Join the year of the TIGER (2022) celebration with Lantern Festival Riddle Game and WIN prizes! Enter and have fun!

The event closes at 11:59 pm (PTS) on February 19, 2022

 

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Chinese Lantern Festival – Yuán xiāo jié – 元宵節 is always landing on the fifteenth day of the lunar new year celebration.  This day wraps up the 15-day Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.

It is the time to carry lanterns and enjoy the last day of the Lunar New Year festivities.  The Lantern Festival marks the end of the fifteen days of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.  You might also want to read about the Chinese Lantern Festival Riddle Game and try it out with the printable.

What do people do on the Chinese Lantern Festival?  There are three signature activities that most Chinese people do annually.

Visit the Lantern Display

In recent years, visiting lantern festival’s lantern exhibition has become a major event not only for Chinese but tourists.  Lantern displays in different cities kick off the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration and people have plenty of time to enjoy.  Check out some beautiful lantern displays from the Lantern Festival Lantern Shows in Taiwan.

Eat Yuan Xiao also known as Tang Yuan

The second tradition is that families will eat sweet or salty sticky rice balls known as “tang yuan” 湯圓 or “yuan xiao” 元宵 on this day.  There are also plain mini rice balls with no fillings inside, like the ones I made with my children in the pictures below.  We enjoy the sweet sesame filling rice balls very much.    I used the sweet rice flour with water to make the mini rice balls.  It is a fun cooking with language activity with children.  HapaMama has a recipe for you to try The Red Bean Soup with Rice Dumplings.  The Woks of Life has a traditional tang yuan with black sesame filling recipe.  It will be a lot of fun to make them and have “tang yuan” 湯圓 with your family.  The symbolic meaning for eating “tang yuan” 湯圓 or “yuan xiao” 元宵 is family togetherness.

As the night arrives children carry paper lanterns with battery-operated lights to join the annual lantern festival celebrations, which are typically held at parks and monuments throughout the island of Taiwan.  The design of the lanterns changes each year according to the rotation of the twelve Chinese animal birth signs.  Here is a picture of the theme lantern for the year of the Rooster.

 

Image courtesy of Bureau of Transportation, Taiwan

In the Year of the DOG.  The year lucky dog lanterns were given away for free to the residents and visitors.  The annual lantern festival attracts international exhibitors to showcase their design of lanterns as well.  This festivity makes it a wonderful field trip for families.

Image courtesy of Central News Agency, Taiwan

If you would like to see some fascinating lanterns then you should head to the Taiwan Lantern Festival for an online visit.  The video below will show you the festival in Taipei.

 

There are wonderful lantern festival celebration events in China.  The biggest lantern festival is Qinhuai International Lantern Festival.  Check out this video tour.

Lantern Riddle Game

There is one more tradition on the Lantern Festival that is the Lantern Riddle Game – Yuán xiāo cāi dēng mí 元宵猜燈謎. It is a game for both adults and children. The traditional Chinese Lantern Festival riddles can be quite challenging. Some of them are based on history and some of them are based on Chinese characters. The riddles are attached to the lanterns and the person who can solve a riddle can win a prize.

What’s More?  Fly a Lantern

I  flew a Sky Lantern with family and friends before.  It was a wonderful experience.  I would like to show you a short video of the well-known Ping Xi Sky Lantern Festival.  The sky lantern is called  Tiān dēng 天燈 in Chinese.  It is also known as Kǒng míng dēng 孔明燈.  You can make your sky lantern or buy one.  You write your wishes on the paper sky lantern and then send it into the sky.  It is quite a magnificent scene.  Look at the lanterns flying into the sky for the best wishes!

Culture Note: Sky lanterns are also used in Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries.

Video: Ping Xi Sky Lantern Festival

Have a Healthy, Happy, and Wonderful Lunar New Year!

健康 快樂 萬事順心

 jiàn kāng   Wàn shì shùn xīn

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