Sun Lin Fi Lok!

That's "Happy New Year!" in Cantonese. Or "Xin Nian Luai Le" in Mandarin. Chinese New Year is an important festival that traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th, called the Lantern Festival. I'm not actually from China, but as a SF Bay Area resident, I've been fortunate to have been to Chinatown and see the Lion Dance, hear the firecrackers, and eat some really good food! This year, the New Year festival takes place from February 7 - 21.

I'm currently hosting a group ATC swap and one of the cards I made is of a Lion Dance at Chinatown.


I've been lagging with my drawings lately (been in kind of a slump), but here are some pictures I took over the last couple of years at SF Chinatown.

Here's the main entrance...


Lots of banners and decorations (looks like they still had the holiday ones up)...


At a Dim Sum restaurant. Uh, you probably don't want to know what this is...


One of the many stores selling really cheap souvenirs...


A dragon display at one of the stores...


An evening photo of some lanterns hanging...


Have a Happy New Year! And "Kung Hei Fat Choi" to you... which my friend told me really means "Good luck to you, and hope you get lots of money!"