Baguio celebrates lunar new year a day late

Dragon dancers performed around downtown Baguio, which celebrated the 2019 lunar new year a day late on Wednesday afternoon. Residents and tourists gathered at the sidewalks to catch candies, and the good luck brought by the ‘dragon.’ Photo by EV Espiritu

BAGUIO CITY- Baguio celebrated this year’s spring festival on Wednesday, a day after the Chinese New Year with a parade led by dragon dancers along downtown Session Road.

Residents and tourists gathered at 2:30 p.m. to catch candies hurled by hundreds of Chinese Filipino participants, many of them business entrepreneurs and employees.

Some of the children lined up along the sidewalk with upside-down umbrellas to collect the most goodies thrown out by revelers.

Some of the summer capital’s oldest families are of Chinese lineage. Their great-grandparents set up trading areas and vegetable farms or helped build the roads to the mountain city.

Photo by EV Espiritu

The Bell Church, one of the oldest places put up by Chinese immigrants who settled in Benguet province, currently straddles Baguio and Benguet capital, La Trinidad. It serves as a gathering place for generations of Baguio and Ibaloy residents with Chinese roots.