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Chinese Lantern Festival
The 15th of January according to the lunar Chinese calendar is Lantern Festival.
The night of 15th of January according to the lunar Chinese calendar is the first full-moon night in the New Year. People treat it as a symbol of New Year and celebrate on that day. They appreciate the bright moon, appreciate the beautiful lanterns, burn fireworks, guess lantern riddles and eat yuanxiao(stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice flour served in soup) together.
Customs of Lantern Festival
Eat Yuanxiao
Eatin Yuanxiao is the long lasted tradition in China. Yuanxiao is also called as Tangyuan in some places. It is a kind of stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice flour served in soup. Suger, rose, sesames, bean paste, walnut kernel, jujube powder can be stuffed in Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is also a symbol of staying together.
See Lanterns
In the years of Yongle(58A.D to 75), Han Dynasty, Ming Emperor promoted Buddhism highly. A famous monk named Cai Yin came back from India. He told Ming Emperor that monks in India get together and look the Buddhist bones with reverence on 15th of January. Ming Emperor ordered to light lanterns in the court and temples on 15th of January according to the Chinese lunar calendar. He did this to show his sincerity to the Buddhist and this deeds spread to the folk places. From that time on, people light lanterns in the night of 15th of January according to the Chinese lunar calendar to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
Guessing lantern riddles is a popular activity added during the Lantern Festival. It appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the very beginning, some people wrote riddles on the lantern and people guess them. Because the lantern riddles are good for brain exercising and it is very interesting, this activity formally formed in Southern Song Dynasty
