Lantern Festival sparks colourful celebrations

Lantern Festival sparks colourful celebrations
Artists performing during a fishing Lantern Festival in Luyang Village, Dajijia Street, Huang-Bohai New District, Yantai, eastern China's Shandong provinceCFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Dazzling displays of lanterns have been lighting up the skies to mark the end of Lunar New Year celebrations and hail the coming of spring.

The Lantern Festival is held two weeks after Lunar New Year, which was on 12 February this year and ushered in the Year of the Dragon.

The new year, and subsequent Lantern Festival, is typically celebrated in parts of Asia, including China, South Korea and Vietnam, as well as in diaspora communities around the world.

As well as with the traditional lighting of lanterns, this weekend’s festival also saw firework displays, night markets and entertainment from dancers and performers.

People look at light installations as part of Lantern Festival in Beijing, China

Reuters

People release Kongmin lanterns to celebrate the Lantern Festival in Chongqing, China

CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images

People perform a dragon dance amid fireworks in Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province of China

VCG / Getty Images

Folk artists and children parade with fish lanterns in Sanming, Fujian Province, China

China News Service / Getty

People perform a dragon dance during Cap Go Meh festival on the occasion of the last day for Lunar New Year of the Dragon celebrations, at a shopping mall in Bogor, West Java, on February 24, 2024

ADITYA AJI / AFP / Getty Images

A child carrying a lantern visits a park during the Lantern festival in Beijing

WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images

Dancers perform the Puzhai fire dragon dance in Meizhou, Guangdong Province, China

VCG / Getty

People release sky lanterns during the celebration of Sky Lantern Festival, in Pingxi, New Taipei City, Taiwan

RITCHIE B TONGO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

People enjoy light installations at a park on Lantern Festival in Beijing, China

Reuters

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