The traditional Chinese festival Lantern Festival is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The first month is the first month, and the ancients called the night "xiao", and the fifteenth day is the first full moon night of the year, so the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called the Lantern Festival.
The Lantern Festival is also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Little First Month, the Lantern Festival, or the Lantern Festival. It is the first important festival after the Spring Festival.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in 180 BC, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, ascended the throne. He pardoned the world, and every fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor would leave the palace to play, hang lanterns and decorations, and have fun with the people. Unlike other traditional festivals that emphasize "family reunion," the Lantern Festival emphasizes "universal celebration."
On the night of the Lantern Festival, the streets and alleys are decorated with lanterns, and people enjoy lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, eating Lantern Festival, and other activities. The family reunites and is happy. It will push the celebrations that have continued since New Year's Eve to another climax and become a custom passed down from generation to generation.
Eating Lantern Festival is an important custom of the Lantern Festival. It became fashionable to eat Yuanxiao on the 15th day of the first lunar month in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, the capital began to eat Yuanxiao after the 9th day of the first lunar month. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice flour, round in shape, and filled with walnut kernels, sesame seed, or sweet-scented osmanthus sugar. It is called "tangtuan" in Jiangnan. People in Suzhou call it "yuanzi" and people in Hangzhou call it "shangdeng yuanzi". After worshiping the ancestors, family members and fellow villagers enjoy the yuanzi together, which means reunion. In contemporary China, eating Yuanxiao on the 15th day of the first lunar month has become fashionable, regardless of the north or south. The bright moon in the sky and the yuanxiao in the bowl symbolize reunion and auspiciousness. Eating Yuanxiao expresses people's enjoyment of family reunions. Dear friends, please don't forget to eat tangyuan. I wish you a happy Lantern Festival and a happy family reunion!