The Lantern Festival was yesterday..... and damn were there a lot of fireworks. People were shooting off fireworks from about 6am yesterday until ..... sometime late in the night.
Once it got dark you could see fire works coming up between buildings from every direction. Fireworks are pretty cheap here.... so normal residents have fireworks that would be the grand finale at a fireworks show back home. We went to where the government was setting off fireworks... and I took a few short videos of them... but it really doesn't show the awesomeness.
People are also releasing a bunch of lanterns into the air all the time. So in one of the videos you will see just a bunch of little lights off in the sky (that aren't fireworks)... those are the lanterns. The second video also follows a lantern that is just being let off.
What is the significance of the Lantern Festival?
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure... the best answer I have gotten so far is "it marks the end of the spring festival"..... nothing like having a festival to show that another one is over :)
ReplyDeleteThere is a pretty good explanation of what all the symbolism means on wikipedia.
ReplyDelete--The festival is the Chinese new year based on the solarlunar calendar.
--Red lanterns and fireworks because the color/sound scares off the mythological creature that comes on that night to eat the towns people and livestock.
--Cleaning: to sweep out the old year's luck and make way for the new.(alters and family shrines are cleaned)
--Packets of money and sweets are given from the elders in the family to the children wish good blessings.
--most importantly, it is a time for loved ones(migrant workers) who are away from the family to return and a special dinner is held.