The Chinese New Year Parade and Spring Festival involves about 3,000 people from local cultural groups and draws more than 50,000 onlookers.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Everyone agrees that this week marks the new year on the Chinese lunar calendar; but ask whether it's the year of the goat, sheep or ram, and you're likely to enter a woolly debate – one that stems from the Chinese character, yang, that can refer to any of the three.
As one English-language Chinese newspaper put it, it's much ado about mutton.
But no matter which bovid is your best-loved, you can celebrate its arrival this Sunday at the Chinese New Year Parade and Spring Festival. Boasting more than 70 floats, as well as lion dancers, marching bands, martial artists, cultural dance troupes, aboriginal drummers, the VPD motorcycle drill team, businesses, politicians and more, the parade involves about 3,000 people from local cultural groups and draws more than 50,000 onlookers.
"It's very, very noisy, and it's a very big crowd, but it's a very happy noise," says Mirjana Galovich from Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, which is also playing host to a range of events. "And it has always been very crosscultural and multicultural. People come from all over the Lower Mainland, particularly families with young children."
Other celebrations marking the new year include LunarFest at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza, which includes dumpling-making, fortune-telling and performances by Taiwan's award-winning Jhuo Lan Dragon Dance Team; exhibits, mainstage performances and treasure hunts at International Village; and a Year of the Ram Temple Fair at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden that features live music, games, workshops and performances by Beijing's Shadow Puppeteers.
So what to expect from the Year of the Ram (or Goat or Sheep)? People born under that sign are said to be gentle, calm, creative, kind-hearted and sensitive – Michelangelo, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs are among them – and this year is predicted to be good for investing, making money, achieving success and attaining goals.
"The Chinese also call this a spring festival because it's a new lunar year, and we have the first signs of the coming spring," Ms. Galovich says. "It's bringing in the new cycle, and new life, and the wishes we pass to each other are about health, prosperity, family life and love."
The Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade is at 11 a.m. Sunday, starting at the Millennium Gate on Pender (cbavancouver.ca). The Year of the Ram Temple Fair is at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Sunday, with a special shadow puppetry performance Thursday night (vancouverchinesegarden.com). LunarFest is at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza Friday-Sunday (lunarfest.org).