'A lucky year': Fortune teller predicts as Montreal prepares to celebrate Lunar New Year

This Lunar New Year, the festivities in Montreal are going to be bigger and better than ever, according to Eva YiFang Hu, organizer of the Montreal Lunar New Year Festival.

"We'll have installations all around Chinatown. We're talking about lanterns, light projection installations of the 12 zodiac signs. We have a photobooth arch and also a wishing tree," she tells CTV News. "Everything is better, more creative and larger than last year."

The celebrations, welcoming the Year of the Dragon, start on Feb. 9 and go until Feb. 11.

The traditional parade and lion and dragon dances are set for Saturday at 11 a.m.

Part of the festivities will also take place inside the Chinese Cultural Centre (1088 Clark St.) as part of a push to encourage families with young children to participate.

The events are in collaboration with the Ville-Marie borough and Tourism Montreal, as well as a variety of local artists.

"We have this whole Asian community in Montreal, and they all celebrate," Hu said, noting it was important to include all the cultures under the Lunar New Year banner. "I always believe unity is strength...It was such a calling for me to be able to gather this community together to build something big and strong for the upcoming years for our future generations to have this kind of heritage of such an important festivity, the most important festivity in the Asian culture."

The year 2024 marks the beginning of the Wood Dragon, which is expected to bring prosperity and wealth.

"It's a power year. It's a lucky year, and everybody should take profit," storyteller Aurore Liang tells CTV News. "If, for example, last year was rabbit, if you think that you didn't develop all your potential, now is your opportunity."

Liang explains the Year of the Dragon has always historically been considered a particularly powerful and prosperous animal.

It's one of the most mystical years, as the dragon is the only zodiac that people have heard of but have never seen.

"We always see that the Year of the Dragon, we have more babies than the other years," Liang said. "The dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, traditionally, and also a symbol of people who have lots of power, courage and luck."

This year may also be especially lucky for people born in the years of the snake, monkey and rooster, she adds.

"Normally, everybody can feel the power of dragon and then take this opportunity to develop your potential," she encourages.

If you're not born in one of those years?

"Make a friend!" she laughs. "Dragon is a symbol of power, protection and also teamwork because the dragon protects people, and people need to work together to make the dragon stronger. Never forget we need teamwork to make real decisions to happen."

The legend

As the legend goes, a long time ago, the Jade Emperor was preparing to select 12 animals to be his guards at the Heavenly Gates.

The sooner they arrived, the higher they would rank.

Rat woke up early in the morning but on his way to the gate, encountered a river.

Not knowing how to overcome the current, he hitched a ride in Ox's ear, who did not mind.

Once they arrived at the gates, he cunningly dashed ahead to the feet of the Emperor.

These two animals were named first and second.

Tiger and Rabbit, who are both fast runners, came third and fourth.

Dragon came in fifth, and Snake sixth.

Horse and Goat, both polite and kind, were ranked seventh and eighth.

Monkey was busy fooling around in the trees but managed to come in ninth.

The last three places were granted to Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

These 12 animals became the guards of the Emperor's Heavenly Gate.

What is your zodiac animal?

• Rat (1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020)
• Ox (1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021)
• Tiger (1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022)
• Rabbit (1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023)
• Dragon (1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024)
• Snake (1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013)
• Horse (1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014)
• Goat (1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015)
• Monkey (1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016)
• Rooster (1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017)
• Dog (1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018)
• Pig (1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019)