Chinese New Year begins Feb 5th, and the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace is celebrating with an annual dragon display at Fortuna Terrace. The dragon is a popular creature in Chinese mythology, symbolizing power, strength and good luck.

The display, created by Montreal, Canada-based Studio Artefact, weighs nearly half a ton and measures 22 feet long and 12 feet high. Thirty thousand LED lights illuminate the dragon. The early morning installation took more than four hours for technicians to complete. Viewers can watch the process condensed through time lapse photography into 90 seconds.

Chinese New Year, commonly called the Spring Festival in China, is marked by lion and dragon dances, fireworks, family gatherings, lantern festivals and the “red envelope tradition”.  This year is the Year of the Pig and celebrations last through February 19th.  The Forum Shops dragon will be on display through the month.