Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival (simplified Chinese: 元宵节; traditional Chinese: 元宵節/元宵; pinyin: yuánxiāojié) or (Yuanxiao Festival), also known as the Shang Yuan Festival (simplified Chinese: 上元节; traditional Chinese: 上元節; pinyin: shàngyuánjié) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. It is not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also sometimes known as the "Lantern Festival" in locations such as Singapore, and Malaysia. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying bright lanterns. In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, for only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones; in modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals.
The Lantern Festival is also known as the Little New Year since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. Koreans celebrate this festival as the Daeboreum.
History
The origin of Lantern Festival dates back in the early Han Dynasty during Emperor Wu of Han's reign. Legend has it that Emperor Wu of Han had a dream of his palace being burned downed and felt that the dream was a bad omen, so he asked his subjects in his imperial court for advice the next day. Some of the subjects took the opportunity to perform a good deed for the thousands of concubines and female servants in the imperial palace who were prohibited from going home by telling the emperor that the dream was indeed a bad omen and the palace would be burnt down to the ground by deities. In order to avoid impending disaster, each female resident in the imperial palace must carry a lantern and go home, thus fooling the deities in believing there was already a fire in palace and people were fleeing, and every one would return to the palace afterwards. The emperor agreed and of course, there was no fire at the palace and the emperor credited the supposedly successful aversion of the disastrous fire with what was done, and hence he decreed the event to become a regular festival. As a result, the festival eventually became a family reunion day when it merged with other Chinese traditions of various regions in China over time, such as eating tangyuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán), a sweet glutinous rice dumpling served in a sugary soup, symbolizing family reunion.[1]
Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is also used to serve as a day for love and matchmaking, on which an unmarried girl was traditionally permitted to appear in public unescorted and thus be seen by eligible bachelors. It was one of the few nights in ancient times without a strict curfew. Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope. As time has progressed, however, the festival no longer has such implications nowadays.
Those who do not carry lanterns often enjoy watching informal lantern parades. In addition to eating tangyuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán), other popular activities at this festival include and guessing lantern riddles (which became part of the festival since Tang Dynasty), often messages of good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love.
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External Links
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