Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival underway in Tainan
台南鹽水蜂炮煙火節正在進行中
| TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The two-day Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival began Monday morning in Tainan, drawing visitors from across Taiwan for one of the country’s most dramatic Lantern Festival celebrations, per CNA.
The annual event opened with a palanquin procession departing from Yanshui Wu Temple (鹽水武廟), the festival’s main organizer. Temple officials said the palanquin, carrying a deity, will travel along five routes during the festival. The first procession circled outlying villages before returning to the temple to rest in the evening and departing again at 7 p.m. Unlike conventional fireworks displays, Yanshui’s distinctive beehive fireworks — resembling dense barrages of bottle rockets — are fired directly into crowds of participants rather than launched into the sky. The tradition dates back about 150 years, when residents stricken by plague prayed to Lord Guan (關帝), also known as Guan Yu, and set off fireworks in a ritual believed to ward off disease. The first major fireworks display on Monday evening filled the streets and the night sky with flashes of light and deafening bursts. Larger crowds are expected on Tuesday, the official Lantern Festival, with police implementing special traffic control measures. Because the visual effects are more striking after dark, many businesses and individuals constructing so-called “fireworks fortresses” schedule their launches for nighttime. Yanshui Wu Temple also arranged its own fireworks display each evening. Temple organizers estimate that about 200 fireworks fortresses of varying sizes will be ignited over the two-day event. On Tuesday at 9 p.m., a special Year of the Horse-themed fireworks fortress will be launched from the athletic field of Yanshui Junior High School. The display will be accompanied by additional fireworks, offering spectators a chance to view the spectacle without wearing full protective gear. The Tainan City Sinying Police Precinct said traffic controls will take effect beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Visitors are encouraged to park at the Annei Sugar Factory or in the Xinying Industrial Zone and walk into Yanshui to ease congestion. |
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| Sean Scanlan Taiwan News, Staff Writer | |
| 2026-03-03 |
