Lantern Festival

The Lantern (Chinese灯节/灯节, Pinyin Dengjie ) or Yuanxiao Festival ( Chinese元宵节/元宵节, Pinyin Yuánxiāojié ) is a traditional Chinese holiday that concludes the multi-day New Year. Its origins date back to the Han Dynasty ( 206 BC - 220 AD) back.

At the Lantern Festival ( 15th day of the 1st lunar month of the traditional Chinese calendar, so a fortnight after the Chinese New Year Festival ) are held lantern exhibitions in China and Taiwan. The partial huge exhibits have a variety of colors and shapes and be remade every year. Traditionally, great care has been used in their production. Popular are about representations of zodiac signs, symbolic animals, plants and mythical creatures, scenes from classic novels, legends and stories as well as battle scenes. As the materials are or were, inter alia, varnished wood, mother of pearl, parchment, paper and horn use.

An important part of the lantern exhibition is also the guesswork: The representations on the lanterns contain mystery or the owners of such lanterns stick to their lanterns, and the visitors they can break if they know their solution. If they have the puzzles guessed correctly, they get a small gift. Children also play that night with self-made or bought lanterns on the street.

It is also customary at the Lantern Festival tangyuan (汤圆/汤圆, tangyuan or balls of glutinous rice flour with a sweet filling ) to eat. Since the Chinese tangyuan and Tuanyuan (团圆/团圆, Tuanyuan, family reunion ') sound similar, they are eaten symbolic of harmony in the family. Also, the Lantern Festival, the day of courting and marriage Foundation.