Exactly 2 weeks after Chinese (Lunar) New Year comes the Lantern Festival ~ so Saturday February 24 was the day! Every city in Taiwan puts on its own Lantern Festival, but the main Taiwan Lantern Festival is hosted by a different city every year, this year it’s Tainan. The Taipei City Lantern Festival, held in the Ximen area, started a week early, I was there last Wednesday night. The Lantern Festival stretches along the road from Ximending to Beimen, where the old north gate, Beimen is illuminated with a light show. There’s a footbridge, covered in lanterns made by local schoolchildren, and in the area by Zhongshan Hall are the main lanterns made by schools and organizations. There’s also lanterns made by some of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, most prominent is St. Kitts and Nevis, plus lanterns from neighbouring countries like Japan, Korea, Guam and Shanghai. There’s dragons everywhere, it’s all quite amazing!

Then, a few days ago, I went to Tainan to visit Bishop David Lai and his wife Lily, planning the visit so that I could also see the official “Taiwan Lantern Festival in Tainan”, and we ended up all going there together – the site is out by the Tainan High-Speed Rail Station. These kinds of events in Taiwan are extremely well-organized and always run smoothly, with huge numbers of workers on hand to help, plenty of shuttle buses and all the things necessary to ensure such a major event is a success. The Lantern Festival area is massive, with whole fields given over to light displays, stages for performances, and of course lanterns of every size and shape. A large lantern area was given over to temples, offering blessings, a big feature of Tainan life. Tainan is Taiwan’s oldest city, celebrating its 400th anniversary this year, so there was also a focus on Tainan’s history, from its early days when European traders came seeking tea for export to satisfy the increasing demand for tea in ye olde England ~ see the ship lantern below, showing a box of tea being uploaded to the ship, filled with some of Taiwan’s iconic symbols, including the Black-Faced Spoonbill and the Taiwan Black Bear…

Different groups from Tainan’s schools, prisons and community organizations had made the lanterns – there were 300 on display, with winners in each category, all stunning! Dragons can be fierce or gentle, breathing fire and smoke, or just smiling benevolently. Whereas the main dragon lantern in Taipei is quite fierce, the one in Tainan is not – no smoke pours forth, and the accompanying music is quite gentle. Every 30 minutes, the main dragon lantern comes to life, the music starts up and it revolves one whole circle, taking 3 minutes. But on either side of the main dragon lantern are far fiercer dragons, breathing out smoke and generally terrifying! As usual, I liked the children’s lanterns done by elementary schools the best!

I am almost dragoned-out, but not quite ~ still enough energy for dragon poses with Bishop and Mrs. Lai! 🤣

🐉 Happy Lantern Festival everyone! 🐉