Happy New Year of the Snake!
How has your Chinese New Year holiday been? I hope you had a great fun experiencing Chinese culture to the full! Today is Lantern Festival 元宵节 (Yuánxiāo Jié). It lies on the 15th day of the lunar new year, which is today, February 12th this year. 元宵节 marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations.
In this article, I would love to share some interesting knowledge of 元宵节 with you. Let's dive right into it!
What does 元宵 mean exactly?
Your first impression of 元宵 might be the white, round and sweet rice balls that you tried in a Chinese restaurant👇
Yes! Chinese Northerners call this Lantern Festival specialty 元宵. Actually 元宵 has another meaning.
In Chinese, 元 can mean "first" and 宵 usually refers to "night". So 元宵 literally means the first night that we can see the full moon in the lunar new year. It symbolizes the arrival of spring and the end of the Chinese New Year celebration.When it comes to how 元宵节 was originated, there are many different stories since ancient times. Here I would like to share two famous ones with you.
The first story indicates that 元宵节 is somehow related to Buddhism.
Ruling the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Hanmingdi was a loyal Buddhist believer. He heard that some monks light up lanterns in their temples to conquer darkness and show respect to Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month. He decided to do the same. Therefore, he stipulate that all the temples and houses should light up lanterns on that evening. This Buddhist custom gradually became a folk custom in China and a permanent festival for all the Chinese people.The second story is based on a Chinese mythology.
The Jade Emperor's favorite crane was killed by villagers and he was furious. Then he decided to burn the village down on the 15th day of the lunar year. The Jade Emperor's daughter can't tolerate her dad's behavior, so she warned the villagers in advance. A wise man advised the villagers to hang lots of red lanterns outside to give the Jade Emperor the impression that the village was already on fire. The emperor was fooled by the lanterns and the village survived successfully. This tradition of hanging red lanterns on the 15th day of the lunar year was kept as a tradition since then.How do Chinese celebrate 元宵节？
So what do Chinese people do to celebrate 元宵节? Let's check out the customs one by one!1. Appreciate beautiful lanternsYou will be able to see many beautiful lanterns during the festival, easpecially if you go to lantern shows. Apart from creating the warm festive atmosphere, Chinese people like lanterns bacause of its good implication. In Chinese, "灯/dēng/lantern" sounds like "丁/dīng/number of people". So lighting up lanterns symbolizes adding more people into the family. Also, lanterns represent brighteness and happiness in Chinese culture. Generally, all the good wishes are in this one little lantern.
2. Solve interesting lantern riddlesDuring 元宵节, ancient Chinese people like to write riddles on the red paper and paste them on colorful lanterns for people to solve.
Since solving riddles are fun and for enlightening wisdom, it has gradually become an irreplaceable custom of 元宵节.
Look at the lantern riddle above, "上上下下，不上不下"，can you guess what's the character it describes?
*The answer is: 一.
3. Enjoy watching lion dances
Lion dance is commonly performed during 元宵节 as Chinese people believe that it can bring them good luck and fortune. It's very similar to a dragon dance but lion dance is normally operated by only two dancers instead of a bunch of people, one of whom manipulates the head while the other is controlling the tail of the lion. The fundamental movements in lion dance can be found in Chinese martial arts, and it is commonly performed to a vigorous drum beat. 
