What is Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival?
Pingxi is an old coal-mining area in the hills east of Taipei. A popular local story says the lanterns were once a signal: villagers who had fled into the mountains from bandits sent them up to tell their families it was safe to come home.
Today people write wishes for health, love, work or study on the sides of a lantern before letting it go. The district holds mass releases on evenings around the Lantern Festival, when lanterns are launched together, and visitors can release their own lanterns at Shifen all year round.
When is Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival? Dates for 2026 and 2027
2026
- Friday 27 February 2026Mass lantern release in Pingxi
- Tuesday 3 March 2026Lantern Festival: mass release in Shifen
2027
- Saturday 20 February 2027Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the lunar new year
The festival is tied to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which moves with the moon. The district announces its release nights each year, and they do not always fall on the day itself: in 2026 one of them was four days before. The 2027 nights have not been announced yet.
How people celebrate
- Choosing a lantern: the shops at Shifen give each colour its own meaning, from health to love to wealth.
- Writing wishes with a brush on the paper sides, then lighting the lantern and letting it go from the railway tracks at Shifen, between trains.
- Big group releases on the festival nights, when hundreds of lanterns go up at once.
Good to know
- Take the train: the little Pingxi line winds up the valley to Shifen and Pingxi, while the roads are jammed on festival nights.
- Check the registration rules for the group releases early: places are limited.
- Write a wish on every side: tradition says each side carries a different one.