Hong Kong celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival this week, but the mooncake buying/eating and lanterns and lights pretty much start since September came along. It’s quite a cheery festive event and I personally always love seeing more lights at night too. :)
Sometime back, I realised that the last time I went to check out a Mid-Autumn Festival lantern display was in 2013! I’m not quite sure how that happened, but I made sure to put this event down on my planner for this year. So this year, I ended up visiting two spots, one in Tsim Sha Tsui and of course, the annual display at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay.
If you celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, here’s wishing you a happy Mid-Autumn Festival this weekend! But whether you celebrate it or not, I’d love to share these photos with you, for a look into the lantern displays that I enjoyed this year. :)
Causeway Bay ~ Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival: A Moonlit Night in the Fairyland
I loved the fairytale theme this year! It felt like seeing my childhood stories and its characters being recreated into lanterns for Mid-Autumn, it was so pretty and adorable. If you look closely at the ‘books’ in the picture below, you might spot some of your favourite childhood titles!
“The Tortoise and the Hare” racing on the Tsing Ma Bridge. Heehee, I’m loving the Hong Kong element incorporated into the recreation of these story characters.
“Little Red Riding Hood” and her grandmother on The Peak Tower! It’s not clear but the wolf is down below.
This one is obviously going to be my favourite of the night! It’s Cinderella and Prince Charming in lantern form, complete with a giant heel, the pumpkin carriage and the “castle” (which looks like the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower hee) with the clock striking midnight! Perfect.
The emperor from “The Emperor’s New Clothes” riding a Hong Kong tram hahaha!
Here are some lanterns in a more traditional style.
I was very amused to see these peanut lanterns from afar, until I got closer to read the sign! It’s not very clear in the picture but it says “好事會發生” meaning “good things will happen”. It’s a play on words as 發生 (happen) sounds similar to 花生 (peanut), although they do sound closer in Cantonese compared to Mandarin. So cute. ;)
Tsim Sha Tsui ~ Mid-Autumn Lantern Display: Fly Me to the Moon
That’s it for now, I hope you liked these lantern displays as much as I did. :) 中秋節快樂！
Diane says
Hi Kylene! I live / work in a place where in a significant composition of the populace is Chinese. Truth to be told, there are a lot of Chinese in the Philippines. Hence, the Mid Autumn Festival is a not something new for us. However, my local fellowmen know it more as the Mooncake Festival hahaha which sometimes make some Chinese feel insulted.
Among the displays you have showcased, I love best the one from Causeway Bay. I love the concept of using books. Tsim Sha Tsui is familiar to me because this is where we stayed on the few times I visited HK. I’m actually looking forward to return before the year ends. Hopefully it will push through.
You took great photos. What camera did you use? It has superb capacity given the low light.
Kylene Wu says
Hello Diane! Thanks for sharing with me, I never knew that about the Philippines! Haha, I’ve definitely heard some people refer to the festival as a “mooncake festival” here in HK and Singapore as well, which amuses me more than anything else. ;) Anyway, so glad you love it too, the book concept is just so appealing isn’t it? I hope your trip works out for you and that you have a great time here!
Thank you for your kind comment. :) To be honest, I don’t know much about cameras but the one I’m using is the Nikon Coolpix L830.