LOOK: Taiwan welcomes Year of the Horse with sky lanterns

Crowds gathered in Shifen, New Taipei City, to release lanterns and send wishes skyward as Lunar New Year celebrations drew to a close. The glowing display marked hopes for prosperity and peace in the Year of the Horse.

Reuters

4 March 2026 at 13:16:24

LOOK: Taiwan welcomes Year of the Horse with sky lanterns

People release lanterns during the Lantern Festival to mark the end of the Lunar New Year celebrarions, at Shifen Square in New Taipei City, Taiwan, March 3, 2026.

Yi-Chin Lee/Reuters

People watch as a mascot dances atop a car during the Lantern Festival celebrations in Miaoli, Taiwan, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang

A lion dance crew stands outside a temple as part of the Lantern Festival celebrations in Miaoli, Taiwan, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Hundreds of sky lanterns drifted into the night sky over a mountain town in northern Taiwan on Tuesday (March 3) to celebrate the visually spectacular Sky Lantern Festival.

Local residents, along with visitors from across Taiwan and overseas, gathered at Shifen Square in New Taipei City to mark the close of the Lunar New Year festivities with the traditional release of lanterns.

Visitors wrote wishes on sky lanterns and prayed for prosperity in the Year of the Horse as they released the lanterns into the sky.

Newlyweds Lauren Phelps and Samyak Singh, from the United States, were on their honeymoon and included the celebration in their itinerary. Phelps wished for a happy first year of marriage, while Singh wished for world peace.

Singh was moved as he watched the sky lanterns rise together into the night sky. "You write some of your feelings and your prayers and your blessings on a paper, and then you see it go up. It's magical in a lot of ways," he said.

Production: Yi-Chin Lee/Reuters