A light and sound spectacular

Wait! The holiday season isn't over yet. Fifteen days after the Lunar New Year comes Lantern Festival (元宵節 ) and with it a variety of activities, from the heavenly to the hellacious. Let's start with the hellacious.

Yenshui. The Tainan County township's name has become synonymous with the fireworks event held there every year on Lantern Festival. It's a kind of fireworks display literally turned on its head -- a "trial by fireworks," it's been called -- wherein participants are pelted with fireworks shot at them from all angles. The fact that everyone is outfitted in their best improvised armor has not stopped the event from sending dozens of people to the hospital each year with minor burns and bruises -- and sometimes worse.

And no wonder. The so-called "good part," according to participants, is when a wall the size of a shipping container and packed with racks of bottle rockets and high-caliber launch tubes is unleashed and up to 20,000 explosives are fired into the crowd.

"It's a lot of fun before it starts," said Ben Sebold after his first -- and avowed last -- time taking part in the event. "But when it becomes deafening and relentless and dangerous you start looking for a way out."

It has its supposed origins in the aftermath of a plague that began in 1875 and which is said to have decimated the town's population. The townspeople prayed to the goddess Kuanyin and entreated the deity Kuankung to visit their town. They lined the streets with lanterns to light his way and heralded his arrival with fireworks. It must have been a cold day that first year of the festival because someone in the crowd got the idea that Kuankung would be a warmer if they aimed the fireworks his way. Now getting plugged with a Roman candle is considered auspicious.

Those interested in the event but unsure of what they're getting in to might first view a short film clip of a past year's event available on the Web at http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/mpg/twj01.mpg. As you'll see, the Yenshui event, which goes from dusk until around 5am, is as much for spectators as for those hoping for a lucky wallop and because of this the surrounding streets are packed. Bear in mind that the density of people -- and of smoke! -- can be off-putting for some, as can being hit by a stray projectile. It can be almost as hellacious for those on the sidelines as for those in the fray.

A more heavenly form of Lantern Festival fun is found in Taipei County's backyard, high in the hills in Pinghsi Township. Thousands of paper lanterns rise to the sky, set off by groups of visitors and local school kids. The effect is something like a thousand small campfires taking to the sky, each bearing its owner's wishes of wealth, health and general good fortune in the coming year.

The local tradition didn't have such an auspicious start. To hear residents of Pinghsi tell it, their ancestors, the first Han settlers to the area, often fell victim to Aboriginal locals who were incensed at the Chinese for stealing their land. Remote as the place was, getting up and down the mountain was a considerable journey. The villagers of Pinghsi decided to use sky lanterns to let their friends and relatives lower down the mountain know they were safe. The custom continued and has since become part of the annual Lantern Day festivities.