“I’ve been wanting to come for a few years now. Every year I see parades and parties and colorful dragons on the news, and it’s so fascinating. On Saturday, I wore traditional Chinese costumes on the subway. We saw a girl wearing it, and we thought, “Let’s go to the parade.”
MADRID, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) Thousands of people celebrated Lunar New Year in several Spanish cities, including the capital Madrid, over the weekend, and large parades were held on Sunday to mark the arrival of the Year of the Dragon. .
“I loved the parade. I went looking for music, dragons, culture, Chinese food. It had everything,” 18-year-old Iure Suarez told Xinhua.
Iure lives in the Usera district in the south of Madrid, where the parade was held for nine consecutive years. Usera is the center of Chinese New Year celebrations and is home to many of his 35,000-plus Chinese community who make up Madrid’s Chinese community.
Iure’s mother, Begona Pavlos, a social worker, said: “Festivals take you to another place. They take me to Eastern culture and bring us closer together.” I really like it,” he said.
She said she wanted her children to “open their hearts and live with other cultures” and decided to visit the “super quiet” district of Usera to absorb Chinese traditions.
Another participant in the Usera parade was Cristina Silva, a teacher at Sant Jean Bautista Kindergarten and Elementary School in Madrid.
“It was interesting because I suddenly saw two girls from my school on the first float,” said Christina, who was participating in the parade for the first time and took advantage of the visit to Usera to buy Chinese products at a Chinese supermarket. said. “Vegetables, noodles and soy sauce”
Christina believes that events such as the Chinese New Year celebrations “obviously bring us closer to China and its traditions. There were people with families everywhere: shops, restaurants, food stalls.”
Miguel Ángel Salgado, who also works in the education sector, said he was drawn to Chinese culture, especially its gastronomy.
“I’ve been wanting to come for a few years now. Every year I see parades and parties and colorful dragons on the news, and it’s so fascinating. On Saturday, I wore traditional Chinese costumes on the subway. “We saw a girl wearing it, and we thought, ‘Let’s go to the parade,'” he said.
“I’m interested in music, food and Chinese movies because they’re all so different,” he said, adding that he’s looking for a Sichuan restaurant that serves spicy food.
Miguel Rivero, a computer scientist with the Madrid City Council, who visited with his wife and two children, said he was fascinated by traditional Chinese culture, including “writing, monuments, traditions and artisan products.”
“These events bring us closer to the very different cultures that exist in Madrid. We wanted the children to see the parade and get a glimpse of Chinese culture,” he added.■