What better way to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2016 than visiting the world's oldest Chinatown!
On Monday (Feb 8), the Chinatown district in Binondo, Manila practically shut down as people from all over the metro and nearby provinces celebrated the Chinese New Year -- the Year of the Fire Monkey.
As always, the color red dominated the locale. Participants in parades and floats featured the Fire Monkey, the theme of this year's Chinese zodiac sign.
Some of the parade highlights include elaborately decorated floats, school marching bands, stilt walkers, lion dancers and exploding firecrackers.
Dragons and Lions
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| The green lion dances to the entertainment of the crowd along Ongpin Street. |
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| The green and yellow lion join the blue dragon to enter establishments in the Binondo District to give good luck. In return, owners of the shops give "ang pao," those red envelopes containing tokens or cash. |
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| Teener dons the lion headgear to start the dance... |
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| ... then continues to gyrate and shake to the beat of the drums. |
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| Dragon dancers go in circles around exploding fire crackers. This ritual supposedly can drive away evil spirits and bad luck, according to Chinese elders. |
Tikoy (rice cakes), beverages, dimsum, Ling Nam noodles (my favorite!) and castañas.
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| Chinese beverages on display in a shop along Ongpin Street. |
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| Tikoy (or Ti Kui) are available in green, brown and white colors. These rice cakes are very popular during the celebration of the lunar new year. |
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| More tikoys sold along the streets, paired with lucky fruits bound to form a circle. |
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| Man uses a shovel to mix fresh castaña nuts. |
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| Dimsum, a popular Chinese dish of small steamed or fried savory dumplings containing various fillings, served as a snack or main course. |
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| Ling Nam Noodle Factory along Alonzo Street. The canton noodles is one of its topsellers. |
People, charms, souvenirs
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| The crowd gets thicker as they take photos of Dragon and Lion dances. |
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| A red lantern hanging from a street post with a tall building in the background. |
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| During the celebration of the Chinese New Year, people buy all sorts of charms and souvenirs peddled along the streets. |
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| Marching bands from nearby schools go on parade. They are composed mainly of young girls and boys. |
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| A close-up shot of red and gold charms. |
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| To our surprise, Batman was also there to join the revelry! |
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| More charms! A street vendor peddles his wares along Ongpin Street. |
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| A float bearing the "Kung Hei Fat Choy" and the "Fire Monkey" graphics. |
Children at play, in tantrums and in sleep
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| A boy buys ice cream from a vendor. |
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| Not everybody was delighted to hear the loud fire crackers.,, this girl seemed agitated by the deafening sound! |
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| ... but this boy was quite happy when he saw the fire crackers roar in the streets. |
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| Meanwhile, this little girl got bored and slept her way during the parade. |
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| A balloon vendor walks in the streets. Dozens of these vendors were all over the Binondo District. |
It was fun shooting photos and enjoying the party along Ongpin Street, Binondo - needless to say, we're looking forward to seeing what the year of the Fire Monkey has in store for all of us. Gong Hei Fat Choi!
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