The eighth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar is considered to be mid-autumn and during the full moon of that month everybody celebrated mid-autumn festival.
In many Western cultures, this is known as the Harvest Moon, but it generally signals the end of summer or beginning of fall.
Mid-Autumn is celebrated with Lanterns and the best place to see these in Singapore used to be Chinese Gardens. They are closed for a major renovation right now and therefore the Lantern Festival was held in Jurong Lake Gardens, which is right next door. I happened to see the lanterns while I was cycling in the neighborhood and so we decided to go for a closer look one evening.
Along one of the alleys, we noticed that the trees had been covered in crochet-covers, some of which were quite interesting.
We started before sunset to see what the lanterns look like in daylight. There is a whole section dedicated to different countries.
Italy is well represented with the Tower of Pisa, in front of a man with Pizza, the roman Coliseum and also the Rialto bridge in Venice with a gondola. The trees did not make it easy to take a decent photo…
Egypt went for their ancient culture
Germany chose Berlin (Brandenburg Gate) and Bavaria (Hohenschwanngau or Cinderella’s Castle)
The Dutch were there with plenty of cheese
We decided to have dinner in Taman Jurong Food Center for “old time sake” – unfortunately the lady where we used to go for Fish Head Curry is no longer there (they are now serving food to school children, or so we have heard)
After dinner, the lanterns are now lit and give a whole different impression.
The Northern neighbor had to be represented
Singapore highlighted the shophouses and education
The Dutch even had a windmill, tulips and cows
Thailand was well represented
German Storks and beer fest
Egyptian Alligator
Venice
Pisa and Pizza
In another part of the park, we discovered the four seasons
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Always interesting to see the interest that Singaporeans have in the different seasons where there is none of that here locally. I guess they do a lot of travel and they need to know if they have to buy heavy coats where they are going! My choice of order is obviously biased to the Northern hemisphere, sorry to all my Southern friends.
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Colorful nighttime displays are irresistible to photographers! I couldn’t help but think of what Louisiana would have represented. Alligators, crawfish, shrimp, cypress trees and live oaks, the St. Louis cathedral, State Capitol, and maybe a lawnmower drill team? The crocheted tree is what’s known as yarn bombing. I have yet to see a tree bombed, but there was a yarn bombed car at the Art Car parade!