L.A. Chinatown Dragon Parade

A la Xina ja fa bastants anys que funcionen amb el calendari gregorià (el mateix que el nostre) a nivell oficial, però les festivitats tradicionals segueixen estant marcades pel calendari luni-solar clàssic xinès. Això vol dir que tenen dos cap d'any a l'any, tot i que l'important a nivell de celebració és el luni-solar.

La qüestió és que les festivitats duren 15 dies i, tot i que el cap d'any va ser fa una setmana, ahir hi ha haver una desfilada de dracs al Chinatown de Los Angeles. Hi havia un munt de gent pel carrer, tothom disposat a gaudir del dia. La desfilada és llarguíssima (més de dues quatre! hores veient gent passar) i hi desfilen també instituts, escoles d'arts marcials i inclús polítics del barri. Vam fer l'error d'esperar a que s'acabés per anar a buscar un lloc on dinar, sense pensar que els centenars d'altres persones tenien previst fer el mateix, de manera que ens va costar bastant trobar taula per menjar. Tot i així, després de voltar molt, vam poder acabar gaudint dels fideus fregits que volíem per arrodonir la tarda temàtica.

It's been a long time since China started using the Gregorian Calendar (the one we use) officially, but traditional festivities are still planned according to the classical chinese lunisolar calendar. This means that they have two New Year celebrations per year, although the lunisolar one is one to celebrate.

The point is that celebrations last 15 days and that, despite New Year's Eve was a week ago, yesterday there was the Dragon Parade at Los Angeles Chinatown. The place was really crowded, everyone in the mood of having fun. The parade was very long (more than two four! hours) and there were High Schools, martial arts' schools and even polititians walking it. We made the error of waiting until the parade was over to look for a place to have lunch, without realizing that the other hundreds of people there were also planning to do the same. We struggled a bit to find somewhere to eat but, after a while going around, we finally got the chance to enjoy the fried noodles we wanted to put the icing on the cake of our theme afternoon.