Thousands light lanterns to kick off Mid-Autumn Festival
A dragon dance troupe getting ready for their performance at yesterday’s opening ceremony. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — Thousands gathered in Chinatown yesterday night to kick off the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations with a light-up of 2,300 iconic lanterns featuring local landmarks, such as the dragon playground in Toa Payoh and Gardens By The Bay, as well as past campaign mascots such as Singa the Courtesy Lion.
Besides the lanterns designed by the faculty and students of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the street light-up also features a 12m tall Merlion, in keeping with the year-long Republic’s Jubilee celebrations.
Until Oct 12, a 600m section of Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and parts of South Bridge Road will remain lit from 7pm to midnight on Sundays to Thursdays, and 7pm to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Yesterday’s three-hour opening ceremony also bore a strong local flavour, featuring acts by local theatre veterans Sebastian Tan and Pam Oei, as well as YouTube child star Dr Jiajia. More than 10 local performing groups, including several primary and secondary schools, also took part in the show.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who graced the opening ceremony, said the Mid-Autumn Festival has become an occasion that is celebrated by all Singaporeans.
“If you look at what happens in the heartlands ... it is something that everyone gets involved in. And that is something really unique about Singapore, and we must deepen this as we go forward,” he said.
Other highlights of the month-long festivities, which were organised by the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee, include nightly stage shows at Kreta Ayer Square, a fancy-dress contest on Sept 26 featuring fashion styles that hark back to the 1960s, as well as a mass lantern walk on Sept 27, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Dr Lily Neo, Jalan Besar GRC MP-elect and grassroots adviser, said the committee had created more opportunities for the youth to be involved in this year’s traditional festival. For instance, the winning entries of a children’s lantern-painting competition will be displayed at Chinatown Food Street until Sept 27.
“The Chinatown precinct has a rich heritage, and we hope that by injecting strong elements of local culture and icons of yesteryear, this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival can be more meaningful for Singaporeans and tourists,” said Dr Neo.
