The Lantern Festival of 2021 falls on today Feb 26. To celebrate this festival
The Lantern Festival of 2021 falls on today Feb 26. To celebrate this festival, Chinese will eat Yuanxiao, also known as glutinous rice dumplings, watch lanterns, guess lantern riddles… However, not like most of the traditional festivals in China, the Lantern Festival is not a holiday, so people still have to work in this day.
Folk Customs and Activities
As a holiday with history of over 2,000 years, there are many traditional customs and activities during Lantern Festival like guessing lantern riddles, watching lanterns and fireworks and eating glutinous rice dumplings.
In the ancient China, about 2000 years ago, Buddhism flourished in this land. And with the goal of popularizing Buddhism, the emperor gave the order to light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month, thus lighting lanterns in Lantern Festival became a traditional activity for Chinese people till today. That’s why today you can see red lanterns in the street and store during Lantern Festival.
Guessing Lantern Riddles
About 1000 years ago in Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), guessing riddles was an important part in the Lantern Festival. Chinese wrote all kinds of riddles on pieces of paper, and pasted them on lanterns to let other people guess. If one know the answer to a riddle, he will be presented rewards and gifts. This tradition still exists in modern Chinese life, you can see this performance at the Lantern Festival gala on TV.
Yuanxiao, also known as glutinous rice dumplings, is a dumpling ball made of sticky rice flour stuffed with black sesame. Eating yuanxiao is an important part of the festival. The ways for making Yuanxiao vary, some regions prefer fillings with sugar and sesame, whereas some do not have fillings. Because tangyuan can be fried, steamed or boiled. Yuanxiao is round in shape so it is symbolized be reunion, harmony and happiness in China.