The Chinese Lantern Festival has been celebrated for nearly 2000 years and occurs on the final day of the New Year celebration.
The legend behind the festival is interesting. Some villagers killed a beautiful crane which flew down from heaven, angering the Jade Emperor. In response, he planned to destroy the village by fire. His daughter warned the villagers, who hung red lanterns around their homes, set bonfires in the streets, and exploded firecrackers. This gave the appearance of a village ablaze when viewed from heaven. The Jade Emperor, satisfied, decided not to burn down the village.
The lanterns you see here are created by hand on silk fabric which is stretched over steel frames and lit with hundreds of LED lights.
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| Phoenix |
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| The dragon was 200 feet long, 21 feet high, and weighed in at 18,000 pounds. |
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| The dragon squirted streams of water rather than flame. |
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| Look at the detail on the fish! |
