Chinese Lantern Festival - Auckland Domain - 12 Feb
2017 the Year of the Chicken was welcomed by the Chinese Lantern Festival in the Auckland Domain. The sacred chickens were very important to the Romans, and a general always took the omens before going into battle to ensure the gods would grant him victory. During the First Punic War when the Roman priests reported to General "pretty-boy" Pulcher that he couldn't fight because the sacred chickens would not eat (probably because they were sea-sick from being cooped up on his command ship), he ordered the chickens tossed overboard into the sea, angrily screaming, "Then let them drink!" (He then lost the battle).
To those interested we explained that we were Chinese-Romans as shown on our map; when Crassus was defeated by Parthia at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC) we were sold down the Silk Road to fight for the Mongols in the Battle of Zhizhi (36 BC). Chinese historians record the novel "turtle" of overlapping shields (the Roman testudo formation) and the victorious Chinese emperor settled the surviving Romans in the city of Liqian (Legion = the Chinese name for the Roman Empire). Some festival-goers googled "Liqian" and were delighted to see that there are still Romans living there today, and we were bringing greetings from their homeland. However, one dubious old woman demanded to hear us speak Chinese, but was suitably impressed when we spoke in Latin, explaining that we were Chinese-Romans, not Roman-Chinese.
To those interested we explained that we were Chinese-Romans as shown on our map; when Crassus was defeated by Parthia at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC) we were sold down the Silk Road to fight for the Mongols in the Battle of Zhizhi (36 BC). Chinese historians record the novel "turtle" of overlapping shields (the Roman testudo formation) and the victorious Chinese emperor settled the surviving Romans in the city of Liqian (Legion = the Chinese name for the Roman Empire). Some festival-goers googled "Liqian" and were delighted to see that there are still Romans living there today, and we were bringing greetings from their homeland. However, one dubious old woman demanded to hear us speak Chinese, but was suitably impressed when we spoke in Latin, explaining that we were Chinese-Romans, not Roman-Chinese.
The most common comment was: "Gee, your sword is heavy!" followed by: "Is that armor real steel?" tap-tap. One extremely knowledgeable Chinese astrologer explained that the Year of the Chicken has the lucky colour of red and lucky flower the gladiolus ("little-sword"), and then touched us for luck, since we were decked out in red with gladius ("big-sword") before hurrying off (probably to buy a lotto ticket). Jason has now been pushed into second place by Darren as most-handsome Roman, but Lisa says when she overheard girls discussing the matter they decided they would like to take the "big one" home (Mitch), lol. It was Daniel's first time at the festival, and he reckons he had more photos taken of him this night than he has had so far in his entire life. We did pick up a few new recruits, since the Roman army is a great career, and it was a very happy enjoyable evening. Auckland may be the furthermost distant far-flung outpost of the Roman Empire, but it is still a great place to live!
The Chinese Lantern Festival had many great lanterns on display, but surely the best was Jason and the Golden Fleece. The Epic story of Jason and the Argonauts sailing from Europe through the Black Sea to Asia where he wins the Golden Fleece seems particularly apt. Here we see Jason standing before the captured Golden Fleece, having vanquished the dragon.
