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The Taiwan Lantern Festival traces its roots to the Chinese Lantern Festival which has been celebrated in China for ages. The festival corresponds to the first full moon day in the Chinese New Year and is associated with a 2,000-year-old history, linked to the Han Dynasty of China and Buddhism.

It is believed that the longer and higher the lanterns float, the more likely the deities will receive your requests. The sky lantern ceremony has come to represent the releasing of one's deepest fears and desires. It is a symbolic cleansing, a letting go of everything that troubles you.Apr 9, 2019

According to legend, traditional sky lanterns have their roots in China, where the chancellor and regent of Shu Han state used them to relay important military information during the country's Three Kingdoms period (220 to 265 A.D.).Sep 18, 2017

Lantern Festival is not a public holiday.

• The Sky Lantern Festival in Pingxi is an annual festivity held in celebration of the Lantern Festival every year, and it is considered as the most prominent event in Taiwan alongside the Fireworks Festival in south Taiwan. The Sky Lantern Festival...more

• Pingxi, Taiwan (CNN) — It's one of Taiwan's most breathtaking spectacles. Every year, thousands travel to the village of Pingxi for its annual Lantern Festival, where they write their wishes on paper lanterns and release them into the sky in the hopes that their ancestors will answer their prayers.

• Pingxi is the only place sky lanterns are allowed in Taiwan, as the mountains and water prevent them from flying too far away. Pingxi in 1967 and the present day.

• While Chinese New Year tends to get all the attention, one of the more subtle and beguiling celebratory days in the Chinese calendar is the annual Sky Lantern Festival. In a blaze of luminous glory, 100,000 to 200,000 hot air balloons emblazon a full moonlit sky.

The night of the first full moon of the lunar year is when the people of Taiwan, both young and old, venture out to celebrate the world-renowned Lantern Festival.

The Taipei Lantern Festival is an annual tradition that commemorates the first lunar month of the new Chinese year and all the lanterns (floats) were about the year's animal. Wandering around the grounds, it was interesting to see the floats.May 18, 2021

Taipei & Kaohsiung Lantern Festivals

Colorful lanterns of all sizes and shapes have always been the main feature of the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated with a grand national festival and major festival in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Thailand's Loi Krathong festival, in which candles are floated downriver on baskets made of banana leaves and wood, is held each year on the twelfth full moon (usually sometime in November). It's a must-see for any traveler in Southeast Asia.Dec 9, 2015

Pingxi, Taiwan (CNN) — It's one of Taiwan's most breathtaking spectacles. Every year, thousands travel to the village of Pingxi for its annual Lantern Festival, where they write their wishes on paper lanterns and release them into the sky in the hopes that their ancestors will answer their prayers.Aug 16, 2018

Why is it celebrated? A powerful union of water and lights makes this festival a momentous time for every gazer. The Thais honor the Goddess of water and pay respect to the Buddha. The celebration of lights and water is diluted with zealous emotions, especially of the participating lot.Aug 10, 2017

This forerunner of the present day Giant Lantern Festival was in a religious activity which we know today as “lubenas”, a nine-day novena before Christmas, which coincided with the “simbang gabi” from December 16 to 24. This tradition gradually evolved as the lanterns became bigger and the designs more intricate.

Chinese lanterns signify momentous and joyful occasions. Red, gold-tasseled lanterns abound during the Chinese Lantern Festival -- the day that marks the end of the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival celebration. It is commemorated on the 15th day of the Chinese calendar's first lunar month.

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year)

Spring Festival is the most important festival and the longest national holiday in Taiwan, beginning on December 30th (New Year's Eve) and ending on the fourth day of the first month of the lunar calendar.Jul 15, 2021

Moon Festival is one of the most important cultural holidays in Taiwan. Moon Festival is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which can fall between mid-September to early October in the Gregorian calendar. ... It's a time for families to gather and eat moon cake, drink tea, and admire the full moon.

Christmas is celebrated more widely in Taiwan than in mainland China. Although not many people in Taiwan are Christians (about 5%), many stores will sell Christmas related items at Christmas time. It's also not a national holiday in Taiwan. ... People also like to wear santa hats around Christmas time!

• Upon arriving in Pingxi, you can either walk along Old Street or head directly to the main stage. We’d recommend hitting the Old Street first to get a more intimate experience of the main commercial thoroughfare before the 80,000 festival attendees arrive.