Chinese New Year 2022, the year of the Tiger, begins Feb. 1. One of the most colorful New Year celebrations, the Lantern Festival has been celebrated since the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. In China, the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, marks the end of the Chinese New Year. During the festival, houses are decorated with colorful lanterns, often with riddles written on them. A correct answer is rewarded with a small gift.

In early January I had the pleasure of visiting a Chinese Lantern Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, North Carolina. We took advantage of an unseasonably warm night to wander around more than 30 displays of modern, LED-lit lanterns. The lanterns were brought on ships from China and handcrafted and assembled by 25 visiting Chinese artisans. Traditional lanterns lined the entryway into the event, which welcomes visitors with whimsical displays like a peacock that changed colors and spread its tail feathers up into a big fan of pulsing lights. Other displays showcased fanciful sea creatures, flowers, pandas, swans and butterflies. The largest display, a 200-foot-long, 20-foot-tall dragon, weighing in at more than 18,000 pounds, floated on Symphony Lake.

Here are some upcoming lantern festivals, if you’d like to see one for yourself:

Washington, D.C.
Jan. 27–Feb. 6

The REACH Winter Lanterns
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F St. NW, Washington, D.C.

https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/international/REACH-winter-lanterns/

Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival, Franklin Square
May 2022

Lantern Festival 2022 in Rockville, Maryland
Feb. 11
6–8 p.m.
F Scott Fitzgerald Theatre
603 Edmonston Dr.

— Tracey Cullen, art director