Private jet charter to the Sky Lantern Festival Taiwan

Taiwan’s 2018 Chinese New Year celebrations

The Chinese New Year falls on the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar, which also marks the beginning of the spring harvest season. Celebrations take place all over Taiwan, where people release sky lanterns marked with their hopes for the New Year and hold family get-togethers where they eat traditional rice dumplings. The island hosts various New Year events, including:

• Taiwan Lantern Festival (February 16 to March 11, 2018)
  This event has been organised by the Tourism Board since 1990 and is held in a different region of the country each year. In 2017, the lantern festival was held in Yunlin County and attracted 13.6 million visitors, while this year’s event is hosted by Chiayi County. The festival features huge lantern displays, markets, music and cultural shows.
• Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (March 2, 2018)
  The Sky Lantern Festival takes place in the hillside village of Pingxi, an hour from Taipei. Locals and thousands of visitors write their New Year wishes on lanterns made of bamboo and oiled rice paper, before lighting a candle and sending them off into the night sky. There’s also a lantern riddle competition, a carnival and folk music.
• Beehive Fireworks Festival (March 1-2, 2018)
  People dressed in protective clothing light giant beehive structures loaded with fireworks during this festival in Yanshui, Tainan. The tradition is thought to ward off disease and thank the martial god, Guan Gong, for protecting the area from a plague in the 19th Century.

History of the Sky Lantern Festival

Chinese New Year celebrations date back more than 2,000 years. It’s thought that China’s ancient emperor Hangmindi of the Han Dynasty introduced the lantern aspect after watching Buddhist monks perform a similar ceremony. Over the years, releasing lanterns into the sky has come to symbolise cleansing, good fortune and optimism for the future.

The Sky Lantern Festival has an additional meaning in Pingxi. Centuries ago, the village was often raided, forcing locals to flee into the mountains. Watchmen would send paper lanterns into the night sky to let them know when it was safe to return. Today, thousands of people flock to Pingxi to join the traditional sky lantern release, while many more attend the island’s official Lantern Festival.

2018 Lantern Festival events

Taiwan’s 2018 Lantern Festival takes place in Chiayi County in southern Taiwan, which is home to the incredible Alishan mountains. This year’s festival blends tradition with technology and features captivating land, air and water displays. There’s an official festival app available in three languages and a ‘cashless market’ where visitors can pay for street food and souvenirs using their smartphones.

The highlight of the festival is a spectacular series of nightly timed lantern shows, which delve into Chiayi’s history and feature work from local artists. The centrepiece is a 21-metre tall lantern of a boy from Chiayi’s indigenous Tsou tribe holding a puppy, symbolizing that 2018 is the Year of the Dog, while up to 100,000 hand-held dog-shaped lanterns will be distributed outside Chiayi Bus Station and the county government office.

If you’d like to experience the wonder of Taiwan’s Chinese New Year celebrations, let us arrange a private jet charter to whisk you to Chiayi for the official Lantern Festival before continuing to Taipei for the famous Pingxi sky lantern release. Get a private jet charter quote to skip airport queues and enjoy exclusive amenities such as extra luggage space and personal flight attendants.

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