Heavenly Lanterns

During Lantern Festival, "Pingxi is home to one of Taiwan's most enchanting spectacles, the release of hundreds of 'sky lanterns'." -The Rough Guide to Taiwan This was our second year attending Pingxi's Heavenly Lanterns. We teamed up with the Jensens for this little adventure.

First stop was the food stalls to enjoy the delicious and not-so-delicious snack food Taiwan has to offer.


All the while, hundreds of lanterns are being let off into the sky every 30 minutes or so. It makes for a beautiful and serene site.


That is until something goes awry and a lantern catches aflame and comes crashing down into the crowd or power lines. As we all know from Cody's previous post, the Chinese love getting themselves into dangerous situations. And apparently we Rowlands like to take part in that.


By the way, having your lantern catch flame before it even gets off the ground is considered very bad luck. I have heard of people crying because of it happening.

After we were filled by our food selections, or more like feeling gross because of our bad choices, we made our way to a lantern stand. We had the nicest family assisting us as we prepared our lanterns for flight. It is tradition to decorate the lanterns with colorful pictures, the names of their owners, and wishes.
























Please notice the cutest little Chinese man in the world. I just couldn't get enough of him. Maybe because he looks a little bit like a Chinese President Hinckley.


When our lanterns were ready, we headed to the top of the hill where hundreds of lanterns are set off at the same time.

We made it just in time to see the last mass lantern release. It is so serene and beautiful.


We ended the evening as we set off our own lanterns. I'm happy to say ours did not come careening down in flames, so we should have good luck this year!