Over in New Zealand, late February means three things: the end of summer, the Chinese New Year, and the annual Auckland Lantern Festival, which this year will see the city’s Albert Park festooned with over 800 handmade Chinese lanterns.
The city has been doing all this for a while – it’s held the event year year since 2000, making this the 16th – but organisers are clearly keen to mix things up a bit to keep the event fresh. From Stuff.co.nz:
One of the event organisers Jennifer King, from the AsiaNZ Foundation, says one of the new attractions will be a “Great Wall Lantern”, which is five metres long and complete with a camel.
Which sounds pretty cool.
Another new addition will be a lantern of a lantern seller with small children.
Which sounds… yes, anyway.
For those who are that way inclined, the event also features market stalls, street foods, “lantern making demonstrations” and a performance by (I swear we’re not making this up) the Two Farting Sisters. It ends with a fireworks display on Sunday night.
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Here’s a video of some of the lanterns on show during last year’s festival.
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