Yuanxiao Jie - Lantern Festival
There is one interesting story about this festival.During the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Buddhism was popular in China. One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would set fire on the world, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day. From then now, the Buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China. Till now, the lantern festival is still held each year around the country. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited. Therefore,it’s important to watch lanterns on this festival.
Tangyuan will be put on the table on this day, which is 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.
The celebrations of the Lantern Festival could be in many ways, including a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a yangge dance, a land boat dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. On the night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people become really intoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky. "Guessing lantern riddles"is one thing must be done. Usually, lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular.
Yangshuo people will celebrate Lantern Festival in everywhere, especially, people will decorate the whole Yangshuo Park and Weststreet with beautifl lanterns, they also have the game of "Guessing lantern riddles"
