Chinese New Year, 2006

Ines and I went to Boston for Dim Sum this past Sunday, and we had a very pleasant surprise - apparently The Chinese New Year's celebration in Chinatown was this weekend!
We first saw that the streets in Chinatown were blocked, and littered with lettuce and vegetables (like what you see after some farmer's market). On the way to the restaurant saw several groups of people dressed in martial arts clothes, carrying weapons like swords and spears (I don't know if they were real), and flags. While eating, a group came in, and they had a Chinese Dragon that walked and danced between the tables. That's when we realized that this must be the Chinese New Year.
The best was when we left the restaurant, and were stopped by a group of people that started blocking the street with their staffs and opening a large circle. The a Couple of Chinese Dragons come in and start dancing, while some people play the drums in the back of small truck. After a little while, an "altar" made of boxes was set up in front of a grocery store, and the grocer brought out some fruit and lettuce, then a bucket with live lobsters, and another with live fish. The Dragons then made a show of accepting the "sacrifices" and eating them, to the intensifying sound of drums. The person at the head would stick out a hand and pick up the vegetables, smashing them and tossing them all over, and then pick up the lobster and fish and wave them as if the dragon was shaking them with their mouths. It was neat. But then the grocer started throwing fireworks, small clusters of little bombs, that would jump and blow up all over the place - this lasted some 5 min, and was not that neat. After watching this, we went to some Chinese stores, where we bought a ton of frozen Dim Sum and a sugar cane, which we just ate last night.
The whole day was pretty cool!