# 54 Today's picture 090324

Wuhou Temple (Wuhou Ci), Chengdu, Sichuan 090317 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Kinesiska nyåret: Lyktfestivalen/Lantern Festival

Wuhou Temple, Chengdu ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

For a few weeks now enormous floodlights have been shining into the murky Chengdu sky, beamed from the entrance of Wuhou Park. Their searching rays remind me of my childhood in California, when such lights announced the "Grand Opening" of a new shopping center or movie premier. These lights, however, are advertising the joint festival that is being held in Wuhou Temple (Wuhou Ci), Wuhou Park (Wuhou Gongyuan) and Jinli Street (Jinli Gujie) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Every year this trio bands together to create a special "entertainment zone" that can be accessed for 20 yuan (about 22 SEK, children under 120 cm free). Needless to say every day a teeming sea of black-haired heads pass through the entrance gates to partake in a special kind of festival Hell: Grandparents with the grandkidlums, grown-ups out airing the Aged Ps, young lovers enjoying getting jostled against one another by the enormous crowds and of course a large number of plainclothes policemen looking for pickpockets and troublemakers. I love it but every time I drag my kids into this mass of food-stall munching, screeching, laughing, shoving humanity they ask me what on earth we are doing there. At night it's especially enchanting with the park area all lit up with fanciful, brightly colored lanterns, entertainment and foodstalls. The Lantern Festival (Yuanxiaojie) is the culmination of Chinese New Year's, arriving on the 15th day after the new moon, when the moon reaches complete fullness. This year it will occur on February 9th, so don't miss a visit to a park on that night to see the full moon and don't forget to eat tangyuan (also called yuanxiao): sweet riceballs filled with red bean, sesame or peanut  paste. And keep your earplugs handy because the night is finished off with the last round of deafening pyrotechnics!

Från På kinesiskt vis, ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn/Ica bokförlag:

Det kinesiska nyåret avslutas med lyktfestivalen då man firar årets första fullmåne. Yuan betyder "först" och xiao "natt". De två tecken tillsammans syftar på det nya årets första fullmåne. Parker och tempelgårdar pryds med hundratals, ibland tusentals färgglada lyktor i alla möjliga former: fjärilar, apor, fiskar, blommor, drakar, folksagofigurer och naturligtivs också den klassiska runda röda lyktan. Traditionellt gjordes de av papper men är i dag oftast masstillverkade i syntettyg.

På kvällen promenerar man omkring med de tända lyktorna eller samlas i de stora stadsparkerna som redan har förberett ljussättningen. En populär lek är att lösa gåtorna som finns skrivna på de hängande lyktorna. Det ställs till med lejon- och drakdanser, styltdanser, varieté- och tivoliunderhållning och man äter mängder av små yuanxiao (även kallade tangyuan) - söta rismjölsbollar fyllda med röd bönpasta, sesam- eller jordnötspasta - de finns även med salta fyllningar. Man fyrar av de sista fyrverkerierna coh förälskade par sätter ut små tända lyktor i sjöar och floder för att bevisa sin kärlek. Festivalen får inte förväxlas med mitthöstfestivalen, då man också firar månen med stora mängder lyktor. 

Photos for sale at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

Ballet class, Shanghai

Corn harvest, Lijiang, Yunnan

Moon Gate, West Slender Lake, Yanghzou, Jiangsu

Red Corridor, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang, Yunnan

Thailand

Lotus Pond

Tagong, West Sichuan

Women's Feast, Dali, Yunnan

Bamboo, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Autumn, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan

Three Pagodas, Dali, Yunnan

Cormorant fishermen, Li River, Guangxi

Chopsticks

10,000 Buddha Peak, Emei Mountain, Sichuan

Tashilhunpo Monastery, Tibet

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Lotus seed pod

Tibetan nun, Lhasa

Tibetan monk, Sumtsenling Monastery, Zhongdian

All of the pictures you see here are going to be on sale as prints at the 3rd Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar at QSI International School (Meizhou Huayuan) on December 6, 2008. All proceeds from the sales of these images will go to two charities that work with earthquake relief projects in the Sichuan area that was devastated by the May 12th, 2008 earthquake : Ecologia and Sichuan Quake Relief. 

Ecologia needs 70,000 RMB to help a village rebuild homes and help families begin a cottage industry where they can earn a living. The remaining money earned will go to Sichuan Quake Relief – working on many projects in the quake area to help relieve the suffering of those living in the area.

More about the charities:
Ecologia http://www.ecologia.org/ 

Sichuan Quake Relief http://sichuan-quake-relief.org/ 

Each print will come mounted with a matt (passpartout) and cost 250 rmb. There will be 20 prints on sale.  If there is a special picture that you like please make a comment here below or send me an email: ingridmorejohn@gmail.com. Additional prints can be ordered and delivered before Christmas. The goal this year for the entire bazaar is to raise 100,000 RMB for charity. Please come and help make this possible!

NOTE! ALL IMAGES ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn