Small village in Yunlin holds lantern festival to rival nation’s best

Small village in Yunlin holds lantern festival to rival nation’s best

2024-08-14

A small village in Yunlin has a lantern festival to rival the nation’s best. Giant lanterns from lots of big festivals are gathered at a fishing village in Kouhu Township. It’s actually a project from an arts college graduate who’s returned home to the village. He wanted to bring the lights to older local residents who can’t get out to enjoy similar events in big cities. Arts critics are calling it a "national-standard community lantern festival."

A train-shaped lantern makes its way down a multicolored street. It’s like a carnival procession of light beings. More than 20 large lanterns are arranged in this community park: dinosaurs, cartoon characters and even an 8-meter-tall goddess, which has a lot of local backing.

Wang Yao-hsin
Yunlin Chinkuaka Cultural Association
Taiwan Lantern Festival in Pingtung in 2019 showcased her, she’s a character based on the sergestid shrimp, known locally as the sakura shrimp… We’ve reconstructed the lantern, fixed it up and put it on display once again.

Lanterns that were on show in years past have been brought back for this extravaganza in a small fishing village, creating a lively summer atmosphere full of local flavor. Local creative Wang Yao-hsin explains that his group decided to transplant the lanterns to this location so that the large population of older people could enjoy them. Some have never gone out to a big lantern display in a far-off town.

Wang Yao-hsin
Yunlin Chinkuaka Cultural Association
My sister-in-law said, “It doesn’t matter if they don’t have time to go out and see the lanterns – we’ll drag the lanterns home to show them.”

Now 58, Wang quit his teaching job eight years ago to return to his rural hometown. He and his three brothers all graduated from art college, so they were able to bring home a lot of accumulated lanterns to the village. After a bit of remodeling, they were ready to light up the summer night.

Wang Yao-hsin
Yunlin Chinkuaka Cultural Association
The community residents are quite supportive of the project. So when they saw us sorting out the lanterns, they came in and gave us some help.

These recycled lanterns are not just lighting up the streets – they’re also lighting up hearts in this close-knit Yunlin town.

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燈藝師回收大型花燈點亮雲林口湖下崙社區

2024-08-14

台灣燈會藝師－王耀新，學校老師退休後，回到雲林口湖鄉，投入社區工作，他發揮自己的美術專長，把許多曾在台灣燈會，展過的大型花燈，回收整理，放在村內公園展示，把整個社區，裝飾得亮麗繽紛，被譽為「國家級的社區燈會」。

火車造型的花燈，繽紛遊街，宛如花燈踩街的嘉年華會，社區公園內，擺20多座大型花燈，有各種恐龍、卡通造型的花燈，其中這座高達八公尺的「絢櫻女神」，可是大有來頭。

[[雲林縣沁窟丫腳文創協會王耀新]]
“是2019在台灣燈會，屏東的台灣燈會，裡面的那個絢櫻，就是櫻花蝦的虛擬人物絢櫻，我們就重新再把它修復，然後把它展示出來。”

把歷年來燈會展示過的花燈，移植到偏鄉漁村，熱鬧又充滿在地生命力。王耀新說，因為村裡面很多長輩，不曾出遠門看花燈，當初的構想，就是把花燈帶回鄉下社區，讓他們欣賞。

[[雲林縣沁窟丫腳文創協會王耀新]]
“我弟媳婦就講了一句話，就是說沒關係，他們沒有空去看，我們以後（把花燈）拉回來給他們看。”

58歲的王耀新，8年前教職退休返鄉，因為家中四個兄弟，都是美術科系畢業，具有美術專長，因此把許多燈會留下來的花燈，運回來村內，改造後，變成社區亮點的素材。

[[雲林縣沁窟丫腳文創協會王耀新]]
“我們辦活動，社區居民其實滿支持的，所以看到我們在做整理的時候，他們也會幫忙協助。”

回收的花燈，點亮偏鄉漁村，不僅改造環境，也讓社區，充滿歡樂氣息。

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民視新聞台（53頻道）週二至週六凌晨1:00

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