Taipei Lantern Festival 2010

My long time friend Weifa (Indonesia) and I went to visit the 2010 Taipei Lantern Festival. The festival will last only from February 26 to March 7. This year, the theme,  is "Tiger Hoki" said to bring fortune upon the house (Taipei City). The show is a combination of traditional lanterns with the latest technical events.  A 20 meters height and 16 meters width of Tiger Hoki shows displays lights and music every 30 minutes from 7-11pm.

Here are some photos taken:

Tiger Hoki - 20 meters height and 16 meters wifth, the main lantern display using laser and stereo effects, and smell scents... promoting Taipei International Flora Exposition which will be held on November 6,2010 to April 06, 2011...

2009 Lantern Festival (台北燈節)

2009 Sky Lantern @ Pingxi (平溪天燈)

2009 Chinese New Year (Food Bazaar)

The Food:


Food prepared for Chinese New Year:



Year Cake - getting promotion every year!



Turnip (White Radish) Cake - good beginning!



Spring Candy - to welcome the arrival of Spring!



Melon Seed - a lot of children



Lotus Seed - having children continuously



Peanut - longevity



Large Tangerine - big luck and big profit (金橘子, jinju)



Spring roll - gold bar



Dumplings - silver ingot (餃子, jiǎozi)



Fish - having surplus every year (魚, yú)



Dragon eye (longan) - wealth and family reunion



Dates - having intelligent children soon



Hair seaweed - having a jockpot



Treasure bar - full of gold and jewelry



恭喜發財



Gōngxǐ fācái



"Congratulations and be Prosperous"





While the first two words of this phrase had a much longer historical significance, in practical terms involve surviving the harsh winter conditions.

2009 Chinese New Year (Preparation)

☆╭┐┌╮☆°．﹒
╭┘└┘└╮∴°☆°

└┐．．┌┘─╮∴°

╭┴──┤牛扭 ├╮

│ｏｏ│ 錢坤 │●°

╰┬──╯ │ ∴°﹒

☆ ˍ
ˍ/ˍˍˍˍ/∴☆．



2009

The Preparation:

Before the celebration, people here starts cleaning up their houses...throw things that are old (buy new one). Renovation here and there... houses full of sayings...and not to mention the "beauty salon", double the price when you go there before and after new year. Before, i don't see the logic, later on I learned that they prepare themselves for a new brand lucky year and remove all the bad luck they had previously...

Chinese Household should also have live blooming plants to symbolize rebirth and new growth. Flowers are believed to be symbolic of wealth and high positions in one's career. Lucky is the home with a plant that blooms on New Year's Day, for that foretells a year of prosperity.