As preparations for the Spring Festival are nearly complete, Helen Raine looks at how the Asian populations in three Western nations will celebrate.

Chinese New Year is on Thursday and will herald the ‘Year of the Sheep’.

China might have the largest number of sheep in the world but it’s Australia, New Zealand and the UK that we associate most with these woolly creatures (Oz has three sheep for every inhabitant).

This year, thousands of Aussies, Kiwis and Brits will be flocking to the massive celebrations organised by their thriving Asian communities.

This is how these sheep-producing nations will celebrate the arrival of an ovine 2015.

Australia

A key event in the antipodean Chinese New Year Festival will be the lighting of the larger-than-life ‘Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors’.

They will be glowing against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour as thousands of people visit Sydney city centre to wish one another Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year in Mandarin) or San Nin Faai Lok (in Cantonese).

In a Chinatown event called Lunar Streets, restaurants will be serving set price menus to allow visitors to experience the tastes of Asia.

For a discovery tour of all things sheep related, watch the Twilight Parade from Sydney Town Hall, which will have lanterns, floats and projections lighting up the streets and buildings.

And, of course, there will be dragon boat races at Cockle Bay, accompanied by drums; they will be racing to win in boats painted with dragon scales, the paddles representing the claws.

There’s also an exhibition called Hands On Lunar New Year at the China Cultural Centre and a gala night of traditional Chinese music and dance at Sydney Town Hall.

New Zealand

Auckland will be celebrating Chinese New Year with a three-day lantern festival at Albert Park, starting February 26.

More than 800 handmade Chinese lanterns will be lit and artisans will show festival-goers how they make them.

A programme of martial arts, dancing and music will be wrapped up with a huge fireworks display on March 1.

Theatre programmes include the interestingly named Two Farting Sisters and a puppet troupe from Guangdong, who will bring Chinese legends to life. According to the Chinese Zodiac, people born in the year of the sheep (that includes 1967, 1979, 1991 and 2003) are polite, reliable, kind and wise; those in the audience will find out more through the performances.

In Wellington, the tradition of wearing new clothes on the first day of Chinese New Year to symbolise a new start is embodied with a fashion show.

Red is the colour of choice for this date, so expect to see lots of people in this vibrant hue, or put on your best red outfit on to blend in.

Street parades will include a huge papier-mâché dragon, and there will be an Asian market too.

The Shaanxi Little Plum Blossom Qingqiang Opera Arts Group will be performing some spectacular traditional fire breathing.

The city of Dunedin will be making use of its Chinese Garden for the celebrations, filling them with dragons, lions and lots of good food. Find out your fate for the year with a fortune cookie and stay to the end to enjoy fireworks.

The British Isles

The celebrations in London are the biggest outside of Asia, with the West End being the epicentre, particularly Trafalgar Square, Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue.

Next Sunday, from 10am until 6pm, there’s a parade from Duncannon Street with floats and Chinese lion and dragon teams.

At the main stage in Trafalgar Square, events will include acrobatics and The Chen Brothers Flying Lion Dance.

There’ll be traditional craft stalls dotted around; buy something red to bring luck such as red paper-cut window and door decorations or lanterns.

You might also pick up a few sheep-shaped toys.

Food features heavily in any New Year celebration; order noodles for long life, citrus for luck and spring rolls for financial success.

Book ahead if you want to enjoy some of the best Chinese restaurants in Chinatown – they’ll be busy.

In China, it is tradition to ‘climb high and gaze far’ on New Year’s Day or the next day in order to bring good luck.

High points in the UK capital include the ArcelorMittal Orbitas Olympic Sculpture, St Paul’s Cathedral cupola, The London Eye or The Shard.

Food features heavily in any New Year celebration; order noodles for long life, citrus for luck and spring rolls for financial success

If you have kids, head to The National Gallery. They will be celebrating by letting families try out Chinese instruments and telling fables from the country.

The ‘Colossal Creature’ puppet-making class should also be a big hit with your little ones; the tiny creators will get to parade the results through the museum galleries afterwards.

Liverpool also has a large population of Chinese origin. Chinese people first started arriving in the city in 1834, aboard silk and cotton trading ships, and they stayed close to the docks.

Chinese New Year celebrations are vibrant there and will include a firecracker display next Sunday, where a ‘lucky man’ will appear to hand out red envelopes to the children.

The traditional costumes and tea ceremonies of the Han ethnic Chinese will be explored at the Unity Theatre on March 28.

And on Saturday, the Liverpool Chinese Table Tennis Club will be initiating new members while members of the Black-E circus give circus skills and mask-making workshops.

In Manchester, much of the action is happening in the main shopping area, with red and gold lanterns being hung and shops offering discounts and promotions if you mention Chinese New Year.

One lucky visitor will go home with a red envelope containing a share of €13,500 shopping vouchers, and there’s also a chance to win a trip to Hong Kong.

To help people get into the spirit of the celebrations, three martial arts schools will be presenting 30-minute performances which will include the northern lion dance, Chinese Kung Fu, jar juggling, the rolling rug and the unicycle panda.

Throughout the weekend, Manchester’s St Ann’s church will be used to project light, art and films; drop by to see an oversize, twisting snake, thousands of ascending lanterns and work by artist Stanley Chow being beamed onto this historic building.

The highlight will be a 50-metre-long dragon parading from Albert Square to Chinatown, where there will be traditional lion dances, irresistible food and a funfair.

As in China, the night will end with a bang; the fireworks finale is at 6pm.