AN­GE­LO JE­DIDI­AH

Re­porter

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

Ahead of the Fourth Chi­nese Spring Fes­ti­val in Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Em­bassy of the Peo­ple’s Re­pub­lic of Chi­na host­ed a cul­tur­al evening to ush­er in the Year of the Horse.

On Feb­ru­ary 10, spe­cial­ly in­vit­ed guests gath­ered at the Em­bassy on Long Cir­cu­lar Road, St James, to cel­e­brate the Chi­nese New Year and em­brace the tra­di­tions as­so­ci­at­ed with the Horse in the Chi­nese lu­nar cal­en­dar.

Ac­cord­ing to Chi­nese folk­lore, the Year of the Horse sym­bol­is­es strength, re­silience, en­er­gy and progress—qual­i­ties of­ten as­so­ci­at­ed with de­ter­mi­na­tion and suc­cess.

The cel­e­bra­tion forms part of the wider ob­ser­vances of the Chi­nese Spring Fes­ti­val, al­so known as the Lu­nar New Year, one of the most sig­nif­i­cant hol­i­days in Chi­nese cul­ture. Last year marked the Year of the Snake.

Or­gan­is­ers say the fes­ti­val con­tin­ues to grow in pop­u­lar­i­ty lo­cal­ly, at­tract­ing hun­dreds of en­thu­si­asts of Chi­nese cul­ture, cui­sine and the per­form­ing arts each year.

Pa­trons can look for­ward to live li­on dance per­for­mances, a tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese tea cer­e­mo­ny, and au­then­tic Chi­nese food stalls. Drag­on boat races are al­so ex­pect­ed to be a ma­jor high­light, fea­tur­ing teams of lo­cal ath­letes com­pet­ing on the wa­ter.

The Chi­nese Spring Fes­ti­val 2026 takes place to­day and to­mor­row at the An­chor­age, Ch­aguara­mas, promis­ing a week­end of cul­tur­al ex­change and fam­i­ly-friend­ly en­ter­tain­ment.