元宵：灯笼摇曳，邂逅浪漫
The Chinese Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, is an important traditional festival in China. It falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, two weeks after the Spring Festival, marking the return of Spring. It also marks the final day of the festival celebrations. After the Lantern Festival, Spring Festival taboos (禁忌) are no longer in effect, and all New Year decorations are taken down. Here’s how Chinese people celebrate the festival.
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The main activity of the Lantern Festival is lighting and appreciating lanterns. Lighting lanterns symbolizes “lighting up the future”. It’s a way for people to hope they have a smooth future and to express their best wishes for their families. The traditional lanterns are always red to hope for good fortune. During the Lantern Festival, many big lantern fairs are held in China.
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Solving lantern riddles, which originated in the Song Dynasty, is also one of the most important and popular activities of the Lantern Festival. People who own lanterns write riddles on paper notes and stick them on the colorful lanterns. Crowds of people gather to guess the answers. If someone thinks they know the answer, they can go to the lantern owner to check if they are correct. If they are right, they usually get a small gift as a prize.
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Eating tangyuan is another important custom of the Lantern Festival. Tangyuan, also called yuanxiao in northern China, are balls made from glutinous (糯的) rice and boiled in sweet soup. As tangyuan sounds like “tuanyuan”, Chinese people think the round shape of tangyuan symbolizes togetherness.
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As two of the most famous traditional folk dances in China, dragon and lion dances are definitely common during the Lantern Festival. Chinese people see the lion as a symbol of bravery and strength and believe it can drive away bad luck and protect people and their livestock. They also worship the dragon and see it as a sign of good luck.
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