What do you have in mind when you hear about a ‘Magical Lantern Festival’? I thought about Chinese lanterns, small, lit shapes of different kinds, especially after having been to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Auckland almost a decade ago. The Magical Lantern Festival in Chiswick is not quite the same. It’s more like lanterns on steroids, for the structures made of thin fabric are anything but small.
On the last day of the festival, namely New Year’s Day, I set out to see the magical lanterns in the beautiful Chiswick House and Gardens. The festival was from 5 – 10 pm from Wednesdays to Sunday and we decided to go early. This was in hindsight not the cleverest idea as many families with kids had made sure to get to the festival early as well, not to be late for bed time. So we had to queue for a while despite the facts that we already had our tickets, and the walkways were pretty packed. At least this gave us more time to admire the structures erected before passing the entrance for their intrinsic love to detail and charm. The mostly Christmas-themed lanterns outside the premises were already bigger in size than I had expected with snowmen, Santa Claus and all sorts of animals decorating the path towards the entrance.
However, this was not even close to what was waiting for us when we got past the entrance gate. We followed the pathways through a Chinese temple complex from the Song Dynasty, an era that began in 960 and continued through to 1276. We passed lit-up fairies with flowers as well as a beach scene with a surfer riding a wave and another one enjoying a cocktail while tanning, baskets with flowers and birds and an entire ensemble of a scene from Noah’s arch. The latter, featuring the arch itself as well as a fleet of animals lined up to board the arch so to say, was the most striking of all the beautiful displays for me.
The Magical Lantern Festival is taking place annually in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Glasgow and tickets can be purchased directly from the website for around 20 GBP. Groupon sometimes offers cheaper deals.
