Festival of Light.JPG (Photo : www.longleat.co.uk)
A three-month-long Chinese lantern festival dubbed as the "Festival of Light" hosted by the Longleat House in Bath, U.K. is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, in time for the Yuletide Season and New Year.
Over 100 lighted Chinese culture-inspired displays such as mythical and traditional images of the Chinese dragon will be featured at the Longleat House as well as its 30-acre-wide landscaped garden.
The event is set to run from Nov. 14, 2014 to Jan. 4, 2015, in cooperation with the Guisen International Group, the Department of Culture in Sichuan Province, Chengdu Guisen Cultural Media and Zigong Xinya Lantern.
Among the highlights of the show are handmade structures as tall as 20 meters as well as Chinese cultural performances including Sichuan's famous "face-changing" opera.
A wide range of souvenirs and traditional items, all handmade, will also be sold during the months-long festivity which is expected to attract over half-a-million visitors all over the continent.
Considered the biggest of its kind in all of Europe, the event will host hundreds of VIP guests, including local government officials and members of the royal family as well as the Chinese ambassador to the U.K.
Lantern festivals are observed in China during the Spring Festival, which is usually held between January and February based on the lunar calendar.
During such festivities, the evening skies are bathed with red-golden light from the colorful lanterns that float the endless darkness of the skies.
In China, lantern festivals are held to ask for good weather and health, as well as to honor the ancient god of heaven known as Taiyi. Legends show that Taiyi keeps 16 dragons and uses them to control the Earth's destiny.
Other legends incorporate the festival to Tianguan, the god of good fortune, whose date of birth coincides with the Lantern Festival.
