Daily Archives: July 15, 2012
CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL – ACT TWO
If you’ll remember, yesterday’s post left us resting on a Victorian bench in Mr. Shaw’s front yard drinking Ice Mountain Water and catching cool breezes before starting on the second half of our trek through the second half of the Chinese Lantern Festival.
We begin with GODDESS BLESSING BUDDHA …
And move on to THE FIRST EMPEROR’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY …
Next up is an illustration of a fable about the creation of the Milky Way THE DOUBLE SEVENTH FESTIVAL – cowherd boy marries weaver girl without asking mom who is the Goddess. Goddess gets pissed and brings girl back to heaven. Boy keeps looking for her so mom creates a wide river (aka. The Milky Way) to keep them apart. But one night a year … the seventh night of the seventh moon … all the magpies on earth fly up to heaven to form a bridge so the two lovers can be united.
From heaven we encounter THE FLYING APSARAS …
The next stop is THE FOUR FACED BUDDHA … even though you can only see three.
THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS illustrates the century old Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet …
Next is a gigantic panoramic lantern NINE DRAGON MURAL …
THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE …
THE COLORFUL FLOWER … leads us to the Garden’s official Chinese Garden …
And JIANG TAI GONG FISHING …
Then on to the BLISSFUL WEDDING that reminds me of a Chinese Small World.
Which brings us to the last lantern … QILIN which is a rare creature made up of many animal forms both real and mythical. The lantern Qilin is made up of many recycled glass bottles.
But this trek isn’t over yet … come back for the GRAND FINALE when the sun sets and the lanterns light up!
... a somewhat unknown or perhaps imaginary actor, writer, director, producer, photographer, friend, brother, uncle and all round good fellow that you really should get to know because he lives with that most glamorous fourpaw Mademoiselle Renee. (Mlle. Renee for short)
