Yesterday, thousands were in Chinatown to ring in the Year 4705. The Year of the Pig is a very good year, according to the Chinese astrology, lots of prosperity and good luck.

There are a bunch of great Lunar New Year photographs. AKinloch on Flickr took the photograph above of a red lion dancing.

LW Lens has a nice Flickr set of yesterday's festivities, with lots of crowd shots like the one above. And the "controlled" fireworks display was a big hit. Seabringer took photographs (including the one below) and has video of the countdown. Fireworks are important in Chinese tradition because the loud sounds ward off evil spirits.

Next Sunday is the big Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown. Learn more at Explore Chinatown (there are some good deals going on this month, too).