Taiwan Celebrates the Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival, also known as Shang Yuan Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the first full moon—the 15th day—of the first month in the lunar year.

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By Sophia Fang

2/16/2011Updated: 4/19/2011

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/BombingTheDragon_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/BombingTheDragon_medium.jpg" alt="Miaoli Town, Taiwan, traditionally has an annual parade during the New Year's festivities. A dragon, carried by 167 students, is coiled into the shape of a birthday cake with candles, while the dragon's head is moving like dancing candlelight. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times)" title="Miaoli Town, Taiwan, traditionally has an annual parade during the New Year's festivities. A dragon, carried by 167 students, is coiled into the shape of a birthday cake with candles, while the dragon's head is moving like dancing candlelight. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-120839"/></a>

Miaoli Town, Taiwan, traditionally has an annual parade during the New Year's festivities. A dragon, carried by 167 students, is coiled into the shape of a birthday cake with candles, while the dragon's head is moving like dancing candlelight. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times)

The Lantern Festival, also known as Shang Yuan Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the first full moon—the 15th day—of the first month in the lunar year, according to the Chinese calendar. It marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

This year’s Lantern Festival fell on Feb. 17. A series of Lantern Festival celebrations started in many places in Taiwan before Feb. 17. The most-popular ones are the Sky Lantern Festival in Pinghsi, in northern Taiwan; the Taipei Lantern Show; and Bombing the Dragon in Miaoli, in northwest Taiwan.

Sky Lantern Festival

Every year Pinghsi Town holds its unique Sky Lantern Festival with thousands of lighted lanterns being released into the night sky. The lanterns are decorated with words and paintings.

The TV program “Fantastic Festivals of the World,” broadcast by the Discovery Channel, once listed the Sky Lantern Festival in Pinghsi among the three best traditional festivals in the world.

This year’s Pinghsi Sky Lantern Festival, the 13th of its kind, started on Feb. 6. More than 100,000 people were attracted to the main event held at Pinghsi Middle School on Feb. 12. Thousands of lanterns were lighted and sent into the night sky, symbolizing people’s wishes being carried to the heavens.

Taipei Lantern Show

The 2011 Taipei Lantern Show started at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on Feb. 11. This year’s theme lantern was a 69-foot-tall baby rabbit. An innovative LED lighting created effects of snow flakes and shooting stars while the baby rabbit rotated.

Alongside the huge rabbit were six smaller rabbits called “fortune rabbits,” representing health, wisdom, love, trouble-free pregnancy, prosperity, and longevity.

Bombing the Dragon

In Miaoli, in northwestern Taiwan, the Bombing the Dragon parade is the main event of the Hakka, an ethnic minority, during the Lantern Festival. In a centuries-old tradition, people “bomb” a dragon with fireworks in order to attract good luck for the coming year.

The 2011 Bombing the Dragon parade started outside the Miaoli train station at 7 p.m. on Feb. 12. The mayor and distinguished guests lit a 2.5-mile-long “dragon of fireworks” to mark the start of the parade. A 449-foot-long, brightly decorated dragon carried by 167 students was a parade highlight.

The shorter dragon danced to the sound of the longer dragon’s exploding fireworks. Many spectators were caught up in the exciting mixture of lights, sounds, smoke, and colors.