Home and Away

Nearly every major city around the globe has its own version of the national festivities of its immigrant population.

Although staged with characteristic differences from the "home", parties, these far-flung national celebrations capture the spirit and meaning of the countries from which they derive.

The 2005 Dublin Chinatown Festival was no exception. The Dublin Chinatown Festival celebrates the Chinese Lunar New Year, attracting huge crowds to every year to the very heart of the Irish capital.

This year's festival, opened by Dublin's Lord Mayor, Councillor Michael Conaghan, began with a traditional lion and dragon dance that pleased the crowds. Celebrations for the Year of the Rooster ran from February 9 to February 13.

Billed as a "fusion of Irish and Asian culture," festival celebrations combine the talents of renowned Chinese artists such as the Red Poppy Percussion Troupe with traditional Irish music stars such as Sharon Shannon.

This year the Festival also showcased the first Chinese Film Festival in the capital with films such as Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Just as Spring Festival celebrations in China find temple grounds converted into thriving market places, selling food and toys in covered stalls, the 2005 Dublin Chinatown Festival market was complete with the spicy fragrances of home-cooked Chinese food and Chinese festival trinkets and trivia for young and old.

The Festival also presented a photographic exhibition illustrating life in China today that was supported by the Chinese Embassy in Ireland. Also, seminars and children's workshops gave presentations on the history of the famous Silk Road and other aspects of Chinese history and culture.

For children, there were lessons on Chinese kites, calligraphy, lantern and knot making and traditional Chinese paper crafts.

Visit the Irish National Museum of Decorative Arts online at http://www.museum.ie/