Kaohsiung Lantern Festival 2014／2014高雄燈會藝術節
Kaohsiung Lantern Festival 2014
◎English translation: Lin Yi-jyuan
◎Photos by Pao Chung-hui, Hsieh Guan-yi, Tseng Guo-shu
This year's Kaohsiung Lantern Festival was held for 27 days and marked its 14th anniversary. Commencing on Chinese New Year's Eve (January 28th), it continued throughout the holidays and closed on Lantern Festival, on February 23rd. With a variety of colourful lanterns and the festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year, it is truly Kaohsiung's most romantic festival.
The festival is usually held at Glory Pier, however due to the construction of Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Music Center on Glory Pier, the festival was moved to several venues which included Kaohsiung's Love River, Sanduo and Wufu Shopping Districts, Cishan, Gangshan and Fo Guang Shan. The lights of the shopping district, along with the city government's creative installations of five million environmentally friendly LED lights gave the festival a whole new charm. All four venues commenced simultaneously.
This year the festival was particularly special, as it linked up major department stores and shopping districts. Fun lantern displays lit up and connected routes with four splendid "Gates of Light" installations. Visitors and residents were able to enjoy the glorious lanterns while doing their seasonal shopping.
Gangshan and Cishan also made fantastic contributions. In Gangshan a six meter high main lantern of giant screws and nuts was constructed to highlight Gangshan's hardware industry. Gangshan also featured spectacular 3D water and light shows and lantern displays of local celebrities. In Cishan, the whole township was lit up by a central twelve meter high, giant lantern and thousands of smaller, hand-painted lanterns constructed by local students.
The Lantern Festival is synonymous with reunions. This year just happened to fall on Valentine's Day so that a spectacular "Love and Happiness" parade was presented on February 14th. The beautiful floats and lively performances created an air of romantic ambiance. More than 1000 performers participated in the parade. Mayor Chen Chu also attended with delegates from Kaohsiung's sister cities from Japan, Korea and the United States. "Loho Horse" mini lanterns were given away along the parade route. The Lantern Festival brought about a great deal of to happiness visitors and residents throughout Kaohsiung.
2014高雄燈會藝術節
◎文／黃大維
◎攝影／鮑忠暉、謝冠儀、曾國書
逛賞燈會是高雄最浪漫的節慶活動，燈海、年味和人情味交織出高雄魅力，令人難忘。被譽為台灣三大燈會之一的高雄燈會藝術節，今年堂堂邁入第14年，
為期27天的2014高雄燈會，從1月28日起至2月23日閉幕，橫跨除夕、春節與元宵節。因為光榮碼頭今年已動工興建海洋文化及流行音樂中心，燈會有別以往移師市區，結合商圈店家以500萬顆環保LED燈飾妝點，春節期間包括市區的高雄燈會、旗山燈會、岡山燈會和佛光山燈會同步登場，熱鬧非凡，展現不同風貌，再加上元宵節當日的花燈大遊行，營造高雄燈會嶄新格局。
高雄燈會範圍涵蓋三多、五福商圈及愛河兩岸，串連各大百貨和商圈，沿途安排趣味燈飾並佈置4座特色燈門，讓民眾悠閒購物時，漫遊賞燈。
岡山燈會特別打造一只6米高的主燈，以螺絲為主體，象徵代表岡山的螺絲產業，炫麗的3D立體水舞燈光秀及融入岡山在地特色的創意燈區，上演一場繽紛的視覺饗宴。
旗山燈會則是以一只名為「幸福」的12米大紅燈籠，再加上千顆在地學子的彩繪燈籠一起照耀旗山，璀燦奪目。
今年象徵團圓的元宵節適逢西洋情人節，當晚盛大舉辦的「愛幸福」踩街大遊行，讓參加遊客烙印下美好回憶。踩街大遊行隊伍，包括各式花車和熱鬧表演，陳菊市長也和遠道而來的日、韓及美國等姐妹市代表攜手同歡，集結千名以上的演出人員讓花車遊行隊伍浩浩蕩蕩，沿途定點發送「樂活馬」小提燈，吸引民眾結伴加入提燈踩街行列，一同歡慶元宵，更把團圓的幸福傳送到高雄每個角落。