Chinese Festivals | Lantern Festival

Each year, at the end of Spring Festival, the people of the Fucheng corner of Haikou celebrate Lantern Festival with family and friends. A huge area is cordoned off from regular traffic, and thousands of people get together to enjoy an evening meal. Afterwards, they roam around the streets meeting old friends and exchanging fluorescent garlands and hand out trinkets to the children. All this happens in a warm community spirit, underneath the colourful glow of the paper lanterns. It is a great way for the community to get together and enjoy themselves prior to going back to their normal lives at the end of Spring Festival.

Image: Public Domain.

Tangyuan rice balls are traditionally eaten during lantern Festival

Chinese Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar calendar. Lantern Festival is also known as Shang Yuan Festival, or Yuan Night. There are many theories about the origin of the Chinese Lantern Festival, but these three theories are the most commonly held:

Lantern Festival Origins

1. The Lantern Festival is the Han Emperor to commemorate the "Ping Lu," such as, because it is the first month 15th in the year, to quell the chaos of Lu;
2. The people celebrated the Lantern Festival is the first full moon night in the year also called the "Shang Yuan Festival";
3. The Lantern Festival originated from the "Torch Festival", the Han people in the countryside who hold torches to drive worm beast, they hope that can reduce pests and have a good harvest.