Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival is the first significant feast after Chinese New Year, so called because the most important activity during the night of the event is watching various wonderful Chinese lanterns. And because every household eats Yuan Xiao (元宵 yuán xiāo, a rice ball stuffed with different fillings) on that day, it is called Yuan Xiao Festival. For its rich and colorful activities, it is regarded as the most recreational among all the Chinese festivals and a day for appreciating the bright full moon, and family reunion.

Customs and Activities

With a history of over 2,000 years, various traditional customs and activities are held during Lantern Festival that appeal to people of different ages, including watching lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles, performing folk dances, and eating Yuan Xiao.

 

Watching Lanterns

During the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), Buddhism flourished in China. So in order to popularize Buddhism, one of the emperors gave an order to light lanterns in the imperial palace to worship and show respect for Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month. During the Tang (618 - 907), Song (960 - 1279), Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties, lighting lanterns became a tradition for Chinese people.

 

Today, when the festival comes, red lanterns can be seen in the street, in each house, and store. In the parks, lanterns of various shapes and types attract countless visitors. Visitors marvel that various lanterns so vividly demonstrate traditional Chinese folklore.

 

Guessing Lantern riddles

Beginning from the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), guessing riddles is regarded as an indispensable part of the Lantern Festival. People write all kinds of riddles on pieces of paper and paste them on colorful lanterns to let visitors guess. If one has an answer to a riddle, he can pull the paper to let organizers verify the answer. Gifts are presented to the people who get the right answers.

 

Because this intellectual activity is exciting, people from all walks of life enjoy it.

 

Eating Yuan Xiao

Yuan Xiao, also called Tang Yuan, is a dumpling ball made of sticky rice flour stuffed with different fillings. Eating Yuan Xiao has become an essential part of the festival. The methods for making Yuan Xiao differ by region and fillings include sugar, rose petals, sesame, sweetened bean paste, and jujube paste. Some do not have fillings. Because tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed, and each has a unique taste, it is very popular. Yuan Xiao is round in shape so it is endowed with the meaning of reunion, harmony and happiness. During the night of the festival, family members sit together to taste Yuan Xiao and appreciate the full moon.

 

Besides these activities, there is Welcoming Zigu (a kind and poor girl in folklore), in which women make straw and cloth images of Zigu and say consoling words to her expressing people's goodness and their pity for the poor. Because appreciating the lanterns offers a good chance for young boys and girls to communicate with each other, the Lantern Festival is also regarded as Chinese Valentine's Day.