I.

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce beasts and birds that went around hurting people and animals. In order to defend themselves, people organized themselves to fight against them. A god bird landed on earth because it was lost, but was accidentally shot dead by an innocent hunter. After hearing the news, the Emperor of Heaven was furious and immediately ordered the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the earth on the 15th day of the first lunar month, intending to burn all the property, animals and humans.

The emperor's daughter was too kind-hearted to see innocent people suffer. She risked her life to sneak to earth to inform humans. The news spread, all the people were scared and did not know what to do. After a long time, an old man finally had a solution: on the 14th, 15th and 16th day of the first lunar month, people had to decorate their homes with lanterns and set off fireworks. In this way, the emperor would be mistaken that people were burned to death.

On the night of the 15th day of the first lunar month, the emperor looked down from heaven and found that the earth was loud and vibrant. The emperor thought it was the sound of a burning fire, so he was satisfied. In this way, people were lucky to save their lives and property. Since then, in order to commemorate the success of eliminating this disaster, every family and household have hung lanterns and set off fireworks on the 15th day of the first lunar month to commemorate and celebrate.

II.

According to legend, there was a man named Dongfang Shuo who was funny and often amused the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The emperor was very fond of him. He was so kind-hearted that he often interceded for the maids who offended the emperor.

One day in the first month of the lunar calendar, Dongfang Shuo saw a maid in tears who tried to commit suicide by jumping into a well, so he rushed to save her. The palace maid was called Yuan Xiao, who had parents and sisters at home. She missed her relatives so much every festival but couldn't meet them. So she thought it would be better to die. Dongfang Shuo saved her and promised to reunite her with her family.

One day, Dongfang Shuo came to Yuan Xiao's home to make some arrangements, and then returned to Chang'an street to set up a stall to tell fortunes. Many people came to him for fortune telling, but they all got the fortune stick wrote "The fire will burn your body on the 16th day of the first lunar month". So they asked for a way out. Dongfang Shuo said mysteriously, "On the 13th day of the first lunar month, a girl in red on a donkey will come. She is the fire goddess who has been ordered to burn Chang'an, so you can ask her for help."

On the 13th day of the first lunar month, a girl in red really came. The girl said: "I am appointed to burn Chang'an. The Jade Emperor will check out the situation at the Southern Heavenly Gate. Now that you have begged for help, I will give you the verse that I have transcribed, and you can ask the present emperor to find a solution." The verse is: Chang'an will suffer, and the fire will burn the capital city. There will be a big fire on the 16th day of the first lunar month, and then the city will be turned red by the flame at night.

After reading this, Emperor Wu was astonished and asked Dongfang Shuo for advice. Dongfang Shuo said, "I heard that the Fire Godness loves to eat tangyuan. On the night of the 15th day of the first lunar month, you can ask Yuanxiao who makes the best tangyuan to make tangyuan for the Godness. If you make offerings to the Fire Godness, I think the Godness will be merciful. Then you can order people to hang red lanterns in the courtyard and house doors, and set off fireworks and firecrackers in the streets. In this way, the Jade Emperor, who is watching from the Southern Heavenly Gate, may be fooled."

On the night of the fifteenth day, the sister of Yuan Xiao also came to Chang'an with her parents to view the lanterns. They saw Yuan Xiao, who had gone out of the palace to play with the lanterns on the street, and the family was reunited. On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the capital Chang'an was safe and sound, so the Emperor Wu was delighted. The next year, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor also asked Yuan Xiao to make tangyuan for the Fire Godness. As the best tangyuan were made by Yuan Xiao, people changed the name of the tangyuan to Yuanxiao. And people also named the 15th day of the first lunar month as Yuanxiao(Lantern) Festival.