Hundreds of people took part in Lunar New Year celebrations in Dublin today.
The year of the dragon was celebrated with dance, dress and dishes from across the Asian continent on display in a number of areas across the capital.
A long yellow Cantonese dragon wove through a packed Meeting House Square in Temple Bar as Dublin City Council's nine-day Lunar New Year Festival came to a climax.
A series of traditional Asian performances took place in the cultural quarter which also had food, face painting and traditional Chinese crafts on display as part of the festival which is now in its seventeenth year.
Jack Quach from the Flower City Dragon & Lion Dance Association led the elaborate dancing dragon and lion displays that entertained the crowds.
He said when his father moved to Ireland in the1990s he realised there was nobody celebrating his traditional Hong Kong culture and he set up the group with his son now following in his footsteps.
As he began to lead off a dance covered in a lion's head he explained its significance in the Lunar celebrations.
He said: "There's a lot of different stories, like that there was a monster terrorizing the village so they build this old Lion and they would scare away this monster with the mirror that's on its head.
"The monster would see its own a reflection and run away."
Dublin's Lunar New Year Ambassador, restauranteur Richard Castillo was born in Ireland to a Filipino father and Irish mother.
He said the Lunar New Year celebrations in the capital help him connect with his roots and that he was delighted to be celebrating the start of the year of the dragon.
"This is the year of the wood dragon. Dragon is a representation of strength, power. And then wood is the representation of intelligence," he added.
Eight-year-old Tushig Guinness from Dublin was dressed head to toe in traditional Mongolian clothing and said he was excited to celebrate the Lunar New year which indicates the start of spring.
Louie Escalona, who is originally from the Philippines but has lived in Dublin for 20 years, was at the event with her family and said it helped at a time that she has been missing home.
"I've not gone for five year back home and I here I feel like home," she said.
Heralding the start of the Year of the Dragon, Lunar New Year is considered a major festival across the Sinosphere, including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Vietnam, and Korea.
The Lunar New Year, also referred to as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, is celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, generally falling between 21 January and 20 February.
Across the River Liffey, the Lunar New Year was also celebrated in Dublin's north inner city.
The Hill Street Family Resource Centre, just off Parnell Street, started their Lunar New Year celebrations ten years ago with a small indoor event attended by around 80 people.
It has grown into a large outdoor celebrations reflecting the large number of Asian people who now call Dublin 1 home.
Stella and Reeta Guo posed in traditional dress with the community policing team from nearby Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, while five-year-old Daniel Yang also wore a traditional costume and clung tightly to a small red dragon.
Chinese zodiacs are represented by a range of animals that repeat in a cycle of 12 years.
Zodiac animals each hold their own reputed attributes, these include the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
Lisa Jing Xia Miao of the Hill Street Family Resource Centre said the event allows people of Asian heritage to celebrate their traditional festival in the heart of Dublin.
She added: "It's really good because it allows people to celebrate their big day in Dublin with everybody else and it also makes our Chinese-Irish children proud of themselves, of who they are and where they are from."
Read more: Chinese New Year: How to celebrate the year of the dragon
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