Slumdog millionaire download.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc_02851-300×300.jpg” alt=”dsc_02851″ width=”272″ height=”272″ />Today is the beginning of the Chinese year of the Ox, so I headed on down to Chinatown to check out the celebration.

I’d missed the big parade–which was apparently at noon–but there was still a lot going out. Things didn’t look out of the ordinary until I hit Canal Street, where a mini-parade was just beginning. Guys were playing the drums, kids were carrying firecrackers, the people dressed up as dragons danced in time to the beat. We walked down the Bowery. A bevy of families, many with cameras and video recorders, formed a small procession, and despite the cold, everyone looked thrilled to be there.

I stopped in a Duane Reade to warm up, and I ran into a couple of the paraders. One woman who called herself Lin said their celebration wasn’t official, nor was it tied to the celebrations that had occurred at noon: “Everyone celebrates their own way,” she said, hurrying to buy some snacks and Gatorade. Her daughter then interrupted to ask if she could buy some candy. I asked the child if she was having fun. She smiled, nodded enthusiastically, and grabbed a bag of gummy worms. Happy new year.
Slideshow after the jump…

Photos by Josh Becker.