Taipei Lantern Festival for Goat Year, 2015

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This pig driving a banana is welcoming you to Lantern Festival!

Lantern Festival comes at the end of Chinese New Year, a time when handmade lanterns in incredible shapes are built to celebrate the special themes for the year, or for that matter any subject, charming or strange, that comes into the maker's head. (I last reported on Lantern Festival during Dragon Year.)

The way it works is that different schools, groups, and even companies enter their lanterns in various categories, and at some point winners are chosen. This post has only still photos, but many of the lanterns were mechanized, having various moving parts, and sometimes even steam issuing forth.

Since this is Goat Year, many of the lanterns are goat themed, and this arrangement of two goats with the Taipei 101 Tower was one of the best.

As you leaf through these photos, note your favorites, and let me know at the end. It is a difficult choice; even these here were weeded out with difficulty from over five hundred photographs! (How could we ever have existed before digital cameras?) 

The festival was spread out over a large park, as seen from one vantage point.

This one was looks like a slug with its tail in a bowl—perhaps a genie-like creature coming out? I saw many local people who seemed equally bewildered.

A set of horse lanterns was particularly finely made.

Pegasus, or at least some flying horse, was the centerpiece.

The makers couldn't resist adding this charming pony.

Although this traditional house is a larger complex, I'm sure you can identify all the same features as on the Chinese House Bank.

This sea creature tableau, composed of turtle, sea urchin, clam with pearl, crab, and adorable smiling shrimp, is supposedly made by an elementary school, but I somehow detect the hand of the art teacher.

This lantern does look like it was actually made by elementary school student, which to me gives it an extra charm. Although somewhat crude, it is still much better than I could do were I to try my own hand at it.

One problem with recent lantern festivals is the increased use of Christmas-type lights, which I feel is cheating. However, in this scene both types appear combined to good effect.

This tufted elephant is a very well crafted lantern.

Stunning is the only word that can describe this eagle on a rock.

Off to the circus, starting with this delightful carousel.

…a Ferris Wheel…

It is always a mystery whether clown figures are deliberately meant to be scary, or just come out that way. This huge clown’s head coming out of the ground is many times larger than the surrounding acrobat lanterns.

The reason that Taiwanese children behave is because their parents tell them that otherwise this giant clown lantern will come to get them!

Acrobats.

It’s a little hard to see in the picture, but this tree lantern was a real tour de force.

A pumpkin coach right out of a fairytale.

Astonishing quality, both design and construction-wise, in these dancing elephants.

I always like to see lanterns depicting traditional Chinese scenes.

Every year there is a main lantern with the theme of the current zodiac animal. This metallic, twinkling goat on a mountain top was about five stories high. There were lights playing, music blaring, and the mountains grew and changed shape!

One problem with the giant goat lantern was the ultra-bright, moving yellow and purple lights at the base, which played over the crowds, blinding people and making photography difficult.

Here is one final overview picture of the Goat Year Lantern Festival. The creativity and quality of these huge lanterns (the average height was probably six to ten feet) is amazing, especially for something so ephemeral. It is sad to think of all these being dismantled next week.

Again, let me know your favorites, and if looking at these has given you any ideas, tell me what design of lantern you might submit for a future festival. 

An elevated walkway made a convenient spot to take this photograph.

Happy Goat Year

 Thursday, February 19th is Chinese New Year Day. This year is the Year of the Goat, but the same character can also mean sheep or ram, so you have considerable leeway in deciding how to celebrate. These animals are very much a part of Chinese art, found in many forms and media, but even accepting all three alternatives does little to eliminate the possible confusion.

 

This ceramic goat with its raised head and happy expression looks like it might have been part of a set of Chinese zodiac animals. Its kneeling posture solves the problem of delicate, easily-broken legs, and details in blue give a lively dash to this relatively realistic animal.

 

Perhaps a garden scene is intended for this very deep architectural carving of two goats among various vases, pots, fruits and flowers, including a spectacular, out-of-proportion gilded chrysanthemum in the central vase.

A closer look at the right-side goat.

The corresponding bracket closely matches the first one, this time with two human figures displayed in a very similar garden.  The figure on the left appears to be playing a lute; oddly, the central vase seems to be unfinished.

 

This charming small octagonal wooden bowl demonstrates some of the problems identifying animals in Chinese art. When fine details are not present, it is difficult to tell the difference between goats, deer, and other similar animals. Usually deer have branched antlers that stick straight up from the head, and are frequently depicted as spotted, while goats have unbranched horns of various shapes.  This one seems just about in between, but let me know whether you think this represents a goat, a deer, or some other animal.

The adjacent panel is crisply carved with the character meaning East.

 

The above boxwood carving has some very unusual features. It is of a longevity god, holding a staff in one hand and his beard in the other, and at his feet is kneeling a goat. At least this really looks like a goat, with two unbranched horns close together. Yet the longevity god known as the Old Man of the South Pole is commonly depicted accompanied by a spotted deer.  In this kind of naive artwork one expects to encounter many variations, both in what was intended and the way it is depicted, so in the end the viewer has to decide upon a plausible interpretation.

The back reveals the original function as a seal case or small box.  The sliding cover that fit in those grooves has unfortunately been lost.

 

The above pair of very realistic and modern goats, down to their horns, hooves and even beards, appears on a carved window. This image is from the book Dong Yang Woodcarving by Hua, De-Han.

 

For sheep fanciers out there, this pair of once-gilded finials appears to depict sheep, but once again we are on a tangent of speculation. The cloven feet and fleecy wool are decidedly ovine, but the heads, while appropriately broad, are like nothing on this earth. They almost appear to have anteater-like snouts.

These is a sad story connected with these sheep. The last time that I moved, several boxes apparently didn't make it, and these were among the lost items. So although I still consider myself their owner, I do not currently possess them, and cannot double-check or re-photograph their features. I particularly regret their loss, since I have never seen anything to compare with them. I also admired their other-worldly charm and the quality of their carving.

 

Lantern Festival this year is sure to offer innumerable goat and sheep lanterns. This goat lantern, while not from a Goat Year, shows the effect that can be achieved. It is entirely made from empty Yakult containers, a type of yogurt drink, and I consider the tuft of grass it is eating a great added touch.

 

A bracelet with double ram's heads, in green stone, represents the third official possibility for the year's mascot. Although clearly not meant to deceive, it has the air of an archaic jade carving. 

Finally, here is a modern interpretation, showing that the spirit of these animals has never left Asian art. These fluffy sheep, carved from mother-of-pearl, are actually chopstick rests that I recently found in a kitchenware store.

I hope that you are now in the mood to celebrate Goat Year. There are plenty of realistic and unequivocal portrayals in the goat-sheep-ram continuum, but as always seems to happen in Chinese art, one soon runs into gray areas. The only way to settle the issue is to let me wish you all:  “Happy Year of the Goat, Sheep, Ram, possibly Deer, or any animal, real or mythical, that even vaguely resembles them.”

All photographs by the author, except as noted.

Lantern Festival Taipei 2012

This colossal main lantern is several stories high.

Now is the time for Lantern Festival, which marks the end of Chinese new year. Figural lanterns are made by stretching colored paper or fabric over wire frames, and lit from within. Spectacular displays are set up in public areas, and in the evenings, huge crowds go strolling to watch them.

Since this is the Year of the Dragon, many lanterns are dragon-themed, although even in other years dragons are always a popular subject.

The above dragon is made from recycled bottles and drink-cup lids. Recycled materials are very popular for making the lanterns.

To give a better idea of the variety and effect of the lanterns, I am including a lot of illustrations, and very little explanation, so please just scroll through and enjoy—let me know which one is your favorite.

 Lantern Festival was set up this year in the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Plaza. The Taipei 101 Building forms a dramatic backdrop for the display.

I don’t know whether this is supposed to be a dinosaur or an alligator, or what happened to its snout—there seems to be an epidemic.

     (All above photos by the author.)





There is another type of lantern known as sky lanterns, which are like little hot air balloons.  Prayers or lucky wishes are written in red on the sides, then the fire is lit and the lanterns go soaring up to heaven. It is a dramatic and beautiful sight to watch them rise into the sky. 

Pingxi sky lanterns, Photo by Rick Yi, Taiwan News from www.culture.tw 

The small reserve of fuel is supposed to be exhausted quickly, but often the wind tips the lanterns as they are rising, and the paper shells burst into flame and come plummeting back to earth. If I were a property owner I would worry about the fire hazard, but I guess people figure that if buildings can survive the Taiwan electrical and building codes, not to mention the fireworks from the first part of Chinese new year, then the mere application of direct flames isn't going to cause any additional harm.