The main lantern of the Taipei Lantern Festival, "Happy Magic Dog," showcases youthful artistic creativity across two main venues.

By MOOK Scenic Spots Editorial Department
 
The 2018 Taipei Lantern Festival's main lantern has officially been unveiled. Named "Happy Magic Dog," the 5-meter-tall lantern, including its base, stands approximately three stories high and features a design of three adorable Taiwanese dogs holding hands in a circle.

"Happy Golden Dog – Go Forward" features a magnificent ocean totem as its background, showcasing Taiwan’s coexistence with the sea and fearlessness in the face of wind and rain. "Happy Silver Dog – Go Together" uses a square totem as its backdrop, symbolizing Taipei’s inclusiveness of friends from all directions. "Happy Red Dog – Go Future" is set against a Ketagalan tribal totem, drawing inspiration from indigenous culture and combining various distinctive patterns to bridge the past and the future.

In addition to the Ximen Performance Area where the main lantern is located, there are also the Beimen Performance Area featuring the Beimen Light Sculpture, the Landscape Light Sea Area, the Urban Art Gallery Area, the Free Creation Area, the Blessing Lantern Area, as well as the Student Creation Area, Friendly Exchange Area, and Nishi Honganji Creation Area—making a total of nine lantern zones on-site.

The most distinctive feature of this year’s lantern festival is the integration of various themed creative lantern zones designed by many young Taiwanese artists, showcasing a mix of trends and tradition, as well as environmentalism and technology. Each lantern zone is paired with performance events, transforming Ximending into a large-scale “street music hall.”

The emerging designer Cheng Ruohan, known for telling Taiwanese stories through paper-cut lanterns, collaborated with inmates of Taipei Prison during the creation process. When viewing the two works "Blessing for Childbirth Lantern" and "Return to the Lantern Light of Yesteryear," be sure to take a closer look at the imagery within the paper-cuttings—they might just reflect glimpses of your own life.