I got a fantastic chance to go visit a sweet friend in Taiwan for the Lantern Festival there. What a treat! Sadly, Mr. A was unable to join me on the trip, so it was a girls vacation.
We split up our time between Taipei (the capital) and Kaohsiung (where my friend lives and works). The Lantern Festival is kind of like the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC - it lasts about a week, and there are various events. However, unlike DC, the events are all over Taiwan. So we got to go to three separate celebrations for the Lantern Festival!
The Taipei and Kaohsiung lantern festivals were similar in that the majority of the lanterns displayed were made by local schools, temples, and other organizations. What a fun insight into the thoughts of the Taiwanese! This year is the year of the dragon, so many of the lanterns focused on dragons, which is a symbol of power and good fortune. The year of the dragon is also, interestingly enough, the most popular year to have children.
The one on the right was made by one of the schools my friend teaches at - how cool is that?!
In addition to focus
ing on dragons, many of the lanterns had various symbols for wealth, abundance, and unity. Koi and money images were incorporated to encourage wealth, abundance and success. Many of the lanterns had flags or buildings from different countries, or they had globes incorporated to show the unity or cooperation of Taiwan with the rest of the world.
Occasionally the lanterns were just far too hilarious to pass up. For instance, dinosaurs are a constant theme that I keep seeing in this part of the world. Why? I couldn't tell you. But, here they are yet again:
Or what about this... This one seems to be perhaps from the movie "Transformers", although, I'm not completely sure...
But this one... This one is the one that cracks me up the most. It is meant to have a very clear theme of unity and world cohesion. It has people and representative landmarks from Taiwan (Asia), the United States (obvi), France (Europe), Egypt (Africa), and Australia (not sure what happened to South America...). However, the representations of the people is hilarious. See for yourself.
Alright, so Taiwan and France are fine. You've got a traditional Taiwanese outfit and Taipei 101 (which was the tallest building in the world until Dubai outdid them in 2010) for Taiwan, and you've got a cute little fashion-forward (ish) French girl with her Eiffel Tower. All completely good and dandy. Alright, let's get started, left to right. Egypt. Now, totally fine to use the pyramid as the building. But I was completely unaware that Egyptians ever took style hints from Pebbles from the Flintstones. Then we come to Australia. Again, the Sydney Opera House is a fantastic symbol of for Australia (although I'm sure the aboriginals would prefer Ayers Rock). But let's just examine the person from Australia. She is wearing a dress made completely of leaves (strange, I don't believe I've ever seen that style before...) and is wearing a koala costume hat. What??? Now, the grand finale: the American. Or perhaps I just think it is, because I'm American. Regardless, let's take a look. The Capitol is the symbol for America (I mean, they really did have decent building choices). The person is dressed in Native American garb (I guess), which again, totally fine. The Egyptian, Taiwanese, and Australian are also seemingly dressed in 'native' old-school clothing. But let's take a closer look. The American is white, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed. Yep, that's right folks. I'll just stop there.
Moving on.
We
also got to go to a small city north of Taipei called Pinxi. The Pinxi lantern festival is particularly famous because instead of making lanterns that are meant to be displayed, people go there, purchase a paper lantern, decorate it by painting on their wishes, then light it up (kind of like a hot air balloon) and send it up to the heavens. Each color lantern had a different meaning (wealth, prosperity, family love, friend love, romantic love, success, etc). Here we see some people decorating their own lanterns and then sending them up.
The day that we went, they also scheduled to have groups of 200 lanterns at a time sent up into the night sky every 30 minutes once the sun went down. It was absolutely beautiful!
Of course, when tons of every-day people are lighting up lanterns that are essentially made of tissue paper with oil or other lighter fluid, there are bound to be some problems. Some people accidentally got the flame too close to the tissue paper, which then caught on fire. Others added too much lighter fluid or oil to the little square of cardboard/paper that you lit on fire to provide the hot air which then causes the lantern to go up into the sky. The result? flaming oil or lighter fluid dripping down on the crowds below. Awesome. One group next to us actually attached a sparkler to the bottom of their lantern which went off FAR before the lantern really took off into the sky, showering us all with sparks. Oops.
However, given the number of people there and the number of lanterns lit and sent up into the sky, there were very few debacles, and I didn't see any real injuries the entire day. Quite impressive! I also did not see significant alcohol intake, which would be one of the primary marks of almost any American festival. Overall, the Pinxi lantern festival was my favorite lantern festival. Seeing the groups of lanterns float up together into the sky was incredible.
Now, since my friend and I are Christian, the lantern that we sent up was slightly different. Rather than send up wishes for wealth, success, or happiness, we sent up a lantern quoting Psalm 19:1. We only used the first half of the verse: "The heavens declare the glory of God." Isn't it pretty?
I will leave you with the rest of the psalm to remember that our desires must first be for the God of all creation, not for health, wealth, success, or happiness. It was a clear reminder that most people in Taiwan, and even here in Japan, do not know the God of the universe who is the creator and sustainer of all life, and do not know that it is only through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross that we might be forgiven for our sins and reconciled with God, brought into his eternal love and saved from his righteous judgement. Praise be to God alone.
Psalm 19
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
11 By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
