Slaithwaite, UK. 23rd Feb, 2013. The moon begins its journey around the village of Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, UK, on Saturday February 23, 2013. The huge paper lantern was carried from the canal through a large crowd of onlookers during the 2013 Moonraking Festival. The Moonraking Festival takes place in Slaithwaite once every two years.
Paper lanterns are paraded through the streets of Slaithwaite, a small village in West Yorkshire. This is the culmination of the 2013 Moonraking Festival that takes place in the village very 2 years. A large paper lantern moon is brought into the village along the canal where it is raked out by women of the village. It is then hoisted out and carried around the village in a lantern procession. The procession includes hundreds of paper lanterns made by local children during the preceding week when story-telling and lantern-making workshops are held. The festival purports to celebrate the legend of 19th century smugglers that outwitted excise men by telling them they were trying to rake the moon from the canal (the moon being reflected in the canal) when they had been caught trying to retrieve contraband that they had earlier hidden in the canal. This is a legend that seems occurs in other villages across the UK.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, UK
Photo credit: © David Preston / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: england, festival, kingdom, lantern, lanterns, moon, moonraking, night, odd, paper, parade, procession, quirky, slaithwaite, tradition, uk, united, yorkshire
