WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016
One of the biggest festivals of the year is the Taiwan Lantern Festival. At first, I wasn’t really interested in going. I mean, I would have rather gone to Pingxi and see the sky lanterns, but my co worker, Tara, said this is her favorite festival of the year and that she loves the Lantern Festival. The event is free, so why not?
Each year, Taiwan chooses a place to host the Lantern Festival. This year, the festival is in Taoyuan County. They chose an area next to the Taoyuan High Speed Rail, which is very convenient in my opinion.
Getting Around
For me, the easiest way to get to the Lantern Festival was by High Speed Rail, but you could also take the TRA and get off at Zhongli or Taoyuan and then connect to a shuttle bus. However, I highly recommend the HSR. It’s simple, quick, and no transfers. Each year the lantern festival is held somewhere different in Taiwan, so this information might be outdated.
Once there, you’ll mostly be on foot. There is one side of the festival, where they have a shuttle bus that will bring you from point A to point B. The distance between the two is probably half a mile? You can walk and look at all the lanterns along the way.
This event is a major event. I highly recommend buying your transportation tickets in advance. The place can get super packed really quick and expect lines.
Tara, Tracy, and I went on a Wednesday night. It was a bit rainy and because it was a week night, there weren’t many people there.
Food
There is food at the festival. There are a bunch of vendors selling different kinds of foods and closely resembles night market fare. Price is about the same.
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| Taro paste in between two crackers |
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| Fried shrimp? I was hungry haha |
Year of the Monkey
Each year, the festival also has a theme and usually it’s the corresponding zodiac animal. This year, it’s the year of the monkey, yay!!! It’s pretty fitting that they held in Taoyuan, because Taoyuan is also home to the Lamigo Monkeys, one of four national baseball teams in Taiwan.
There were probably hundreds of lanterns. I saw monkey lanterns, people lanterns, rocket lanterns, peach lanterns, and more. You might wonder, “Where did all these lanterns come from?” Well, another special aspect of the lantern festival is that surrounding elementary schools will make a lantern for the festival. Children in the surrounding area, or county made these beautiful and big lanterns. As a result, it becomes a community project.
Taoyuan Culture
Aside from monkeys, a lot of Taoyuan culture is also evident at the lantern festival. Taoyuan is known as the peach county, famous for their peaches. There was a beautiful section of peach lanterns at the festival.
The festival covers a lot of ground, so Tracy and I went back on a Saturday, February 27, 2016. We went during the day which a different experience all in itself. We got to see dance performances by aboriginal groups that reside in Taoyuan County. (The Taoyuan Magistrate welcomes Tracy in the middle of the video.)
Taoyuan is the proud home of the Lamigo Monkeys, so there was a section for the baseball team and its beloved mascot.
They had a lantern for the Daxi Bridge, which is a famous bridge in Taoyuan. I haven’t been to the actual bridge, but it looks nice judging from the lantern.
Show on the Lake
At night, they also had a big show/ production on a lake. There was music, there were performers, and dancers, and full out costumes. It seemed like one of those shows you might see at the Disney theme parks. I mean, it was elaborate and also very impressive. My general opinion of the event was very well organized. They had transportation figured out and they had about 100 extra bodies working the event at the HSR. They closed off streets and also prepared spaces for people to stand in line in a way so that it wasn’t chaotic.
The Big Monkey
Okay, so I also have to mention this huge monkey lantern they have at the festival. I would say it was the centerpiece of the festival. Every year they have one that resembles the zodiac animal of that new year. I looked at the one of the year before and it also wasn’t very pretty. The lantern is huge! The monkey stands at 26 meters tall and can turn 360 degrees. At least once every hour, there is a brief show in which there is a light show combined with the monkey turning all the way around. The monkey just flashes several different colors and the lanterns around it blink to the rhythm of the music. On weekends, the last show is also accompanied by a fireworks show. We were incredibly lucky that we chose to go on Saturday, because the next day, 30,000 people showed up to the event. From what I heard, people couldn’t move. It was the first good weather day since the festival started, so it makes sense why everyone would want to go, but it also doesn’t sound fun to squeeze through that crowd after the fireworks.
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| This picture shows up a lot clearer on my phone. |
For more details on what was at the festival, the China Post does a good job summing it up.
