A rainbow of colour awaits travellers to Hong Kong from September 30, – October 15, 2006, as the city embraces its traditional Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration.
Local families celebrate with Chinese paper lanterns in all shapes, sizes and colours, and on October 6, 2006, animated crowds gather and make their way to vantage points such as The Peak and Victoria Park before lighting the lanterns. A spectacular sight will be created, as all public parks in the city are illuminated with multicoloured light.
Celebrations across the S.A.R. in 2006
- This year there will be a National Day fireworks display held at the harbour Sunday October 1, 2006 at 9:15pm.
- Victoria Park will play host to palm reading workshops, lantern riddle games and cultural performances. At the western entrance to the park, a Lantern Wonderland will be set up as the centrepiece of celebrations, featuring giant lanterns with synchronized audio, lighting and visual effects.
- At the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, Park Lane Shopper’s Boulevard, along the famous Nathan Road, will be showcasing a Lantern Gala with 18 specially designed lanterns representing the 18 local districts in Hong Kong. September 30 – October 15, 2006, 6-11pm.
- In other areas, Sai Kung, Lamma Island, Cheung Chau Island and Lei Yue Mun have lantern seafood festivals from 30 September – 15th October.
Visitors looking for good fortune can take part in one of the three wishing lantern trails. Each person is given their own special lantern, and can write their wish on a tag, hanging it on the trail for good luck. These will be held Victoria Park (30 September – 8 October), Avenue of Stars (30 September – 8 October), and Park Lane Shopper’s Boulevard (30 September – 15 October).
This festival is particularly awe-inspiring and exciting for children. Everyone stays up late as the huge autumn moon rises, and locals then sample the traditional Mid-Autumn Celebration yuet beng (moon cakes) - special sweet cakes made of ground lotus, sesame-seed paste, egg yolk and other ingredients.
The Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration date back to the 14th century, and commemorate a famous uprising against the Mongol rulers of the day. The rebels cunningly planned their attacks by embedding messages in cakes, which were then smuggled to their compatriots!
Not to be missed and part of the celebration is the Fire Dragon Parade from October 5 – 7, 2006, involving a 67-metre-long dancing dragon, which takes to the streets behind Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island! This area, which used to be a village, was struck by a typhoon and a plague over a century ago. The villagers performed a dragon dance for three days and three nights, which warded off their run of bad luck.
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