...Lantern Festival
While New Year (除夕- Chu2 Xi4) marks the beginning of Spring Festival (春节- Chun1 Jie2), Lantern Festival (元宵节- Yuan Xiao Jie), which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 1st month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar, marks its end (i.e finally the end of the fireworks and firecrackers). The lanterns show the way for the spirits back to the world beyond.
Traditionally children go out at night carrying bright lanterns and the date once served as a day for love and matchmaking since it was one of the few nights without a strict curfew. One of the other tradition is to eat Tang1 Yuan2 (汤圆), which are glutinous rice balls made of glutinous rice, sugar, red beans or black sesame or peanut. “Tang Yuan” sounds like "Tuan Yuan" which in Mandarin means reunion of the family.
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| Lanterns |
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| TangYuan or YuanXiao |
