Taiwan’s Lantern Festival 2024: Best Lanterns and Schedule
It's also eco-friendly.
(SPOT.ph) When one mentions "lanterns," understandable environmental concerns usually follow. Where would the lanterns land? Who would clean up the debris? Questions regarding the environmental impact of the recent Taiwan Lantern Festival in Tainan should be put to rest. The festival is now in its 35th year and is staged as part of the sustainable tourism program run by the Taiwan Tourism Administration (TTA). Instead of sending lanterns soaring into the sky, the Lantern Festival features a variety of colorful, designed, and LED-lit lanterns that remain fixed on land—and displayed throughout the festival's duration from February 24 to March 10.
Taiwan’s Lantern Festival in Tainan vs. Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival
Taiwan’s Lantern Festival is not to be confused with the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, a controversial festivity and cause for environmental concerns, considering that the lanterns are released into the sky. The one in Tainan was first held in 1990, and boasts not only its ancient traditions but also its efforts in making the event more environmentally friendly.
The Taiwan Lantern Festival features modern lanterns laid out stationary on pedestals and merges contemporary pop culture with traditional Taiwanese folk art figures and Chinese zodiac signs. Revelry starts every 15th day of the first month of the Lunar Year, which in the Gregorian calendar falls into either January or February.
2024 Lantern Festival's Host City
A different city in Taiwan hosts the festival every year, with Tainan the host city for 2024, 16 years after it last hosted the celebration. Tainan's hosting is made extra special as the city also celebrates its 400th anniversary.
Highlighting Tainan's varied culture, inventions, and position as a national leader in green energy, this year's lantern festival is themed "Glorious Tainan."
Renowned artist Peng Li-chen drew inspiration from the flying dragons found on the pillars of Tainan's Grand Mazu Temple, also known as the Great Queen of Heaven Temple, to create the 72-foot "Dragon Comes to Taiwan" lantern, which serves as the festival's centerpiece attraction marking the "Year of the Dragon" in 2024.
Two main exhibition sections, the "High-Speed Rail Lantern Area" and the "Anping Lantern Area," displayed more than 300 pieces of lantern art to complete this year’s Lantern Festival. Included in the "High-Speed Rail Lantern Area" are seven expansive exhibition zones surrounding the high-speed rail station. These zones showcase a variety of themed lantern regions, with the main lantern being "Dragon Comes to Taiwan."
Why Taiwan Celebrates the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival, also called "Little New Year," is celerated every 15th day of the lunar calendar. The event promotes a scene of togetherness and happiness while representing national wealth and harmony. The primary topic of the lanterns is based on the Chinese zodiac sign of the year, drawing from traditional culture.
Best Lantern Art Pieces for the 2024 Lantern Festival
It was no surprise that the 2024 Lantern Festival in Tainan already attracted more than 220,000 visitors during the testing demo alone. Throughout the more than two-week event, that number has further increased.
More than 300 lantern art pieces were put on display on the grounds of Anping Recreational Wharf and Tainan's High-Speed Rail Station. In keeping with the lantern festival's emphasis on eco-friendly practices, this year's featured lantern used solar energy components like EVA and environmentally friendly materials like carbon 60. Tainan, after all, has a world-renowned solar energy photovoltaic industry.
Incorporating naked-eye 3D technology for the first time, the themed lantern combined diverse lantern media materials, highlighting Taiwan's unique geographical features and connecting ecology to tourist attractions.
The featured lantern art pieces represented an array of figures, from dragons and pirates to iconic figures from Taiwanese pop culture, such as the Black Bear and Black-Faces Spoonbill, as well as Western figures like Spongebob, to the endless delight of the spectators and guests who traveled to Tainan to witness this year’s Lantern Festival.
This early, the Taiwan Tourism Administration is already promising a bigger and more extravagant Lantern Festival in 2025.
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