Cairns Chinese New Year Street Festival

- 2012 is the Year of the Dragon -

The Cairns Chinese New Year Street Festival is an annual major festival celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. Since its humble beginnings in 2004, the festival has proven greatly enjoyable and provides a wide variety of activities and staged performances. There are market stalls, Chinese dancing and a parade featuring the dragon, lions and the 12 Zodiac Animals. It is suitable for families and all ages, so be sure to mark it on your calendar! It is brought to you by your local chinese community organisation CADCAI. To learn more about their activities in Cairns click here.

2012 is the "Year of the Water Dragon" and the Cairns Chinese New Year Street Festival was celebrated my more than 10,000 people in January 2012.

2013 will be the "Year of the Snake" and the Cairns Chinese New Year Street Festival will be on again bigger and better than ever.

WHERE: Cairns Esplanade - Fogarty Park

WHEN: Saturday 9th February 2013

TIME: 3pm to 8pm (Street Parade starts at 4.00pm)

If you are wanting to participate in the 2013 Festival and are looking for the application forms you will find them on the Downloads page.

Cairns & District Chinese Association Inc. would like to thank these major sponsors who support the 2012 Cairns Chinese New Year Street Festival

Program 2012

The "Year of the Dragon" Chinese New Year Festival events program is full of exciting traditional and comtemporary events and activities.
Follow the read more link to view the exciting assortment of activities programmed for this years festival.

Festival Location

The festival will be situated on the eastern side of the Cairns Esplanade lagoon at Fogarty Park. This year it will be fully intergrated with the Esplanade activities and should be a new hightlight for the Cairns Esplanade. The festival will blend with the Cairns Regional Council’s popular Saturday Craft markets, with CADCAI providing staged entertainment, music, Chinese art and cultural demonstrations and workshops, food and children’s activities into the late afternoon and evening. Follow the read more link to view a google map of the site.

Chinese Astrology

The Sheng xiao (Chinese: pinyin: shēngxiào), better known as Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year cycle. It has wide currency in several East Asian countries besides China and Taiwan. Follow the Read More link to learn more about the Chinese Zodiac and what your sign and characteristics may be.

Get Involved

Expressions of interest are invited from entertainers, marketeers, community and cultural groups or individuals to participate in the Chinese New Year celebration. This vibrant festival is the major Chinese cultural celebration in the Cairns Region. Now in its tenth year, festival entertainment includes traditional dragon and lion dancing, firecrackers for good luck, Chinese themed cultural display, children's art, food and market stalls. Follow the Read More link to see how you can help.

History

Chinese New Year has been celebrated as early as the Xia Dynasty sometime 1558 BCE. According to legend, Chinese New Year originated because each year, a mythical beast called the "Nian" (meaning "Year" in Chinese) would come to devour the local villagers. Out of desperation, the villagers sought help from a great lion spirit. When the Nian next came to attack, the Lion Spirit came to the Village's rescue and wounded the Nian, which was driven away. Follow the Read More link to learn more about Chinese New Year Traditions.