Valley Moon Lantern Festival

Overview

The Moon Lantern Festival is a 3000 year old tradition celebrated by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese party people. Its celebratory purpose is to rejoice the mid-autumn harvesting whilst also coinciding with the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar. To describe the equinox in logical terms, it is a phenomena that only occurs twice a year when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is leaning in such a way that allows it to be neither close nor far from the sun, meaning the sun in on the exact same plane as the earth’s equator.

Now, that may be a mouthful of information you vaguely remember from high school science class, but basically the Moon Lantern Festival is a pretty legit reason for rejoicing. Although Brisbane’s version of the festival is not in autumn or in sync with the earth’s solar calendar, it would be un-Australian to let the lack of rare phenomena stop us from partying. This year’s local celebration will feature martial arts performances, lion dancing, bamboo skipping, Chinese belly dancing, live music and a magic show. Say ni hao to the integration of Asian and Australian culture.