A parade of colors

An unexpected explosion of colors and vitality in Philadelphia's Chinatown today. While walking in Center City a display of colorful and bizarre food arrangements caught my eyes on 10th street at Arch st. I could hardly prevent my camera from shaking at the sight of a dead skinned goat dressed like a samba dancer at Carnival in Rio. The peace of that pedestrian street was soon interrupted by the beginning of a parade of people in costume, divinity figures and dancing dragons. Fire crackers could not miss the show of course!

The parade celebrated economic prosperity and peace following the cultural tradition of China's provinces of Fujian and Hoyu. Parades are powerful events in an urban environment's life because they expose one culture to a lot of different ones. People are engaged by the vitality of the colors, the chants, the performances and they become an integral part of them.

If you are interested in the full photographic coverage of this event, please check my flickr photostream