Singapore decorates streets with record number of lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival
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E-mail Xinhua, September 16, 2012
Singapore decorates streets with record number of lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival
SINGAPORE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore residents decorated the streets in its Chinatown and nearby districts with as many as 16,800 lanterns over the weekend to kick off the celebrations for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In Chinatown, a heritage district, community organizations held the official light-up and opening ceremony on a stage on the main street to kick off the month-long celebrations, with President Tony Tan and the ambassadors from several countries among the guests.
The president lit up all the 16,800 lanterns that were put on threads above the main street and some of the smaller streets. Lawmaker Lily Neo said this is a Singapore record as it is the largest number of lanterns put up at once.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, or the middle of the eighth month of the lunar year, falls on Sept. 30 this year. It is the second most important traditional festival in Chinese culture. During the month of celebrations in Chinatown between Sept. 16 and Oct. 14, performances will be held on many of the evenings.
"During this one-month festival, we have this light-up today ... many many activities to involve the young children and the youths so that they learn about our own cultural heritage," Neo said.
Neo said there will be bazaars with hundreds of stalls as well as lantern displays at the street corners. Some of the lantern were from South Korea as part of a cultural exchange program. The lanterns will be sent to South Korea later for display, too.
The Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown, which has been celebrated over the past years, is now a major celebrations that involves not only the Chinese community, but also the Malays, Indians and others.
The opening ceremony performance on Sunday evening gathered dancers and performers from China. A Malay musician played a traditional Chinese instrument, while an Indian female singer and a white men sang the Chinese pop tune The Moon Stands for My Love for You.
Other celebrations have also started over the weekend. On Saturday evening, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival by the River returned with a larger scale to the downtown segment of the Singapore River and the nearby shopping malls and public places.
The celebrations this year, which runs from Sept. 15 to Sept. 30, were jointly held by the Singapore Press Holdings and China's southwestern city of Guiyang. Performers from Guiyang wowed local audiences on Saturday, including President Tony Tan.
The highlight of the celebrations are the giant artistic lantern displays with themes like the traditional Chinese mythology and the 12 zodiac symbols.
The zodiac symbols are 12 different animals such as goat, chicken, ox, mouse or rabbit, which are deemed to correspond with the time of birth of different people.
Food is an essential part of the celebrations, as the Mid- Autumn Festival is also known as the Mooncake Festival. For the activities on the Singapore River, organizers also put together various flavors from Asia. Enditem
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