‘Friendly’ snakes to steal spotlight at Auckland Lantern Festival

More than 500 handcrafted silk lanterns, including two new four-meter lanterns depicting snakes, will illuminate Manukau Sports Bowl at the Auckland Lantern Festival from Thursday.

The four-day event, presented by Tātaki Auckland Unlimited on behalf of Auckland Council, will run through Sunday and is expected to attract more than 185,000 visitors.

To celebrate the Year of the Snake, the two silk snakes - crafted in Sichuan, China, and shipped to New Zealand - are poised to make their debut appearance at the festival.

Duane Wichman-Evans, event director of the Auckland Lantern Festival, said the snakes' designs reflect authentic Chinese culture, incorporating traditional symbols and artistic elements.

"The two snakes look really good together," Wichman-Evans said. "They are very friendly, and you'll see some of the elements on the snake are things from back to China.

"It's tail actually represents the end of a mushroom (a variety of fungus that symbolises health and prosperity in Chinese culture)," he said. "All the designs represent something from ... Asia and ... China."

In addition to the new snake lanterns, visitors can look forward to the return of a 30-meter-long lantern depicting a dragon that was unveiled last year, the Lantern Boulevard and a display of 12 lanterns representing the Zodiac animals.

In China, the Lantern Festival - also known as the Yuan Xiao Festival - is a festival that marks the end of Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) celebrations.

Chinese people typically celebrate this holiday by enjoying colourful lantern displays and eating sweet rice balls called tāng yuán.

In some parts of China, lion dances, stilt-walking, traditional riddle games and dragon dances are also included as part of celebrations.

Wichman-Evans said the event had become an iconic celebration of Auckland's multicultural identity, bringing together diverse communities through art, culture and tradition.

"From last year, I would have to say it was the most multicultural festival I've ever attended," he said. "The crowd has mixed: one-third Asian, one-third European and one-third was actually from many cultures."

He said this year's festival would feature a full programme of performances, including lion dancers, singers, dance troupes, comedy acts and martial arts demonstrations.

Visitors would also be able to explore a cultural courtyard, offering traditional clothing for hire and a showcase of traditional and contemporary art, he said.

Rita Zhao, a dance instructor in Auckland, is preparing to take the stage with her students at this year's festival.

Zhao said they would perform Apparel of Deities at the opening ceremony, along with six other dances on the festival's final day, featuring traditional Chinese dance and highlighting the beauty of Chinese poetry.

"One of the dances, A Dream of Grace, features lyrics that appear in the poem Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess and Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature," she said.

She said the performers would be wearing traditional Chinese attire, including cheongsam and ancient Chinese hanfu, to represent Chinese cultural heritage.

Zhao said she had lived in Auckland for around nine years. Although she can't celebrate the festival with her family, she was happy to mark the occasion on a bigger stage this year.

"We used to celebrate the Lantern Festival with family, eating sweet rice balls and setting off fireworks," she said. "This year, we celebrate by performing, which gives us more confidence to share our culture with a wider audience."

She said the festival's large crowds and enthusiastic response had been a powerful source of encouragement.

"So many people come to the Lantern Festival," she said. "The audience's applause and cheers inspire us to keep going and to introduce Chinese culture to even more people."

She said the Lantern Festival had become a truly inclusive event, celebrated not just by the Chinese community but by a wider Auckland audience.

Wichman-Evans said the Auckland Lantern Festival had introduced a free ticket system this year to help organizers manage visitor traffic more efficiently.

More than 185,000 tickets had already been claimed as of Wednesday morning, with Saturday's free tickets fully booked, organisers said.

Wichman-Evans expected the festival to draw an even larger audience this year.

"Some people will turn up without a ticket, but that's OK," Wichman-Evans said. "We have a service (at the gates), and we'll be able to cater for them by scanning for entry."

While free tickets are available at the gates throughout the festival, visitors are encouraged to book online in advance to save time upon entry.

The tickets also provide access to free public transport on Auckland buses and trains, valid for two hours before the festival opens and one hour after it closes.

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

The Auckland Lantern Festival was first held in 2000, organized by the Asia New Zealand Foundation in partnership with the former Auckland City Council at Albert Park.

After a four-year hiatus, the festival made its return last year and has grown into one of the largest cultural festivals in the region, spanning four days of celebrations.

This year's festival will feature extended opening hours from 3pm to 10pm on 13 and 14 February, and from 1pm to 10pm on 15 and 16 February.

Fireworks will light up the night sky around 9:50pm to end celebrations on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.