The Lantern Festival: Let There Be Light

By James Zheng

The Lantern Festival is on February 8th. By just seeing the name, you might understand it as a day focusing on “Lanterns.” But that is only how the foreign countries view this festival; it is not only about lanterns. 

During the Han Dynasty, when the culture of Buddhism was spreading over the eastern part of the nation, the emperor formally established a day for people to light up lanterns in the city as a way to express their faith to the Buddha. This convention has been kept for centuries. When it underwent adaptation in several dynasty changes, peoples’ customs and habits tended to alter the tradition.

Here are some interesting entertainments you could do during the Lantern Festival:

• Admiring Lanterns. Just like the name, viewing lanterns is the most exciting part of the day! By just walking on the streets, you could see the lanterns hanging on the side of each roof. Each lantern is designed in a different style. The shapes change, and people “carve” on the lantern surfaces animals or flowers. When you walk on the street, you see scenes brilliantly illuminated with splendid lights and feel the authentic atmosphere of being in the Lantern Festival.
• Solving Lantern Puzzles. For some special lanterns, there will be a paper or a wooden token hanging by the lantern; these are called the Lantern Puzzles. To make people not only enjoy viewing the lantern physically, the puzzles are the parts that are more interesting and inspiring. Usually the puzzle will give you an abstract description of something and let you guess a Chinese idiom, word, slang, or proverb.
• Eating the round glutinous dumpling. This is my favorite part of the whole lantern festival. The dumpling actually looks like a rice ball, and it is stuffed with different flavors inside. The classic style is the flavor with sugar mixed red bean paste, or the sugar mixed with sesame. Now people prefer the sweeter taste more, and they have invented fruit flavors for it. This dessert which we call “Tang Yuan” in Chinese has a symbol. We see the “Tang Yuan” as a thing that bonds itself tightly together, which also is a sign of reunion for us. 

汤圆

Just like the Chinese New Year known by the majority of foreigners, the Lantern Festival’s cultural connotation and value are far superior to other festivals; the essence of it is more like a carnival that everyone could participate in while enjoying the extraordinary significance of our history.

Seasonal Holidays Editor: Katelin Slosky