Lantern Festival

We were in St. Louis, MO, visiting special old friends. The Missouri Botanical Garden was holding the "The Lantern Festival: Art by Day, Magic by Night." So while the three husbands went for a bit of beverages, the three women went to the Botanical Garden to see the evening Lantern Festival. Wow, it was awesome so come follow along the walking tour with us. The pictures are beautiful and I'll share some interesting facts about the sets. 

This was the Welcoming Dragon that greeted us as we approached The Botanical Garden entrance. There were thousands of people there so you will see other visitors in my images.

The admission fee was regularly $25 a person, but one couple lives across the river from St. Louis and is a member of The Botanical Garden so we got reduced tickets of $15.00 and it was worth every dime. We were given guide books so my information is from the guide.

This set is called Dragon Embraces the Pillars. Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water in popular belief. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. 

The lotus flower symbolizes ultimate purity and perfection to the Chinese because it rises untainted and beautiful from the mud.

This lovely  statue was sharing the water  with the Lotus Flowers.

This is the Lotus Ponds Lantern. Sometimes called the Sacred Lotus, this flower often symbolizes elegance, beauty, perfection, purity, and grace.

This set is called Porcelain Dragon. There is a dragon on each side of the flower. I'll show you several images of the dragons and wait till you read what the dragons are made from. 

In China, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, and many of the lantern sets depict this mythical creature. Did you also know that China was the birthplace of porcelain making?

Are you looking really close at the details of  the dragon?

Ok, one more clue to what the dragon is made of!

There are porcelain platters, plates, cups, and saucers wired together to form these two dragons. The installation consisted of more than 40,000 individual pieces of porcelain tied together using ancient techniques. Now you will probably want to scroll up again and look at the images a second time.


This is an evening tour, so the sun is setting.


The following set is the Sail Boat. Ancient Chinese sailing vessels, known as junks, are still in use today. Although seafaring junks are made of wood and bamboo, this vessel is made from plastic bottles and follows the 3 R's of sustainability: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The Missouri Botanical Garden says it Reduced the number of plastic bottles used in the St. Louis area by collecting used plastic bottles for the set and they will be Recycled at the end of the exhibit. About 4,600 bottles were used to make the set.

The next set is the Moonlit Pathway. The symbolic significance of moons and stars has been traced to Chinese coins from approximately 2,000 years ago. The two women on the left are my two friends on the tour with me.

The guide says this moonlit pathway evokes a heavenly sky, but also wealth, power, and abundance as you pass beneath the canopy of stars and moons.

Panda's Paradise was next. This bear is native to central-western and southwestern China. Did you know that 99% of the panda's diet is bamboo?

The First Emperor's Quest for Immortality set.

Double Seventh Festival set.

The Flying Apsaras set. Here Flying Apsaras, sometimes referred to as feitian in Chinese, are flying celestial beings whose images are mostly found in cave murals.

The Four-Faced Buddha set.

The Butterfly Lovers set is a "Romeo and Juliet" tale passed down in China for well over 1,000 years.

The last set I'll show is the Heavenly Temple. Heaven and Earth symbolically meet in the Heavenly Temple.

Wow, what a tour this was at the Missouri Botanical Garden! Hope you enjoyed it, I know it was a bit long - Judy.

Note: The Garden is beautiful all year long, I have visited in at least three seasons. It is well worth a visit.


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