fireworks, dragon, and lion dances, and pole-climbing.

The theme for this year’s Chinese New Year festival in Nakhon Sawan is ‘the dragon flies toward the sky and the flowers bloom.’

The festival along the Chao Phraya riverbank features art and cultural exhibitions, vendors selling local specialities, and other exciting performances and activities.

The celebrations run every night in the city during the Spring Festival, Nation Thailand reported. The night festivities will culminate on the night of January 24 with the Chao Pho-Chao Mae Pak Nam Pho procession, which is expected to draw over 100,000 visitors.

On January 25, there will be a daytime street procession with dancing dragons and lions.

Like many areas of Thailand, Nakhon Sawan has a large Chinese-Thai population eagerly waiting to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Giddy communities across Thailand are gearing up for Chinese New Year, which falls on Sunday, January 22. Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, has been celebrated by the Chinese-Thai community for centuries.

Traditional activities include lion and dragon dances, fireworks, and the giving of red envelopes filled with money to children. Chinese New Year is also an important time for businesses, as it is considered a peak shopping season. In recent years, Spring Festival celebrations have become more popular among the general population in Thailand and are now celebrated by people of all backgrounds.

Many Thai people will purchase new clothes in celebration of Chinese New Year – usually red or gold – to symbolize luck and prosperity in the new year. Red is believed to be the colour of joy and gold is a sign of wealth and good fortune.

On Sunday night, Phuket’s main city district launched the ‘Phuket Lantern Festival 2023.’ Dancers dressed in colourful outfits performed traditional Chinese dances at the opening ceremony.