Birmingham prepares to welcome the Chinese Year of the Horse

The FREE Annual Birmingham Chinese New Year Festival Celebrations sponsored by Lebara Mobile will take place on Sunday 2 February 2014, from 11.30pm to 5.30pm in the Arcadian Centre in Birmingham’s Chinese Quarter. The on-stage performances will kick off at 12.30pm.

Following the success of previous Chinese festivals, the Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee (BCFC) are delighted to be presenting a programme of events for the Chinese New Year Festival in 2014, welcoming the Year of the Horse. The proceedings will be kicked off by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Mike Leddy. A varied programme of traditional Chinese cultural performances and high-kicking Martial Arts demonstrations has been put together by our Committee. The programme will be rounded off with a spectacular Lion Dance and fireworks display.

 

Entry to the Festival is of course FREE for all. As always we welcome families from all communities to come and enjoy the festivities and learn about one of the oldest and most important festivals in the Chinese calendar.

 

Festival Committee Chairman, Jeffrey Yap said, "Each and every year, we warmly welcome members of the public from Birmingham and the West Midlands to join in the fun celebrating one of the oldest celebrated festivals in the world. Our free festivals are inclusive and open to all and we hope to welcome more people than ever this year."

Justin Cockerill, Managing Director of Lebara Mobile, the main sponsor, commented, “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Chinese New Year celebrations in Birmingham. We are passionate about connecting with our customers through important cultural festivals and events. Lebara Mobile’s reputation and success is built on its commitment to helping customers stay closer to their friends and family through cost-effective and high quality products and services. We wish all of our loyal customers and other festival goers a happy Chinese New Year.”

 

Birmingham’s Chinese New Year Festival, sponsored by Lebara Mobile, is organised by the BCFC, and is free for the public to attend thanks to the support and co-operation of our partners. These partners include The Arcadian Centre, Ibis Hotels (Birmingham City Centre), Southside Business Improvement District (BID) and Midland Linen Services Ltd.

The BCFC aims to organise, develop, and maintain the Chinese festivities in Birmingham reflecting the high level of interest the wider community in the West Midlands has for Chinese culture. The Committee also strives to promote Chinese culture and educate the general public on its history. We invite everyone from Birmingham and the West Midlands to join us in our celebrations.

 

About Chinese New Year 

The Chinese New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar. It is a time for celebration with friends and family. The festivities traditionally last for 15 days and in China this is the main public holiday period. Children are traditionally given gifts of red envelopes containing money and receive new clothes from their parents.

 

Each year of the Chinese Zodiac is named after an animal. Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year and twelve came so Buddha named each year after one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

Note for media:

There are a very limited number of press passes available permitting access to media viewing areas. If representatives of recognised media outlets would like to attend the event, as they have done in previous years, please contact us with their names and we will ensure they receive Press Accreditation allowing full access to the special Press Area of the venue, with elevated viewing areas for the first hour of the programme.