Lantern Festival, 2012

Lin-lin @ Love River, Kaohsiung
Today (Feb. 6th) is Lantern Festival, the last day we celebrate Chinese New Year. The following is the main description of the origin of the festival and there are more exciting activities at other cities in Taiwan. You can take a look from the links I put in the end of this introduction.

The first month of the Chinese calendar is called yuan month, and in ancient times people called night xiao; therefore, the day is called Yuan Xiao Festival in mainland China and Taiwan. The fifteenth day is the first night to see a full moon in that lunar year. According to Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve puzzles on lanterns, eat yuanxiao ('元宵'in Chinese) (a glutinous rice ball, also known as simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán) and enjoy a family reunion (Wikipedia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYs3ULA_5qQ&feature=related
(firecrackers to expel bad lucks or evils to receive a whole new year, Miaoli county)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSJB2YPicjs&feature=fvsr
(the storm of firecrackers in Yan-shui in Tainan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5cQqiYd9c&feature=related
(2012 Pingxi Sky Lantern)