Off the Beat recently sent one of its resident scribblers to Keelung to catch the Releasing of the Water Lanterns Festival on a quiet beachfront. Here's his report:
"This has to be one of the most visually-dramatic events on the festival calendar. It's not huge, it's not full of roaring crowds or ebullient marchers; it's just a stunning by-the-beach midnight interlude. But getting there is not easy, and maybe that's why it wasn't jam-packed with crazy spectators. Plus, it begins at 11:00pm and the floats don't really go into the water until just after midnight. Still, it's a night to remember.
"Arrived at the Keelung beach around 9:00pm and had two hours to wait for the 11:00pm prayer service to begin. Sampled as many food stall snacks as I could -- stinky doufu, oyster noodles, fried shrimp and grilled squid on a stick. Oishii! A can or two of Taiwan Beer was good for the digestion.
"Meanwhile, comes 11:00pm and a long prayer service begins, and there are about 3,000 people along the beach and coastal road now. Couples, grandmothers, children, vendors, TV satellite trucks and a batallion of newspaper photographers (Taipei Times photographer George Tsorng took the photo above).
"Blessing the 50-odd lantern floats (tall as a person, wide as ten people) in loud incantations, the priests gave the order for tons of ghost money to go up in flames, turning the beach area into a real scene from Hades. Dante's Inferno in Keelung.
"The view from the back of the crowd, which is where I chose to camp out, was riveting, like a dream scene from an old Ingmar Bergman film.
"Sky lanterns turned the night sky into a wonderland of sight and sound as firecrackers trailing the lanterns went off far above us. Then, at midnight, the tableau turned phantasmagoric as huge handmade water lanterns were carried into the sea, set afire and pulled into the harbor blackness. Pure theater, pure drama. Bookmark the event."
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