BERNICE HARRISON with alternatives to movies and the mall
Go to the carnival
It’s Chinese New Year, start of the year of the tiger and a timely reminder of the Chinese saying that it is better to have lived one day as a tiger than 1,000 years as a sheep. Dublin’s Parnell Street is bursting with Chinese restaurants, so it’s a good place to start. Also, several child-friendly events mark the new year around the capital, starting today. Some run all week.
Visit Wyneta and Emas, the newly arrived tiger cubs at Dublin Zoo, tomorrow, then visit the zoo’s learning and discovery centre, which will have Chinese art and fairytale sessions. Children will also get a chance to make dragons and tiger masks. There are sessions next Sunday, too. Download a self-guided trail leaflet from dublinzoo.ie and spot the Chinese red panda and Asian elephant herd.
Dublin City Public Libraries will host free Chinese and Irish fairytale workshops with Seosamh
Ó Maolalai and Aideen McBride, Tiger Talks (that’s everything you wanted to know about these magnificent animals) and arts-and-crafts sessions over the festival period. Contact your local library to see if it is participating. Some take place during the midterm break.
From noon tomorrow, on Wolfe Tone Square (behind Jervis Shopping Centre) in Dublin, there’ll be an afternoon-long carnival. Look out for the interactive art workshops, traditional Chinese dragon and lion dances, t’ai chi and martial-arts displays and a musical and dance troupe from Shanghai University.
dublin.ie/cny