Yanshui Fireworks Display The most spectacular "audio-visual" show of Lantern Festival is without doubt the YanShui Fireworks Display, or " beehive of fireworks". It is told that in 1875, the village of Yanshui in Tainan County, was stricken with a pestilence that lasted for twenty years and nearly wiped out the town's entire population. The few survivors that remained prayed to the Goddess Kuan Yin to come to inspect the ravished land. On the day of the Lantern Festival, the town residents entreated the deity Kuan Kung and the deities of Heaven to come to earth to witness their plight, lining the route with signal fires and firecrackers to help the spirits ward off evil and rid the town of disease. When all was done, the plague was nowhere to be seen, and ever since , the people of Yanshui invite Kuan Kung to inspect the land every year on Lantern Festival, lighting firecrackers to herald his arrival to earth. This custom is continued today in the unique and spectacular Yanshui Fireworks Display. The festival begins at dusk with the setting off of the fully-adorned spirit palanquin and driver, and continue all the way up to 5:00 or 6:00 AM the following morning. Throughout the whole event all one can see or smell are fireworks. The most impressive of all the fireworks set off on this day is the "cannon wall" which is lit to thank the gods for their blessing. The scale of the cannon walls vary, though most consist of tens of thousands of firecrackers which pound the sky with a deafening roar. Every time the spirit palanquin approaches the cannon wall, the wall custodian pulls open the red cloth and lights the firecrackers, releasing an explosion of light and color that is the climax of the fireworks evening.