Rabbit leaps in for Auckland Lantern Festival

The 12th annual Auckland Lantern Festival kicked off on Friday night (Feb 18) with the three-day event in Albert Park, (in front of University of Auckland) central Auckland on February 18 - 20, from 5.00pm - 10.30pm. It started as a one-day affair with second-hand lanterns imported from Singapore 12 years ago. Now, it's a three-day festival with lanterns sourced from China and international and local performers, attracting 150,000 and 200,000 Aucklanders, not only Chinese but people of other ethnicities. The festival was also seen as one of the Auckland's signature cultural events, together with the Pasifika and Diwali festivals. Free family entertainment included magical rod puppetry by award-winning Chengdu Puppetry Theatre, Shanghai Bai Yulan jazz band, Beijing based rock band, Askar Grey Wolf with a mixture of contemporary and traditional music and performance art. There were also plenty of local performances including rock bands, fortune telling, martial-art displays and dragon & lion dance, delicious food and craft stalls, the warm glow of hundreds of beautifully decorated Chinese New Year lanterns and a fireworks display to end the three-day festival. The Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao, marks the end of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration. The Year of the Rabbit is represented by the forth animal in the 12 animal Chinese zodiac. People born in a Rabbit year are said to be ambitious, fortunate, reserved, talented, artistic, virtuous, have excellent taste and preferring to work behind the scenes. The 12th Auckland lantern Festival was organised by Asia New Zealand Foundation and Auckland Council.

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To view Moving Lantern video online at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cya1Ge5HMoo