Culture: Exploring the Chinese Lantern Festival

Chinese New year, also called Spring Festival (春节Chūn Jié), in China, marks the beginning of the Spring season.

The Chinese Lantern Festival (元宵节Yuán Xiāo Jié) marks the final day of these celebrations.

The lanterns symbolise people letting go of the past year and welcoming the new year with good fortune.

The Chinese Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

During this time, try saying this in Mandarin:

元宵节快乐!Yuán xiāo jié kuài lè! – Happy Lantern Festival!

Many different performances and activities take place to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Lanterns (灯笼Dēng lóng) are hung from Chinese New Year’s Eve until the end of the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Lantern owners often write riddles, called 猜灯谜cāi dēng mí, on a paper note and paste them on the lantern.

The crowds who come to view the lanterns will then try to guess the riddles.

Give this one a try:

‘What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?’

The answer to the riddle is ‘Your name’.

Why not try making your own Chinese paper lantern?

Some cities in China also put on amazing displays of colourful lights as a part of the celebrations.

A variety of performances will take place in different regions of China for the Lantern Festival, but two of the most popular performances are:

舞龙wǔ lóng – dragon dance

舞狮wǔ shī – lion dance

Both the lion and the dragon are symbols of power and good luck in China, and the dances intend to bring happiness and good fortune to people.

The most popular food for the Lantern festival is 汤圆tāng yuán.

汤圆 Tāng yuán are rice dumplings with sweet fillings, unwrapped, steamed or fried and served in syrup.

Rice dumplings represent family reunion – their name even sounds similar to the Mandarin for ‘reunion’ (团圆tuán yuán).