Ernie's Travels: Chinese Lantern Festival

During the months of August and September in 2006 and 2007 Toronto hosted a Chinese Lantern Festival. There are two parks which are side-by-side along the lake shore - the Canadian National Exhibition grounds and the Ontario Place Amusement Park. The Chinese Lantern Festival was held in Ontario Place with the entrance to the exhibit being from the CNE grounds. As the exhibition began in August it was held in conjunction with the annual fair. As you may remember - 2007 was the summer before the Beijing Olympic Games and the theme for those games was evident at the Festival.

I decided to attend one evening after the CNE had closed and the crowds had thinned. I had not checked the lunar calendar but it was a clear evening and there was a full moon shining out over Lake Ontario. The following, therefore, is more a photo album than an actual blog. Remember - you can click on each photo to see an enlargement.

The Welcoming Gate

You may have noted the full moon shining above the gate and to the left.

Upon entering the exhibit the path led down to the edge of the lake and I meandered from there. These photos are shown - more or less - in the order in which I took them.

The Dragon and Phoenix

The Eighteen Luo Han

Thousand Cocoon Dragon

Terra Cotta Warrior and Pagoda

There seemed to be a few hundred other people there when I was and many of the photos show some of these strangers.

When we entered the park the path led down to the edge of the water and that was where the 'warriors' had been placed. The above is a panorama of those Terra Cotta Warriors.

A closer view of those warriors.

The exhibits were named by their Chinese creators and I have no idea as to the significance of each. The photo above was titled 'Joy Song on the Prairie'.