For 12 years, one full turn of the Zodiac Calendar, Hilo Town has been hosting a Chinese New Year Celebration and this year it returned to the site of most of the past years' festivals, Kalakaua Park.
This park is the perfect setting for the festival, in my opinion...Small, intimate, beautiful and it just feels right!
The Chinese New Year which this year started on January 31, is the year 4712 and in the Zodiac Calendar is the Year of the Horse. There were T-shirts with the above horse design displayed and for sale.
The day was beautiful; as my friend Brenda said, it was a "not too" day. Not too sunny, not too cloudy, not too hot, not too windy...It was just perfect!
Just a few random shots taken as I strolled around the park.
A pretty Chinese paper umbrella
A bowl of tangerines; displaying tangerines and oranges for the New Year are said to bring good luck and wealth. According to old Chinese traditions, the symbols for gold and oranges sound alike when spoken, while the word for tangerine sounds like luck. It is also good to display them showing some leaves, because leaves symbolize life and longetivity.
As usual, the Lion Dancers made an appeareance.
A little girl dares to take a peek inside the lion's mouth as someone was 'feeding' it a tip.
Dragon Puppets, trying to look ferociously cute while waiting for the keiki to ask their parents to get them one!
A tree in the park decorated with paper lantern, swaying in the breeze.
Taiko drummers performed for a large crowd.
Bright red paper decorations, lanterns and flags hung from many of the vendor booths.
There were many activities to entertain the keiki, but one of the most popular was centered at King David Kalakaua's statue...feeding the Chinese Silkie or Silkie Bantam chickens.
The keiki could not get enough of these cute and 'furry looking' chickens...and someone was creative enough to come up with little flower lei for them!
King David Kalakaua holding a flower lei wearing 'Silkie'
On the makai (towards the ocean) side of the park, the Reflecting Pool, part of the Kalakaua Park War Memorial had water lilies in several colors blooming... a quiet area of the park to reflect on the many lives from Hilo lost in the wars.
Kung Hee Fat Choi, Hilo! Another fun Chinese New Year Festival!
