Taipei Lantern Festival Officially Kicks Off — One Piece’s Luffy Sheep and Iron Man Bear Lanterns Steal the Show

▲ The Taipei Lantern Festival’s main lantern, “Golden Lucky Sheep.”  (Photo / Reporter Chen Rui-zhong, the same below)

By Reporter Chen Rui-zhong / Taipei

The 2015 Taipei Lantern Festival officially kicked off this evening (February 27) and will run from February 27 to March 8, showcasing a variety of creatively themed lanterns. This year’s main lantern, “Golden Lucky Sheep,” was unveiled tonight under the leadership of Vice Premier Zhang Shanzheng and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je.

▲ A traditional lantern infused with rural charm.

Held at the Taipei Expo Park in Yuanshan, this year’s Taipei Lantern Festival features nine major lantern zones, including the International Zone, Student Zone, Blessing Zone, and Animal Party Zone. Beyond the festive “sheep” theme and traditional historical motifs, many lanterns were inspired by current events and pop culture, featuring anime characters such as One Piece, Iron Man, and Captain America — transformed into creative elements like “Luffy Sheep” and “Iron Bear,” delighting numerous children.

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▲ Cute bear lanterns designed to resemble characters from movies such as Wolverine, Thor, and Iron Man.

Additionally, within the festival’s landscape zone, the ground is covered with plump white sheep lanterns that perform vibrant light shows in sync with music every 10 minutes, attracting many visitors to stop and watch.

▲ Among the whimsical lantern artworks, One Piece’s Luffy and his crew are all transformed into little sheep.

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This year’s main lantern, “Golden Lucky Sheep,” stands 12.5 meters tall and is crafted from reflective fabric to create the appearance of wrinkled wool. It is set against a backdrop of stylized mountains and flowers, forming a large-scale performance stage. From 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM daily during the festival, the lantern performs a sound-and-light theatrical show every 30 minutes together with dancers below.

▲ A landscape light zone that dances along with the music.

Mayor Ko Wen-je briefly stated during the lighting ceremony that he hopes everyone enjoys the festival and that this joyful event will continue for years to come.

In addition to the dazzling lantern displays, there will also be song and dance performances and lantern riddle guessing activities at the riddle challenge area near Yuanshan MRT Station. Various lantern riddles are hung up for the public to solve, and a newly launched app called “Guess the Riddle with Pretty Girls” allows visitors to enjoy both the lanterns and the riddle games.

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%More exciting activities await at the lantern festival.%