As part of the 2024 Lunar New Year celebrations, visitors will have the opportunity to take part in traditional Chinese activities located right in the heart of Liverpool’s China Town on Nelson Street from 11am to 5pm.
Arts Groupie – Shadow Puppetry – Dragon style
Create your own dragon shadow puppets from re-usable materials and maybe even star in the shadow puppet show! Participants will be provided with worksheets to take home and create your own shadow puppet show.
Design Laser Play – Dragon Dance
A creative make and take arts workshop – celebrating the Year of the Dragon and bringing wishes of hope, and good luck for the New Year. Among the Chinese zodiac animals, the dragon is the sole imaginary animal. The dragon is the most vital and powerful beast in the Chinese zodiac, gifted with innate courage; tenacity, and intelligence, dragons are enthusiastic and confident. They are not afraid of challenges and willing to take risks.
Using paper, card and stencils, have a go at creating colourful decorative Chinese dragons for you to carry, hold aloft and dance through the event whilst celebrating the Chinese New Year in Liverpool.
Liverpool East and South East Asian Network (LESEAN) – Candle Making
Exploring ESEA traditions for Lunar New Year through the male symbol Yang and the year of the dragon try your hand at Candle Making. In Lunar New Year celebrations, candles hold symbolic significance, representing brightness, purity, and positive energy – akin to the Yang element. The warm glow of candles believed to dispel darkness and symbolize the hope for a prosperous and auspicious year ahead.
Artist and bee expert, Andrea Ku, will guide you through the process from sharing the best ways to work with wax to choosing the perfect combination of Chinese herbs to add fragrance to your candles.
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned candle enthusiast, this workshop offers a hands-on opportunities to create personalized, unique candles. Immerse yourself in the warm glow of creativity and take home not just candles but the skills to continue your journey in the captivating world of candle making.
Liverpool Chinese Students & Scholars Association (LCSSA)
Join the students from LCSSA as they teach you about Chinese face painting on paper, hone your chopstick skills with the game of Clipping Glass Marbles and show you how to make Chinese written characters from plasticine.
Peking Opera is one of the most famous and traditional artforms in China. Learn more about Peking Opera by doing Chinese face painting on the paper using various face painting paper templates.
Clipping Glass Marbles – Chopsticks are the common tableware for Chinese. However, they can be difficult to master. In this workshop, the participants clip the glass marbles with long chopsticks in a limited time. Have a go and see how many you can do!
Chinese Characters Square – Chinese characters are a type of hieroglyphics, one of the oldest written characters in the world. Chinese characters are not only a language symbol, but also an art form, reflecting the Chinese people’s thoughts and aesthetics. Participants will learn about the characters and make their own models with plasticine.
Lantern Making Workshops by MrASingh
Inspired by the vibrant symbolism of the Year of the Dragon and the rich cultural heritage of Lunar New Year, participants will create their own captivating paper lanterns, capturing the essence of this auspicious occasion. Make yours by shaping, cutting, and decorating paper, to transform simple materials into stunning dragon lanterns representing strength, prosperity, and good fortune. The workshop will utilise eco-friendly materials and natural elements like twigs and leaves to embellish your lanterns.
Liverpool Confucius Institute (LCI)
Back with us again for Chinese New Year 2024, the team from LCI will be on hand to show you the traditional Chinese arts of calligraphy, papercutting, and woodblock prints for you to have a go and take away your own piece of art.
Pagoda Arts
Try you hand at traditional Chinese paper-folding and arts and crafts with Pagoda Arts Centre. You can also experience a traditional Tea Ceremony, first hand!
Mother Tongue Game & Storytelling with The Windows Project
Participate in a creative writing workshop using the Mother Tongue Game, where the aim is to write a bilingual poem or an acrostic using words from other languages alongside English.
In celebration of Lunar New Year, the mother tongues included will be the languages of East Asia. This workshop will involve playing the game to collect words/languages and create poems and/or short stories. The participants will also create artwork to go alongside their writing.
The game encourages children to connect with their roots and express themselves in languages they might speak at home. Each child will receive 1-to-1 attention from our writing tutors during the workshop. There will also be storytelling in tandem with the workshop.
This workshop is free, and everyone is welcome to participate.
Fabaroony Facepainting
The talented team from Fabaroony will be joining us to paint your little ones (or big ones!) faces with Lunar New Year themed animals and decorations. Charges apply for face painting.
Event Date: Sunday 11th February 2024
Categories: Chinese New Year | Lunar New Year
