We celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year: the Year of the Dragon

Barcelona celebrates the Chinese New Year from 3 to 24 February with a programme of activities that bring us closer to the thousand-year-old culture of this country. The Chinese New Year is the most important and traditional festival of the Chinese lunar calendar and is celebrated all over the world. On next February 3rd, the Chinese cultural community of the city's residents will celebrate the arrival of the New Year with the whole city.

The main event to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Barcelona will be on Saturday 3 February, at Passeig Lluís Companys/Arc de Triomf, where all kinds of traditional Chinese cultural events will be held throughout the day, from 10 am to 8 pm, to welcome the Year of the Dragon, such as balls, traditional dances and Kung Fu demonstrations. In addition, there will be a gastronomic and cultural fair, where you can taste the most traditional dishes of the cuisine of this country and participate in workshops with the family.

On Saturday morning, the traditional parade will be held, it will start from the Parc de l'Estació del Nord at 11.30 a.m. and will end at Passeig de Lluís Companys on a route that will pass along Avinguda Vilanova and the streets Roger de Flor, Ribes, Nàpols, Ausiàs March and Passeig de Sant Joan. A thousand people from more than 65 Chinese federations and organisations in Catalonia and Catalan organisations and associations will take part, with the aim of showcasing the diversity of the city of Barcelona, as well as promoting a festive and participatory event.

The celebration of the Chinese New Year is now 10 years old and has taken off strongly in recent years in Barcelona, where more than 20,200 people of Chinese origin live. The Chinese are, in fact, the fourth largest resident nationality in the city of Barcelona. The dynamism of its associative fabric and the intercultural component of the New Year's celebrations, which are shared by many organisations in the city's neighbourhoods, have made it a very important date in Barcelona's festive calendar.

The Year of the Dragon

The dragon (龙 lóng) is one of the four benevolent animals of Chinese mythology and one of the ten animals in the Chinese horoscope. Its popular image has been used for millennia to symbolise strength, majesty and status.

People born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1976, 1988, 1988, 2000, 2012 and 2024 live under the influence of the dragon. It is said that people born under the sign of the dragon are self-confident leaders, thanks to their charismatic and dominant personalities. Gifted with tenacity and intelligence, the dragons are also famous for spending incomparable hours working to conquer whatever they set their minds to.

This year we are celebrating the Year of the Wooden Dragon, which will begin on 10 February 2024 and end on 28 January 2025.

Each year, the animals of the Chinese horoscope are associated with one of the five elements (water, wood, metal, earth or fire), which gives them a deeper dimension. For 2024, the element that will mark the year will be wood, which symbolises imagination, adaptability, progress and vital energy; while the dragon symbolises honour, power and prestige. This combination augurs that 2024 will be a period of innovation, flexibility and change. Therefore, next year will be a good year to start new projects, explore creative interests and take advantage of opportunities for professional growth and development.

There is no denying the strong presence of the dragon in the way of life of Chinese society, which is seen as a symbol of happiness, friendliness, harmony and prosperity. An example of this is the dance of the dragon, which is danced during the celebration of the Chinese New Year to call for a good start to the year, bring good fortune and ward off all bad energies.

Come and celebrate the New Year with Barcelona!