Auckland Lantern Festival to unveil a New Zealand icon

Source: Radio New Zealand

A towering lantern of a moa is poised to make its debut at Manukau Sports Bowl when the Auckland Lantern Festival opens on Thursday, giving the annual event a distinct New Zealand flavour.

It was the first time the festival had included a lantern representing a slice of New Zealand history, said Jep Savali, group manager of major events at organiser Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.

“[The moa] became extinct about 600 years ago,” Savali said. “It’s a very prominent animal within Māori culture, that’s why we’ve chosen the moa.”

Savali said the three-and-a-half-meter lantern had initially been designed in New Zealand.

A well-known producer in Zigong, China, was then asked to manufacture the lantern before shipping it to Auckland for display.

The entire process took about four to five months, he said.

A lantern depicting a kiwi was being planned for a future festival, he said.

A giant lantern of two galloping horses would also feature at this year’s festival to celebrate the Year of the Horse alongside more than 500 handmade lanterns.

“The horses will be four meters high and three meters long,” Savali said.

“[The lantern] is based on an Eastern Han artifact of a galloping horse treading on a flying swallow,” he said. “It symbolises speed, success and optimism for the year.”

In China, the Lantern Festival – also known as the Yuan Xiao Festival – is a festival that marks the end of Spring Festival celebrations.

People typically observe the holiday by visiting colourful lantern displays and eating sweet glutinous rice balls known as tāngyuán.

In some parts of China, festivities also include lion and dragon dances, stilt-walking and traditional riddle games.

In New Zealand, the Auckland Lantern Festival began as a one-night event at Albert Park in 2000.

It has since grown into a four-day festival and is now one of the country’s largest cultural events, moving venues over time as attendance numbers increased.

Savali said this year marked the third year the festival would be held at Manukau Sports Bowl.

“There are arguments both ways about where the festival should be,” he said. “Manukau Sports Bowl provides a really large venue.

“If you can imagine, 500-plus lanterns on display, over 50 food stalls, close to 100 stalls altogether, plus family rides, and contemporary and traditional performances on the stages. We needed to find somewhere that could cater for all of that.”

This year, the event will again operate as a free ticketed event, a system introduced to manage crowd numbers and support public transport use.

Ticket holders will be able to travel free on buses and trains from two hours before the festival opens until the end of regular daily services.

Free shuttle buses will also run regularly between Manukau Train Station, Westfield Manukau and Manukau Sports Bowl before, during and after the festival.

Savali said parking around the venue was limited and urged visitors to use public transport.

“We’re expecting up to 160,000 people over the four days of the Lantern Festival,” he said.

“The weekends are the busiest – that’s when we expect a large uptake of people to come along to see the lanterns.

“If you can, take public transport,” he said.

The festival will run daily from 4pm to 10:30pm from Thursday to Sunday, with fireworks scheduled for about 9:50pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Organisers encourage visitors to secure free tickets early to help manage capacity.

By Monday, 100,000 tickets had already been claimed, with tickets for Saturday fully booked.

Organisers said a limited number of walk-in tickets were available each day for visitors who had missed out.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand