I didn't get many photos of the chickens or the eggs, but I think the lanterns created by Taiwan's young students were the highlight of the festival.Īs usual the city government and the organizers of the festival put a lot of work into organizing the festival and planning fun and interesting events for the people who attend. The location and the lack of lanterns however make this years event somewhat disappointing but there is always something to see and the experience of visiting Taipei's lantern festival is always an interesting one. I made sure to visit the area where there were lanterns made by young Taiwanese students and checked out some of the light shows, but I didn't stick around for any of the performances or the parades. The eight meter high image of the goddess has been designed to look like a Japanese cartoon and has ignited a lot of criticism of not only the design but the “ dead-looking eyes” of the goddess who is known as Taiwan’s protector deity.Īs the Lantern Festival was spread out over a large area and because there were far too many people and not enough to see, I didn't spend a whole lot of time taking photos this year. The most universally criticized aspect of this years Lantern Festival is the “lantern” that represents Lin Mo Niang (林默娘), the woman who is more popularly known in Taiwan as the Goddess Mazu (媽祖). Transportation to the Lantern Festival is quite convenient - You can access the festival from either the Ximen MRT station (西門捷運站) or from Taipei Main Station (台北車站). Instead of a large open space the organizers have decided to fill three meter wide sidewalks with tens of thousands of people. This year the city government threw all of that out the window and planned for the festival to take place in the heart of the already busy Ximen Shopping District (西門町商圈). In the past, the Lantern Festival would be held at Liberty Square (自由廣場), Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念堂) or the Taipei Expo Park (花博公園) all of which have large open areas that can accommodate large crowds. The event organizers boast that this years Lantern Festival is a break with tradition and they hope that it will allow visitors to enjoy the historic commercial districts with the celebrations being held on the streets. The festival is broken up into several different themed areas based on either chickens or eggs and there are also several different stages for performances, parades, children’s activities and light shows. The Lantern Festival in Taiwan is an important celebration with events being held in every city and county in the country as well as a designated national Lantern Festival which is being held in Yunlin this year.Ģ017 Taiwan Lantern Festival Website: English | 中文 These days things are a lot different and the lanterns you’ll find at the various lantern festivals throughout the world come in all shapes and sizes and can often be very complex in design. The simplicity of the small red lanterns that were put on display during Lantern Festival are something that became synonymous with Chinese culture over time while the elaborate lanterns we see today were mostly reserved for the emperor. The festival is one that is steeped in tradition and historically featured simple round red lanterns which symbolized a ‘new start’ for the year as well as good fortune as red is an auspicious colour in Chinese culture. The Lantern Festival (元宵節) is a traditional festival which is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year and its celebration marks the culmination of the traditional Spring Festival celebrations.
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