Lantern festival why is it celebrated

Why are these objects so commonly used to decorate Chinese restaurants? Why do you associate red paper lanterns with the Chinese New Year? You will learn the history and purpose of the festival as well as where it is celebrated. Finally, you will also learn the traditions most commonly associated with the festival. Those festivals usually occur in the middle part of autumn. Unlike the one night of fun that usually occurs to celebrate the new year in the United States, the Chinese celebrate for 15 days when a new year begins.

The Lantern Festival is the last day of the celebrations. Since the Lantern Festival has such a long history, there are some discrepancies in its origin. Some say that the festival was first celebrated during the Han Dynasty. Buddhist monks would light lanterns on this particular night to honor Buddha. The general population mimicked this practice, and the festival was born.

To punish the people of the town, the emperor threatened to burn it. A fairy visited the townspeople and told them to light lanterns that night. The emperor saw the lit lanterns, assumed the town was already on fire, and saw no need to intervene.

Each year, the townspeople celebrated being saved from destruction by lighting lanterns. Another story says that the original festival was used to assist the spirits of deceased family members. The dead were thought to return during the New Year celebrations to visit their family still on Earth. The lanterns were lit at the end of the 15 days to guide the souls of the dead back to their homes. She told her employer that the God of Fire had visited her and told her that he planned to burn down the city.

The emperor, worried that this would happen, mimicked the fire. While everyone was lighting lanterns, the maid snuck home to be with her family. Regardless of its origin, the festival has survived for thousands of years. The festival is said to promote reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness. The Lantern Festival is celebrated all over the world, but each region celebrates it a little bit differently. Some areas are known for taking a modern twist on the celebrations.

There, a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon spews fireworks from its mouth. Other cities have electric and neon lanterns. The largest Lantern Festival is in Nanjing. Thousands of lanterns are hung along the Qinhuai River and the Confucian Temple.

No matter the origin story of the Chinese Lantern Festival that you subscribe to, the purpose of the festival is celebratory. There are several reasons why it is such an important festival. For one, it marks the first full moon in the Chinese calendar and the return of spring. Some local governments will even organize fireworks parties. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people get lost in the celebration with the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

People will eat yuanxiao , or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the " Yuanxiao Festival. These are small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed.

It tastes sweet and delicious. What's more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with " tuanyuan ," meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony, and happiness for the family. Legend has it that yuanxiao date back to China's Spring and Autumn Periods. During the Tang Dynasty they were called mianjian flour cocoons or yuan bu luo ni. During the Song Dynasty they were called yuanzi spheres or tuanzi dumplings.

There are many different types of yuanxiao , with fillings covering the entire range of the Five Flavors savory, spicy, sweet, sour, and salty. Sweet fillings are the most common, and include sweet bean paste, sesame, date paste, ginkgo nut, peanut, almond, and hawthorn fruit.

Other fillings include pickled cabbage, minced pork, minced ham, shrimp, green beans, and chrysanthemum. There are two methods for making yuanxiao - wrapping and rolling.

Wrapped yuanxiao are called tangyuan, and are popular in southern China. Tangyuan are assembled by making a depression in a ball of glutinous rice flour dough, inserting the filling into the depression, and then sealing the ball.

Rolled yuanxiao are popular in northern China. Assembly consists of rolling a small ball of the filling in dry glutinous rice flour, building it up like a snowball until it reaches the desired size.

The completed yuanxaio and tangyuan may be boiled, steamed, or deep-fried. With the approach of Lantern Festival, yuanxiao can be seen everywhere, further heightening the festive holiday spirit. Therefore, lion dances are performed at important events, especially the Lantern Festival, to ward off evil and pray for good fortune and safety. The lion dance requires two highly-trained performers in a lion suit. One acts as the head and forelegs, and the other the back and rear legs.

Under the guidance of a choreographer, the "lion" dances to the beat of a drum, gong, and cymbals. Sometimes they jump, roll, and do difficult acts such as walking on stilts. In one lion dance, the "lion" moves from place to place looking for some green vegetables, in which red envelopes with money inside are hidden.

The acting is very amusing and spectators enjoy it very much. Nowadays, the lion dance has spread to many other countries with overseas Chinese, and it is quite popular in countries like Malaysia and Singapore.

In many Chinese communities of Europe and America, Chinese people use lion dances or dragon dances to celebrate every Spring Festival and other important events.

Eating tangyuan is an important custom of the Lantern Festival. These ball-shaped dumplings are made of glutinous rice flour and are stuffed with different fillings such as white sugar, brown sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts, walnuts, rose petals, bean paste, and jujube paste or a combination of ingredients. They are usually sweet.

Therefore, eating tangyuan on the Lantern Festival is a way for Chinese people to express their best wishes for their family and their future lives. It is believed that the custom of eating tangyuan originated during the Song Dynasty, and became popular during the Ming — and Qing — periods.

During the Lantern Festival, many lantern fairs are held in China. These offer tourists chances to experience Lantern Festival celebrations in public places. Here we recommend 3 top places for you to appreciate spectacular and colorful lanterns and performances. Transportation During Chinese New Year is difficult because people travel to be with family and friends and go out in the evening to lantern displays and parks.

Many people are also still traveling back to work or school after the end of the official Spring Festival vacation days. Travel tickets are difficult to get. Accommodation may be more expensive. Contact us and we can help you avoid the hassles and have a China experience that includes the best of the Lantern Festival.

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