Chinese Lunar New Year Festivities in Chinatown

To celebrate today's Chinese Lunar New Year, about a dozen lion, dragon and unicorn dance troupes marched through Chinatown’s main streets including Mott Street, the Bowery, East Broadway, Bayard Street, Elizabeth Street and Pell Street. Large crowds turned out for the festivities. The photos above were taken in Mott Street.

Mott Street (Chinatown)

Mott Street is a busy and narrow street in Chinatown that runs in a north-south direction in Manhattan. It is also considered Chinatown's unofficial "Main Street". It is one of the original three streets that formed the core of Chinatown in the mid to late 1800s. Mott Street runs from Chatham Square in the south to Bleecker Street in the north. It is a one-way street, southbound. Like many streets in Lower Manhattan that predated the street grid system, Mott Street meandered around natural features of the landscape rather than running through or over them.

Chinatown Rings In the Year of the Tiger

Today marks the first day of the 2010 Lunar New Year. Following the traditional firecracker festival, colorful lion dance groups marched down the main streets of Chinatown including Mott Street where I made these images. The lion dancers stopped at local businesses and restaurants where they received traditional holiday red envelopes containing good luck Lunar New Year money.