The Year of the Ox

Victoria Square, Christchurch. Feb 2009. Ajr

Last night's Chinese Lantern Festival

Turned Victoria Square into a mass of colour and flickering light.

People crowded in to watch the action

Let There Be Light

I missed the colourful Kite Day on Christchurch's New Brighten Beach recently; I wasn't going to miss the Chinese Lantern Festival. In fact, I got in early and got these photographs as the hundreds of lanterns and assorted animals were being installed in Victoria Park in the days prior to the event. Sadly, last night it rained and while crowds did gather regardless, it wasn't quite what it could have been. Traditionally held on the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year and organised by the Asia New Zealand Foundation in conjunction with the Christchurch City Council's fun-packed Summertimes Programme (http://www.summertimes.org.nz/ ), it transforms Victoria Square into a brilliantly lit fantasy of illuminated creatures, lanterns and faces. Martial artists, Chinese dancers and food stalls do the rest.