Readers’ Photos

New Year Celebrations (Xu Chengrui)

During the Lunar New Year holidays, there are lion-dance performances at the National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan County. Each lion is usually manipulated by two performers, whose movements in time with the rhythms of drums and gongs bring the animal to life, ushering in the New Year in an energetic way. The viewers are charmed by the lion’s buoyant skips and leaps.

Dihua Street (Zhang Xiuhuang)

With shops selling all kinds of festive foods, Taipei’s Dihua Street fully embodies the spirit of the Lunar New Year. Customers visit this vibrant street for their New Year shopping sprees.

Spring Couplets (Zhang Xiuhuang)

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, calligraphers come out into streets and plazas to write spring couplets, which they give away to the public. Written on auspicious red paper, the couplets confer New Year blessings through words and visual imagery, conjuring up the festive mood.

New Year’s Cakes (Zhang Licong)

Various kinds of glutinous rice cakes—plain, sweet, or made with radish—are consumed during the Lunar New Year holidays in order to usher in prosperity and good fortune. Local niangao (new year’s cake) shops brim with a sweet smell in the festive season.

Red Tortoise Cakes (Wang Chaoteng)

Red tortoise cakes are prepared as ritual offerings. Consumed after the rituals, they are believed to have protective qualities. These delicious cakes gather to themselves various symbolic meanings: the red color of the skin betokens auspiciousness, while the cakes’ round shape symbolizes reunion, harmony, longevity, propitiousness, and wealth. 

Talismans and Incense Burners (Jimmy Lin)

Members of the public gather round the incense burners at local temples. With talismans in their hands, they draw three circles through the incense smoke above the burners, praying to the deities for protection.

A Flying Dragon (Huang Huiqin)

At the Lunar New Year, the streets of Changhua’s Lukang Township are decorated with festive lanterns. Come on a bike and slowly take in the festive mood. This eye-catching dragon lantern is hung above a street, making the evening shine with colorful lights.

The Lantern Festival (Jimmy Lin)

The 1,500 ball-shaped lanterns hanging outside Tainan’s Puji Temple are all painted by local residents. The festive decorations here exude a distinctively Taiwanese flavor.

Sky Lanterns (Shu Wei)

Held in New Taipei City’s Shifen Scenic Area during the Lunar New Year holidays, the Sky Lantern Festival attracts tourists from far and wide. The glowing lanterns rise slowly into the night sky, bearing people’s prayers. This is one of the most captivating cultural events in Taiwan.