Chinese Lantern Festival Traditions

By Author: Lucy Carter
Total Articles: 102
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The Lantern Festival is celebrated in China on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which normally falls within the months of February or March. It's been an important festival ever since the times of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 25).

Watching Chinese lanterns is an indispensable part of the festivities and is a tradition that originated in Buddhist religious practices. All throughout the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), Buddhism thrived in China. Word reached one emperor that Buddhist monks had developed the practice of watching "sarira", or the remains of Buddha's body after cremation, and lighting lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month, so he decided to follow suit. The emperor ordered the lighting of lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to honor Buddha on this day, and eventually the ritual evolved into a huge festival among the common people, spreading from the central plains to all of China. Today, people hang Chinese lanterns of diverse shapes and sizes in the streets and children happily parade their own handmade or store-bought lanterns around town.

Solving ...
... lantern riddles is another fun part of the festival. People will post riddles on their lanterns and reward the person who guesses the answer correctly with a small gift. This tradition originated during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and has been popular among all social groups ever since.

Rice dumplings, or "yuanxiao", are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival. These dumplings are also known as "tangyuan", which sounds a lot like "tuanyuan", the Chinese word for "reunion". So the dumplings are eaten as a symbol of family unity, harmony and happiness. The "yuanxiao" or "tangyuan" themselves are small round balls made of glutinous rice flour, rose petals, sesame seeds, bean paste, jujube paste, walnuts, dried fruit, sugar and oil.

On the day of the festival, special performances of the dragon lantern dance, lion dance, land boat dance, "yangge" dance, walking on stilts and dancing to the beat of drums are given. When night falls, in addition to the beautiful glowing Chinese lanterns, fireworks are set off. Families set off their own fireworks and some towns sponsor fireworks displays.
Rob Payne is the founder of Hanging Lanterns, suppliers of Chinese lanterns.