The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional lantern festival of China. Lantern Festival is also known as Shangyuan Festival and Yuanxi Festival.

Lantern Festival customs

Eat sweet dumplings

The sweet dumpling was originally called "Fuyuanzi", also known as "tangtuan" or "tangyuan". As a food, sweet dumplings have been around in China for a long time. It was popular among the people during the Song Dynasty. Sweet dumpling is filled with white sugar, roses, sesame, bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernels, nuts, jujube paste, etc., and wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape. It can also be made with meat and has various flavors. It can be boiled in water, fried, and steamed, and has the meaning of reunion and happiness.

Watch the lanterns

During the reign of Emperor Hanming, he ordered to hang lights in the palace and temples to worship the Buddha on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month. Later, the custom of hanging lanterns during the Lantern Festival spread from the court to the public. That is, every 15th day of the first month, both the clan and the common people must hang up the lanterns, and the urban and rural areas were lit up all night.

There was an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty. During the prosperous years of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Chang'an lantern market burned 50,000 lanterns, with a variety of patterns. A huge lantern tower with 20 rooms and 150 feet high is brilliant golden and extremely spectacular.

Send a lantern

Before the Lantern Festival, a married woman’s parents’ family sends lanterns to the daughter's house, and in some places, lanterns will be sent until the grandson grows up to 12 years old.

Guess the lantern riddle

"Guessing the lantern riddle" appeared in the Song Dynasty. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many people guessing puzzles in the capital Lin’an. In the beginning, people wrote riddles on paper and pasted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles inspire wisdom and are interesting, they are popular with all classes of society.

With the passage of time, activities of the Lantern Festival have become much more. Many traditional folk performances are added such as dragon lantern juggling, lion juggling, stilt walking, rowing land boats, and playing Taiping drums.

Translator: BAO Minmin

Reviewer: YUAN Ting