Chinese New Year 'a great time for celebration' in Belfast
BBCA Chinese New Year event held in Belfast on Saturday to celebrate the start of the Year of the Fire Horse brought colour, music and crafts to the city during what one participant called "a great time for celebration".
Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, is marked not only by Chinese people, but also by many others, including Vietnamese, South Korean and Thai communities.
2026 is the first Year of the Fire Horse since 1966 and began on February 17.
One of the event's organisers said it was important for cultures to bond together, while the Chinese consul in Belfast said Chinese, British and Irish cultures "all love horses".
Calligraphy teacher Stella Tsang , who was running workshops at the event, said it was a time for family.
"The main thing is that people would join all together," she said.
"Even the children far away would come back home for dinner, it's a time when we meet each other."
She said that celebrating the Chinese New Year in Belfast is "just the same".
'Chinese New Year is a great time for a celebration'
Séamas Ó Labhradha was there with a local-based Chinese lion dance team.
"They're all local Belfast people who are interested in Chinese culture and have taken up Chinese lion dancing," he said.
Ó Labhradha said he got involved in Chinese culture "a very long time ago".
"I'm going to go back a very long time, my mother loved Chinese culture and through her interest in Chinese culture, I got interested in Chinese art and through the art got interested in the language with the calligraphy and the whole culture then attracted me.
"Chinese New Year is a great time for a celebration and meeting friends you haven't seen for a while.
"Very much like our the traditional New Year celebrations we would have in Europe, it's the same sort of idea where you get together and you celebrate the end of an old year.
"Hopefully any ills we had in the old year they're left there and the new year we hope is going to be a lot better."
'Celebrating and embracing the Chinese culture'
Thomas McHugh said he wanted to come down to celebrate the Chinese New Year and have a "bit of fun".
He said he wanted to take part in some of the activities such as decorating art and trying food.
"Just celebrating and embracing the Chinese culture," he said.
Woody, who was attending the event with his grandmother Lynn Long, said he was there to see the "lion and dragon dance".
Lynn added that she had been to a few Chinese New Years.
'All of us love horses'
The Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Belfast, Li Nan, said it was "great" to be at the event.
He said he was "so impressed" by ArtsEkta for their "promotion of culture, not only Chinese culture, but also other cultures".
"We're still in the Chinese New Year of the horse called the fire horse, which symbolises energy, power, strength and courage.
"I think this year carries the spirit for people's aspirations of peace, stability, happiness and prosperity," Li added.
"So I wish everybody here in Northern Ireland, all communities, including Chinese communities, to have an even greater year of success in the Year of the Fire Horse.
"The horse is a very lovely creature in both Chinese, British and Irish culture. So all of us love horses. And this great animal actually is a kind of symbol for us, for Chinese people."
'Important that the cultures bond with each other'
Dr Nisha Tandon OBE is the chief executive of event organisers ArtsEkta.
She said: "It is the first Chinese New Year which we are doing in this building. So we are opening it to the public to come and enjoy the true culture of arts and dance and cinema and music."
She added they are "letting the public come in and enjoy and interact with the Chinese people who have been living here for decades.
"I think it's very important that the cultures bond with each other".
Year of the Fire Horse: What does this mean?
The combination of fire and horse is a result of a pairing between one of the 12 animals in the zodiac and one of the five elements - wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
Each unique pairing between an animal and element carries a different energy and comes around once every 60 years.
In the Chinese zodiac, the horse is known for its vitality and confidence. These traits may be fuelled further by the fire element, say Chinese astrology experts.
But the Fire Horse carries a more ominous meaning in Japanese culture. In 1966, during the last year of the Horse, Japan's birth rate dipped sharply - thanks to a superstition that women born the year of the Fire Horse would bring bad luck to their families.
