Taiwan Lantern Festival Guide: Sky Lanterns, Beehive Fireworks and Lantern Shows

As one of the three most important traditional festivals in Taiwan, the Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, usually in February or early March. It is also called the Yuanxiao Festival: families eat sweet glutinous rice balls (yuanxiao or tangyuan) filled with red bean or sesame paste to celebrate reunion and harmony. But if you think that’s all, then you’re wrong! All over Taiwan, the festival is celebrated with huge lantern shows, sky lanterns and even fireworks battles. Here is what to expect, from north to south, so you can plan a trip around it.

Taiwan Lantern Festival

History

In 1990, the government held the first Taiwan Lantern Festival, a giant outdoor lantern exhibition, to promote Taiwanese folk festivals and traditional culture to the world. Holding the Taiwan Lantern Festival has been a yearly tradition ever since. Until 2000 it was held at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei; since 2001 a different city or county hosts it every year, so each edition mixes in local customs, local stories and its own soundtrack. When Chiayi hosted, for example, the shows played “Gao Shan Ching” （高山青）, a song praising the beauty of Alishan and its Indigenous people.

Feature

Every year, the main theme lantern draws the most attention from visitors and the media, and it often features the Chinese zodiac animal of the year. Many lantern festivals also hand out small handheld lanterns, a favorite souvenir with kids, so ask about them when you arrive.

The lighting ceremony is a highlight as well. At a chosen auspicious time, the host city invites the president, the mayor and other guests to count down with the crowd, and the main lantern comes to life with music and light.

The host city and dates change every year, so check the Taiwan Tourism Administration’s announcement for the year you travel. And if the Taiwan Lantern Festival is far from your plans, don’t worry: there are other brilliant lantern festivals around Taiwan.

Taipei Lantern Festival

The Taiwan Lantern Festival started in Taipei, and after it began rotating around the island, Taipei kept holding its own lantern festival every year, so it also has a long history. In recent years it has been held in the city center, for example around Ximending and the West District, with lanterns lining the streets, a lighting ceremony and a parade. Its theme lantern usually follows the zodiac animal of the year.

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, New Taipei City

Have you ever heard the old Taiwanese saying “Sky lanterns in the north, beehive fireworks in the south”? It means that on Lantern Festival, these two famous events are the must-dos in Taiwan. Maybe you have seen sky lanterns before, but do you know the origin? It dates back to the Qing Dynasty, when Pingxi was a remote mountain area troubled by bandits. Villagers who had fled into the hills would return when it was safe, and those back home released lanterns to signal that all was well. The custom passed down and has become one of the most famous festivals in Asia, regularly featured on international lists of the world’s most beautiful festivals.

During the festival, mass lantern releases are held over several evenings in Pingxi and Shifen, with hundreds of sky lanterns floating up together. Free lanterns are usually handed out to visitors on the day, so arrive early. You can also release your own sky lantern in Shifen any day of the year. Read more in our Shifen Old Street and sky lantern guide.

Learn more about Shifen and Jiufen
Visit Shifen and Jiufen with a local guide

Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, Tainan

The “south” half of the saying is the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival. It is said to have begun in the late Qing Dynasty, when a cholera epidemic struck Yanshui and residents carried the god of war, Guan Yu, through town with firecrackers to drive away the plague. Today, on the night of the Lantern Festival, huge racks of bottle rockets (the “beehives”) are fired straight into the crowd. It is thrilling but genuinely dangerous: if you join in, you must wear a full-face helmet, thick fire-proof clothing, gloves and a towel around your neck, with no skin exposed. Many visitors prefer to watch from a safe distance.

Yuejin Lantern Festival, Tainan

Also in Yanshui, the Yuejin Lantern Festival is known as one of the most romantic lantern festivals in southern Taiwan. Its lanterns are very different from traditional ones: modern artists create light and new media installations along the old Yuejin harbor, and the themes don’t follow the zodiac. If you want to see a different kind of lantern festival, this is the one.

Kaohsiung Lantern Festival

Together with the Taiwan Lantern Festival and the Taipei Lantern Festival, the Kaohsiung Lantern Festival is one of the biggest in Taiwan. Held along both banks of the Love River, it mixes lanterns with the city’s waterfront scenery, and often includes light shows on the water and performances from Taiwan and abroad. Combine it with a day out in Kaohsiung.

Other lantern festivals

Taoyuan, Taichung and many other cities hold their own lantern festivals around the same time, each with its own theme lanterns and night markets nearby. Dates and venues change every year, so check the local government’s website before you go.

Plan your Lantern Festival trip in Taiwan with a local guide