Lantern Festival 2019

Today marks the start of Yuan Xiao  (元宵節) or The Lantern Festival—the climactic finale of Chinese New Year celebrations all over the world. This joyous tradition has been practiced for more than 2000 years, dating back to China’s Han Dynasty. It’s a time for gazing at the moon, enjoying lion dances, eating rice balls, telling riddles, and lighting lanterns for a variety of reasons.

Once known as Shang Yuan (上元), early lantern festivals were designed as offerings to the gods. Families lit lanterns near their homes to represent a holy place. Today’s lanterns vary widely in size and design. The Kongming lantern  (孔明燈—kǒng míng dēng) represents happiness while the sky lantern (天燈—tiān dēng) is lit for newlyweds or couples without children.

Families also gather on this day for a holiday feast, featuring yuan xiao—also known as tāng yuan (湯圓) in the South—rice dumplings filled with syrup and bean paste.

Many people write riddles or love notes on their lanterns, sending them skyward with high hopes of attracting their secret crush. The Lantern Festival is sometimes considered the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day—along with the Qixi festival (七夕). What could be more romantic than the sight of a nighttime sky filled with glowing lanterns?

Happy Lantern Festival!

19.02.2019-Tuesday-செவ்வாய்-Doodle-Lantern Festival 2019-PNG