Top 5 most beautiful lantern festivals in Taiwan you must see

Lantern festivals are held in Taiwan every year to commemorate the New Year. Taiwanese people often organize fun and interesting events at the start of the year, particularly lantern festivals, sky lantern festivals, and colorful and vibrant fireworks throughout Taiwan’s provinces. According to legend, these light festivals date back to the Han Dynasty, when a devoted ruler with profound religious feelings commanded the people to light their lanterns in honor of the Buddha, so that the gods might bless everyone.. If you haven’t been to any lantern festivals in Taiwan, you may not realize how magnificent they are! It’s a shame if all you want to see are the little reddish lanterns placed in straight lines, because the lantern festivals in Taiwan are staged on a grand scale. To construct large lanterns, an entire folk narrative, fairy figures, or even landscapes will be inspired. Let’s have a look at the Taiwan lantern festival 2018 season: Taiwan lantern festival 2018 dates (lantern festival Taiwan 2018 dates) and the top 5 most beautiful lantern festivals in Taiwan you must see with Focus Asia.

 

 

Every spring, in February and early March, there are lantern festivals with a range of lanterns ranging from elegant, charming, to large, with themes ranging from dragons, monkeys, chickens, to lanterns made in the Picasso style. All of these lanterns will be handcrafted by artisans, artists, and even young children. Many areas on this milk tea island will have lantern festivals as part of the national celebration; nevertheless, Living Nomads will show you to the most popular and interesting places. If you’re planning a trip to Taiwan in the spring, don’t miss out on the traditional lantern festivals listed below!

Taipei Lantern Festival

 

It is one of the largest lantern festivals in Taiwan. This festival is held annually in Ximending – the busiest city in Taipei, extremely large.

Schedule of festivals (dates)

Lighting Ceremony: on February 24th, 2018 (Saturday); 18:00-19:30, at MRT Ximen Station.
Carnival Parade: on March 3rd, 2018 (Saturday); 17:30-21:00, in front of Taipei Fuxing primary school (near MRT Beimen Station).
Closing and awarding ceremony: on March 4th, 2018; 19:00-20:30 (Sunday) at MRT Ximen Station.
Check out the festival schedule in detail here.

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

 

 

 

 

When it comes to the lantern festivals, you should see the largest, most vibrant, most magnificent, most expected festival in Taiwan, which is the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival. It is said that once upon a time an ancient village was robbed by pirates, people in the village had to hide in the high mountains. When the pirates went away on the 15th of January, a good-hearted uncle dropped his sky lantern to announce that people could safely return home. Since then, on this day, people kept the custom of dropping sky lanterns to show the peace. Hundreds of thousands of brilliant lanterns in the night were dropped into the sky with wishes, prays in this festival every year.

 

Schedule of festivals (date): In 2018, the festival is held only on March 2nd (Friday).

How to get there

By bus: Take MRT to Muzha Station and take bus NO.15 to Shifen, only 12 bus trips/day within a week.
By train: Take the east line to Ruifang station and transfer to Pingxi Branch Line.

Taichung Lantern Festival

Taichung is also a location for the Lantern Festival. The 2018 lantern festival will be hosted in Taichung Park and Taichung City Seaport Art Center, with lanterns depicting the year’s mascot theme. The artists’ massive lanterns are highly unique and deserving of appreciation.

Schedule of festivals (dates): On February 24th, 2018 (Saturday) and March 11th (Sunday).
How to get there: Take HSR to Taichung or hire a car to visit some famous places such as Sunmoon Lake, Tianjin Farm. Then turn back to take part in the lantern festival.

Taiwan Lantern Festival in Chiayi

Take a one-hour train ride from Taichung to Chaiyi, which will host the 2018 Lantern Festival. This year, there will be various lantern locations, ranging from terrestrial lanterns to aquatic lanterns, covering a wide range of subjects. The theme for 2018 is supposed to be the stunning landscape of Alishan, Taiwan National Museum architecture, and air lanterns that employ high technology, sophisticated materials, and methods.

 

Schedule of festivals: On March 2nd until March 11th, 2018.

Tainan Yanshui Beehive Firecrackers Festival

 

This is one of the most unique celebrations, held in Yanshui, Tainan, with no large lanterns or dazzling lanterns as in Pingxi, but instead people exhibit beehive fireworks. The more fireworks that enter the human body, the more unfortunate things you will avoid and the more fortunate things you will get throughout the year. To protect your body when standing in the center of a fireworks forest and gathering firecrackers, you should wear helmets, goggles, masks, raincoats, gloves, pants, and boots when participating. It is regarded as one of the three largest folk festivals in the world, as well as Taiwan’s traditional religious celebration.

Venue: Wu Miao Temple, Yanshu, 87, Wumiao Rd., Yanshui Dist., Tainan.
Schedule of festivals (dates): from March 1st to March 2nd, 2018.
How to get there: You can depart from all places: Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi, etc. to Tainan.

 

In addition, if you come to Tainan, let’s spend more time on exploring this beautiful and peaceful city.