Visitors take pictures in front of a goat-shaped lantern ahead of the Lantern Festival in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Feb. 28, 2015. (Photo : REUTERS)
The Lowry Park Zoo at Tampa Bay, Florida, is currently holding the Zoominations festival featuring 30 Chinese lanterns made of 68,000 ceramic cups, bowls, spoons and plates and tiny bottles of water.
The lanterns, handmade by artists from the city of Zigong in China's Sichuan Province, provide stunning, colorful rainbow lighting similar to those in Las Vegas.
"The art of lantern making and doing lantern installations has been in Chinese culture and tradition for over 800 years," said Li Zhongwen, general manager of the exhibit's lantern makers, VYA Creative Lantern Co.
Zoominations, on display at the zoo through May 31, made its way to Tampa after exhibits in Toronto, London and Beijing.
It is about getting together with friends and looking at the lanterns that helps provide harmony, closeness with the ones you love and mending relationships.
Among the lanterns are the Apsaras, which are mythical pixies made of water and clouds in the form of beautiful women. In China, the Apsaras are depicted in the Dunhuang Caves along the Silk Road, sites that contain precious Chinese art spanning centuries.
Then there are dinosaur lanterns that represent Zigong, which hosts the world's largest lantern festival each year and is an excavation site for dinosaur fossils.
Nearby are the the koi fish and lily pad lanterns set on a real pond, the brightly lit peacocks, and the Tunnel of Light, with its 15,000 breathtaking red lanterns hanging overhead.
One of the most fascinating displays is the Blessings of Qilin, where tiny glass medicine bottles filled with different colored liquids are made to look like Swarovski crystals.
Zoominations also has a handful of other activities to complement lantern-gazing.
On top of the zoo's regular food offerings, there are Asian-inspired finger foods such as egg rolls, curry puffs and marinated kabobs. Beer and wine are also for sale.
A dinner show with an Asian buffet and live entertainment could be availed for $20 on Sundays through Thursdays. Every night at 7 and 9 p.m., entertainment will be provided by Chinese acrobats.
