2015 Chinese New Year In Bangkok
Location: Celebrations Throughout Bangkok Are Mainly Centered Around Chinatown (Yaowarat).
Cost: All Events Are Free To Attend.
When Is It: February 19th, 2015
Festivities: 3 days centered on Chinese Lunar New Year.
Full event schedule & times listed at the bottom of this page.
The events spread out from Chinatown to other major temples throughout Bangkok and are even attended by the Thai Princess who takes part in special ceremonies. Chinatown has vast and a substantial Chinese population giving Bangkok probably the best Chinese New Year's to attend outside of China itself. There have been Chinese in the area for hundreds of years before Bangkok was even established and most were moved to the current Chinatown in 1782 to make way for the current Grand Palace Complex. A visit to Bangkok's Chinese New Year celebration is historic, very festive, and a memorable experience.
What is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is based off of the ancient Chinese Lunar Calendar started in 2,698 BC, thousands of years before the modern calender developed in the 1500s. To put how old it is into perspective, the Chinese Lunar based calendar was being used 2,000 years before the Romans even added the month of January around 700 BC. Each year of the Chinese Calendar is also tied to an animal like Year of the Horse or Year of the Monkey. It's said that the animal years started around 500 BC when Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. 12 of the animals showed up and Buddha named a year after each one. Since then the animal years have rotated each year in 12 year cycles and it's said you gain difference fortunes depending on which year or sign you are born under.
The Chinese New Year's celebration itself has 3 different purposes: to celebrate the year you are leaving, to gather with family, and to ring in good luck for the upcoming year. While people outside of China mainly see the celebration side, it is the family gathering that is may be the most impressive. Typically all generations in a family travel to be together for a number of days over Chinese New Year which in China is somewhat of a great migration. Transit becomes utterly bogged down as 100s of millions of people are all on the move at the same time. Even in Bangkok the influx of people can be felt far and wide during Chinese New Year.
The festive part ringing in of the New Year is our favorite part as loud drums, red shirts, dragons, and more are used to scare away evil spirits. Through the 3 day period homes are also cleaned to make way for good look and superstitious residents give offerings for spiritual good favor. These offerings range from burning bank notes, giving red envelopes to family with even dollar amounts inside, praying to deities, burning incense, lighting candles, and much more. The color red is everywhere and is symbolizes fire used, along with drums and firecrackers, to ward the demon serpent Nian that was said to ravage villages in ancient China.
While the events are almost entirely centered over the 3 day New Year period itself, the celebrations can run as long as the 15th day of the new Lunar Year. Using the Lunar Moon Cycles, the Chinese New Year ends up falling between the end of January and middle of February every year. The main 3 days of the Festival include Spring Festival Eve, then the Spring Festival or New Year, followed by New Year's Day. So when you see the date for Chinese New Year it is actually the last day of the Lunar Year.
What To Expect For New Year In Bangkok:
It can be really hard to know what to expect during Chinese New Year in Bangkok, but we are here to help. Before our first visit we couldn't find out any information on events even after email local hotels, but the celebration definitely happens and it's huge. If you can be in town the actual day of Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) it will be impossible to miss the festivities near Chinatown. On the day before and after Chinese New Year (Spring Festival's Eve & New Year's Day) there are also smaller scale celebrations that are still fun, especially along Yaowarat Road. Expect to see Chinese lanterns and decorations hung up at least until 15 days after the New Year which marks the end of the Spring Festival in a celebratory day called the Lantern Festival.
During the main day of Chinese New Year traffic will be shut down on all of Yaowarat Road so expect if you are coming by taxi that you'll be dropped off a block away, your driver isn't trying to scam you. Why would you have to block off the main street of a huge bustling neighborhood? When you get there you'll understand as the festivities are huge. At the peak times of the day, the 4 lane Yaowarat Road and its sidewalks become almost shoulder to shoulder with the sea of visitors. While on the surface that may sound annoying, we actually found it to be awesome as it added to the experience.
Pretty much all day you'll see lion dancers, drummers, and vendors trying to help you get your good luck on. Mid day is a good time to visit some local temples before they become swamped. The activity starts to really grow around 3pm with the first of the Dragon Parades where traditional Chinese and Thai dancers join a long dragon snaking through Yaowarat Road. The dragon's tail for the parade is much longer than the typical two man dragon outfit at 100s of feet long and takes dozens people to operate. Typically there is a member of the Royal Thai family who as part of the evening Dragon Parade whom Thai Nationals cheer loud for. There is both a great respect for Chinese culture by the people of Bangkok and a lot of national pride in Thailand from residents with Chinese heritage.
After dark all of the Chinese lanterns are lit up making the celebration truly beautiful. A lot of the focus after dark goes to the huge stage near the Chinatown Gate where traditional musicians and dancers perform. Don't be surprised to see acrobatics spinning on the tops of 40 foot poles with firecrackers on their feet. While there are firecrackers, there is not the abundance of full on fireworks in Bangkok that you'd see in China for Chinese New Year. The night time Dragon Parade is our favorite as the long dragon is brought to life when its bright LED are lit up. When we were there the Dragon was held up high by a large human pyramid in the main stage to battle an acrobatic balancing on a tall pole. This battle was meant to symbolize the people fighting off the mighty demon serpent Nian and to scare off bad luck for the coming year.
If Yaowarat Road is too busy for you, you can still get the full on feel of Chinese New Year at most of the main temples in and near Chinatown. Most of the major outlying temples are visited by the Thai Princesses and are decorated for their arrival. Two of our favorite places to visit during New Year sit just across the Choa Phraya River. They are Wat Arun and the Mang Nguan Ha Shrine which is right in front of the Princess Mother Park. Both of these temples are particularly pretty around dusk in the days around Chinese New Year as tons of lanterns bring them to life.
Even if you are sticking closer to Chinatown the Kuan Yim Shrine and Dragon Flower Temple can be magically during New Year. The Dragon Flower Temple is normally a sea of incense smoke but at this time of the year it just feels extra special. Bring your camera, but make sure to take it slow and appreciate the sounds and smells of the Dragon Flower Temple. If you really want to feel part of the events buy a candle and incense to light as an offering or take it a step further and buy some special Joss paper bank notes for burning. We hope you enjoy Chinese New Year in Bangkok.
Event Schedule & Times For Chinese New Year 2015:
Spring Festival's Eve (Feb 18th): The Day Before Chinese New Year
Various events and small parades spread around Chinatown most of the day and evening. There is no set schedule for these events, but throughout the day you will also see acrobatic demonstrations and dragon dancers. It is a good build up to the main event the next day. In the evening many homes host traditional reunion dinners for their visiting family members.
Chinese New Year (Feb 19th): Also called the Spring Festival
Throughout the day the Thai Princess, drummers, lion dancers, and the long Dragon make their way to all the major Temples in Bangkok. We ran into the Princess and her crew while around 11am at Wat Arun. Below is the official schedule our hotel gave us for the main events on Yaowarat Road which was pretty accurate each year.
Noon: Official start although a lot of stuff is set up by 10am
3pm: First Dragon Parade on Yaowarat Road
5:45pm: Fan Dance
7pm: Golden Dragon Dance
8:20pm: Fan Dance
8:30pm: Thai singers and dancers start at the stage near Chinatown Gate and go off and on until midnight
9:30pm: Dragon Parade with the long dragon all lit up in LED lights. If the road is being cleared by police and they move you to the sidewalk it is because the Thai Princess is about to make her way through.
10:50pm: Traditional Drummers get a solo
New Year's Day (Feb 20th): 1st day of the new Lunar Year
Largely considered a day of rest and hanging out with family, but there are still many events around Chinatown. Expect the neighborhood to still be more festive than normal because of the influx of visitors.
The Lantern Festival (March 5th): 15th day of the new Lunar Year
Marks the official end to the Spring Festival and people go all out with fancy lanterns. Many of them are colorful and have the sign for the year the owner of the lantern was born, but others are large pieces of art resembling cartoon characters and more.
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