Today, on 15th day of the first month in Chinese Lunar Calendar, we are celebrating the Lantern Festival.
Food for this day is called Tangyuan(汤圆).
Tangyuan is made of glutinous rice flour and filled with black sesame seeds and a little white sugar.
When cooked, it tastes sweet and soft, with an endless aftertaste.
At the same time, tangyuan symbolizes family reunion and happiness.
Eating tangyuan also means family happiness and reunion in the New Year, so it is the necessary food for the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.
See Picture 1, is the Tangyuan we are having in the office ordered by our Office Admin.
Do you wanna try some?
Activities we have for the Lantern Festival would be various.
In the day time, we can watch a lion dancing show(舞狮), lion dance is an excellent folk art in China.
The lion is made of colored cloth, and each lion is usually performed by two people, one dancing head, one dancing tail.
Performers dressed up as dogs or other lucky animals (such as pixiu, lion) under the music of gongs and drums, and made various movements in order to celebrate and auspicious.
During the performance, the lion dancer performs various moves and is very masculine.
Lion dance is considered as a lucky thing to ward off evil spirits and harm. It will be added to the fun during festivals and major activities.
See Picture 2, is the lion dance today in the community where one of our colleagues live. Very interesting and brings me back to the childhood memory.
Another activity is 猜灯谜(CAI DENG MI), the children will go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve the riddles on the lanterns.
Cai Dengmi is China’s unique, and with rich ethnic style of a form of folk entertainment activities.
Lantern riddles show the wisdom of the ancient working people and their yearning for a better life.
See Picture 3, is how the Lantern looks like.
The Lantern Festival marks the final day of the traditinal Chinese New Year celebrations, companies and factories will be fully recovered.
Happy Lantern Festival !
