Lantern Festival
2 min readThe Lantern Festival is celebrated everywhere on January 15″h of the lunar calendar, right after the Spring Festival. Traditionally,the L.antern Festival is a part of the Spring Festival. This day is always the first full moon in the lunar New Year.
Across China,people celebrate by hanging up lanterns and festoons attending dancing and singing performances,making”Yuan Xiao”or sweet rice glue balls and lighting fireworks.This is also a Continuation of the Spring Festival celebration.
On the Lantern Festival night,the moon illuminates the dark sky while many lanterns shine bright colors on the earth.The traditions of viewing decorative lanterns on this night began more than two thousand years ago in the Western Han Dynasty.In the earlier times,those beautiful lanterns were only seen in imperial palaces.Slowly it evolved into a celebration on the grand scale for the ordinary folks everywhere.A few days before the lantern festival, people begin gathering oiled paper,silk cloths,bamboo sticks and flower to make all types of lanterns.Some people go to the lively streets to pick a personal favorite.The lanterns sometimes come in a series about certain folklore,holiday customs,or lucky mascots.
The Lantern Festival is also a romantic holiday.In feudal society, young girls were not allowed to go out freely.But on the night of the Lantern Festival,they were allowed to view the lantern lights in groups.Sometimes couples would go on dates strolling down the streets lit with lantern lights.Today people still invite others to view lanterns together.
Across China,Lantern Festival is celebrated in many different styles.In places near water,people put Lotus Lanterns in the river to let them flow down stream,carrying the loss they feel for the relatives that have passed away.In the North,as traditional customs combined with modern science and technology,there evolved the lce Lantern Festival.The combination of the ice and snow with colored lights,carvings,designs,and special scenery yield a spectacular winter paradise.
Stilt-walking,drumming and dragon and lion dancing are all traditional forms of festival entertainment.It is common to see hundred-foot long dragons,lit with flashing eyes and luminous bodies,accompanied by pounding drums,cymbals and brass instruments.
