4ever Discovering
Finally Experiencing Chinese New Year: Pingxi Lantern Festival
A Sky Filled with Hopes, Dreams, and a Strengthening Bond
After spending two weeks in China over Chinese New Year, Emily and I were a little disappointed when we didn’t get to celebrate as much as we were expecting. Sure, we saw endless fireworks on Chinese New Year’s Eve, but nothing more. There were no dragons in the streets, parties at temples, or traditional foods offered. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a bummer. When we got back to Taiwan, we had one more festivity on our list: the Lantern Festival. We were hoping going here would help us finally experience a bit of the traditional culture, and it did not disappoint. This was by far, the best part about celebrating Chinese New Year in Asia. It was an incredible experience I will remember forever, and it definitely made up for the lack of festivities we saw in China.
Pingxi is only located about an hour and a half outside of Taipei. We took the local train with all of the other tourists, and found our way pretty easily to the town. Because this is such a huge event, there were lots of signs and people to help in case we got lost. When we arrived at the station, it was hard to miss. There was a mass amount of people trying to do the exact same thing we were: find ourselves a lantern.
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The craziest part about getting off the train was having to walk over the railroad tracks. It was the only option, so I assumed the train wasn’t running anymore. I mean, it doesn’t sound very safe to walk across the tracks. To my surprise, the trains were still running; if one was coming, it honked its horn and everyone ran out of the way. I was shocked. The trains weren’t moving very fast, but it still seems dangerous (especially with the THOUSANDS of people who were at the event). That was just the first dose of chaos of the day.
We arrived in Pingxi around 3 in the afternoon. We wanted to wait to release our lantern when it was dark, so we decided to explore the area first. It took a while to walk around because you were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else. I kid you not, I thought China was crowded, but this my friends, was MUCH worse. At one point I felt like I was a rock concert gone bad. After making our way through the crowds and down the Old Street (serving delicious street food), we walked to the Shifen Waterfall. This waterfall is considered the ‘Niagara Falls’ of Taiwan, so of course I had a little chuckle when I actually saw it. It is nowhere near the size of Niagara, but still beautiful to see. There was even a little park you could walk around and explore; unfortunately for us, it was closing soon so we didn’t have time to venture around. We saw the waterfall, took our pictures, and made our way back to our thousands of new friends.
Along our way, I noticed there was a stage area blocked off for the festival. They had live music playing, and later in the night, that is where everyone would go to release their lanterns. We really wanted to be a part of that special moment where everyone releases their lanterns at the same time, illuminating the sky with dreams (I know, it sounds amazing). Unfortunately, you had to get tickets into that area to release your lantern at a specific time. By the time we reached the booth, all of the tickets were sold out. A minor setback. We decided to go ahead and buy our lantern then, and release it with the other tourists on the railroad tracks. After we finished our own lantern, we would make our way back to the stage to get some pictures of the red-filled sky.
When we bought the lantern, I was surprised to see how HUGE it was. There was a group of 8 of us, and it was more than enough for everybody. The lanterns were sold in different colours, each one representing a different area of your life you want to wish for. We decided to buy a lantern with all of the colours, just so we were sure we had all of our bases covered (we didn’t want to only wish for health and miss out on fortune now). There was a little stand outside the shop to hang the lantern while we painted it. Everyone in the group got their chance to write their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future on the lantern. It was a surreal moment, watching hundreds of people pour out their dreams. It was a moment of vulnerability; everyone will always be connected by sharing their hopes with each other on the same paper. I am very fortunate I was able to share this moment with such an amazing group of women. When we finished painting, we lit our lantern and released it to the heavens. Once it was released, I watched it drift away in silence. I watched our lantern disappear into a hopeful new year, putting all of my wishes into the hands of God. At one point, a few of us were on the verge of tears. It’s hard to explain how I felt in that moment; it was such a mix of emotions, but mostly happiness. It is definitely something you wouldn’t understand until you did it for yourself. A picture can never capture the energy in the photo, and let me tell you, there was a lot of positive vibes being passed around on those railroad tracks. Releasing our lantern left everyone speechless as we made our way back to the stage area. It was perfect timing because as soon as we left, a train came and everyone had to scatter off of the tracks (our wishes were already coming true).
Once we squeezed our way through the thousands of people, we were determined to get closer to the stage and get a better view of the lanterns being released. This seemed like mission impossible; we were already standing so close to other people we couldn’t move. However, when push comes to shove (literally), we always want to get the best view possible. We squished and squeezed our way to the front, giving us a pretty incredible view of the lanterns. They were released around every 30 minutes, so we waited patiently until the time came where the sky was completely filled with lanterns. We were able to get some amazing pictures of the initial release, definitely making our trek through the people worthwhile. The hardest part was trying to leave. This was the biggest mosh pit I have ever seen; I was getting pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions. The worst part was having my ponytail caught between people, getting myself dragged all over. Once we made it out of the mass, I took a fresh breath of air, and thanked God I wasn’t claustrophobic. I swear, it was all worth it though!
After escaping the crowds, we called it a night and took the shuttle bus back to Taipei. This Lantern Festival was the highlight of my Chinese New Year experience, and I will cherish it forever. I still can’t express how grateful I am to be able to travel; it is these types of moments where I wish all of my family and friends could be standing right beside me. I know a little piece of heart was left on our lantern, and I hope it found its way to its destination. I will always be connected to Taiwan just from this one moment, forget about the other 364 days! I recommend everyone experience this once in their life; I promise you won’t regret it!
