Spectacular Lantern Festival on the River Walk
The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is also the Lantern Festival. The lanterns are traditionally made of silk over a wire frame, and little towns have parades and contests to see who produces the best one. Here’s Singapore’s version of that tradition, based in the main tourist district along the river downtown, with sponsorship from many companies. You’ve got to admit the results are pretty fun to look at.
Here’s the flagship dragon, with tropical fish along his belly:
Next on a floating platform we have the Monkey King and the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, with other pals from the Journey to the West. Yes, the non-immortals are riding on a turtle whose head goes in and out of its shell:
Next five horsemen on another floating platform. The horses move back and forth on sub-platforms. I know the middle one has to be Guan Yu, the great warrior. My friend says one of them is an immortal who ate human flesh – you can tell because he’s ugly. I am not sure I can distinguish him. The others I’m not sure about – they don’t seem to be from Three Kingdoms, which is Guan Yu’s story, so I guess it’s some other tale. Anyway, two views of them:
And finally, happy leaping golden-scaled fish on a floating platform in the foreground, with an entire bridge covered in a lantern with a coral reef theme in the backgroung, sponsored by the Underwater World aquarium. You can’t see the pink dolphins leaping up and down, but they’re there:
Is this fun or what?