The Tourism Bureau has unveiled the theme of the main lantern at this year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival.
The annual Taiwan Lantern Festival is a much anticipated display of lanterns and themed illuminations held in a different part of Taiwan each year. It is held to coincide with the Lantern Festival, a traditional holiday celebrated 15 days into the Lunar New Year that marks the traditional end of the New Year season. This year, the festival is heading to the southern city of Kaohsiung for the first time in 20 years.
The centerpiece, or main lantern, of this year’s festival is to be a giant phoenix soaring above a mountain top and clouds and next to a map of Taiwan. At the base of the lantern is a platform inscribed around the edges with auspicious phrases in delicate calligraphy. The lantern was a collaboration between artist Lu Ping-Cheng and calligrapher Tong Yang-Tze.
The Tourism Bureau has also announced the design for the hand-held lanterns distributed to children at the event. The design of these toy lanterns changes every year, often to reflect the Chinese zodiac animal of the year ahead. The unveiling of a new design is one of the most anticipated parts of the run-up to each year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival.
This year’s design will feature a tiger, both because the upcoming year is the Year of the Tiger, and because the Tiger God is a traditional deity charged with protecting children.