2015 Lantern Festival: Closed

The Chinese New Year celebration traditionally runs from Chinese New Year's Eve on the last day of the year to the Lantern Festival (元宵節) on the 15th day of the new year.  During the Lantern Festival families go out at night carrying brightly colored lanterns of every shape and size.  At home these are hung by the gate and riddles are attached to them for guests to guess at.  These riddles, called "lantern tigers" because they are difficult to wrestle with, often take the form of poems.  Join the Haiku Club this month as we light up the night for the Chinese New Year.



Prompt

Celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival by writing about one or more of these prompts:

• Light
• Fire
• Riddles
• Persistence

Challenge Yourself (Optional, Try One or Both)

        Write your deviation as a riddle and encourage your readers to guess the answer.  When writing a riddle remember to start with the answer in mind, and then work your way back from that.  Think of things your answer does and sensory descriptions of it.  Then weave these together.  Here is a great discussion about riddle poems throughout history.

        Make a paper lantern with your poem (riddle or not) written on it and add a picture of it to your deviation.  Here are a few different design ideas but you're welcome to find others:

• Simple cut-paper cylinder
• Fanned spherical
• Thumb tack patterned
• Origami folded

Rules

Write an original poem using an Eastern poetry form of your choice.  Your poem should follow the style and structure guidelines for the chosen form.  Remember to mention the form you chose and include a reference to this contest and journal entry in your deviation comments.  Then submit your deviation to our 2015 Events gallery.  If accepted it will be added to the contest collection and journal.  One entry per contest, please.

If you have not participated in a contest here before please consider starting now.  We are here to cultivate and encourage each other while having fun!  Check out our Events Board for information on current and upcoming activities.   



Deadline

       All entries must be received by March 1st!   



Get Involved

Help us publicize the Club, our events, and our members.   

• Mention our events in your journals and our contest news article.
• Include the-beastie's beautiful stamp, or RedDragonfly's wonderful plz version (haikuplz/haikuplz2), in your deviation comments and journals to show support for the Club!   
• Share our homepage and event journals on your preferred social media portals.
• Suggest entries for Daily Deviations and Daily Lit Deviations.
• Use ProjectComment's Commenter System to request feedback on your work.
• Read ProjectComment's Guide to Commenting and Comment Pointers to learn how to leave more constructive commentary.
• Use dALinkSystem's Link System User Guide to share deviations by other artists in your artist's comment box.

Entries   

• we once danced tanka by saiun
• festival miyoji by cattservant
• the crucible of angels tanka by somethingzenzen
• light dodoitsu by Weidenlied
• fire haiku by EphemeralEloquence
• any time now haiku by Formel

Remember to give them some love!   



Judges

        

If you are interested in being a judge for this contest let us know.   
Volunteering as a judge earns you Contributor status.



Prizes

The top three selections will receive:  

• Contributor status
• A feature and news article by the-haiku-club
• A feature by saiun
• A feature by RedDragonfly

All entrants will be added to the quarterly prize drawing.  Completing challenge goals and working with under-represented forms counts double.  On April 1st, 2015 a winner will be randomly drawn and given the choice of either:

• 
  Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands-on Guide by Jane Reichhold


• 
  The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Onono Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan

If you are willing to contribute prizes for this contest let us know.