Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month brings the year's first full moon, lantern displays, riddles and sweet glutinous rice balls.

Lunar date

15th day of the 1st month

Usual dates

Feb 6–Mar 5

Date and Origins

The Lantern Festival, Yuanxiao (元宵), falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the first full moon of the new year. Yuan refers to the first month and xiao to night. Taoism calls the day Shangyuan (上元), when the Heavenly Official bestows blessings. Many people say New Year is not really over until Yuanxiao has passed.

Accounts of how the lantern custom began vary. One view links it to Han-dynasty night rites for the deity Taiyi; another credits the Buddhist practice of lighting lamps on this day, which spread after Buddhism reached China. By the Tang dynasty the capital lifted its curfew around the festival so people could stroll among the lanterns all night, and in the Song dynasty celebrations stretched to five days and lantern riddles appeared.

Customs

Viewing lanterns is the centrepiece. Traditional lanterns have bamboo frames covered in paper or silk, from revolving 'trotting horse' lanterns to zodiac animals, while modern festivals feature huge illuminated installations. Riddles are written on slips attached to lanterns, and anyone who solves one may claim a small prize.

In old northern China, women walked together on festival night to 'shed illnesses', crossing bridges and city gates in the belief it would ward off disease. In Taiwan a folk saying held that an unmarried woman who picked spring onions or vegetables that night would find a good husband. Dragon and lion dances, stilt walking and land boat performances add to the festivities.

Festive Foods

The signature food is a round glutinous rice ball, its shape symbolising family reunion. Northerners make yuanxiao by rolling cubes of filling repeatedly in rice flour, giving a firmer, slightly rough ball. Southerners make tangyuan by wrapping filling in a smooth dough. Sesame, peanut and red bean are classic fillings, and Taiwan and southern China also have savoury meat-filled versions served in broth with mushrooms and greens.

Regional Differences

Taiwan sums up its celebrations as 'sky lanterns in the north, beehive fireworks in the south, Handan in the east'. Wishes are written on sky lanterns released in Pingxi; Yanshui's barrage of rockets is said to date to a Qing-era epidemic, when residents paraded the deity Guan Yu to drive off disease; and in Taitung, a man representing the deity Lord Handan braves thrown firecrackers. The Taiwan Lantern Festival rotates among cities each year. Mainland China hosts large lantern fairs, and northern areas keep folk parades such as yangge dancing.

Hong Kong holds lantern carnivals, and some New Territories walled villages hang lanterns in ancestral halls for sons born in the past year, since 'lantern' and 'son' sound alike in Cantonese. The festival also serves as a Chinese Valentine's Day. In Penang and elsewhere in Malaysia and Singapore, Hokkien communities call it Chap Goh Mei, and single women toss mandarins into the sea hoping for a good match. Korea's Jeongwol Daeboreum features cracking nuts at dawn and five-grain rice, Japan's Koshōgatsu around 15 January involves burning New Year decorations and red bean porridge, and in Vietnam Tết Nguyên Tiêu is a popular day for temple visits.

Trivia

For many families, the end of Yuanxiao is when New Year decorations come down and holiday taboos lapse. Because young people in old times could go out freely on this night, classical poetry is full of lantern-lit encounters, one reason the day is now treated as a festival for couples.

Lantern Festival: dates by year

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