Around 19 out of every 20 Taiwanese is of Chinese descent, the majority of people on the island being the descendants of pioneers, migrants, and (in some cases) fugitives who left the mainland province of Fujian between 1622 and 1895, when Taiwan became a colony of Japan.
In Taiwan as in other places in Asia where there’s a substantial Chinese population, Lunar New Year is a major celebration. In fact, it’s the year’s key holiday season. Apart from hotels, restaurants, and shops — most of which do a roaring trade during this period — all business grinds to a halt for several days, and schools close for three or four weeks. People use this downtime to visit relatives, clean their homes, or travel overseas. One eagerly anticipated tradition is the giving out of hong bao, when working-age adults (many of whom will have received a pre-New Year bonus from their employers) present red envelopes filled with cash to the children, their parents, and relatives they deem worthy.
This time around, if you’re looking at the Gregorian calendar, the Lunar Year is starting unusually late: The Year of the Horse will commence on February 17.
The 2026 Lantern Festival in Chiayi
Much like the Feast of the Epiphany marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, the Lunar New Year period climaxes with one of Taiwan’s most colorful celebrations. What Mandarin speakers call Yuanxiao Jie is known in the English-speaking world as Lantern Festival. Until a few decades ago it was a one-day event, held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (in other words, the first full moon of the new year). The festival now lasts the better part of a fortnight, and it’s has grown tremendously in scale. In the days of yore, the lanterns that give this festival its name were simple decorations. Now they’re dazzling creations which incorporate modern technology as well as great imagination.
In addition to various local events, each year hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese flock to a government-supported national-level Lantern Festival. The 2025 edition was held in Taoyuan, the municipality that also includes the country’s main international airport. This year’s extravaganza is scheduled for March 3 to 15 in Chiayi County, and the announced theme is ‘Lighting Up Taiwan – Shining in Chiayi’.
The main venues, which include the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum and Suantou Sugar Factory Cultural Park, are all near Chiayi High-Speed Railway Station, so it’ll be easy for those based in other cities to arrive and leave. Travellers with enough time should, of course, schedule a few days in the Chiayi area; there’s no shortage of things to see and do, notably excursions to forests and hiking trails Alishan, visits to the fishing port of Budai, and touring the historic former jail in the heart of Chiayi City.
If work or family commitments mean you won’t be able to stray far from Greater Taipei, consider instead attending the 2026 New Taipei Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (February 27 and March 3), hosted by the little towns served by the perenially popular Pingxi Branch Railway.
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