Also called Yuanxiao Festival, Yuánxiāo jié, Shangyuan Festival, Chap Goh Mei
The full-moon night on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which closes Chinese New Year. Families hang red lanterns for good fortune, solve riddles written on lanterns and eat round sweet rice balls for reunion and a whole, rounded year.
TraditionChinese New Year custom with Buddhist and Taoist strands
RegionChina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Chinese diaspora
EraHan dynasty (from about 104 BC) to present
Moon○ Full moon
DayMoon
ElementFire
Difficulty●○○ Simple
TimeOne evening
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
The working
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the first full moon of the new year, hang red lanterns at the door and in the windows. Red stands for good fortune and is said to frighten away the beast Nian.
Write riddles on slips of paper and tie them to the lanterns. Let guests and children guess them, with a small treat or red envelope for each right answer.
Make tangyuan: mix glutinous rice flour with warm water into a soft dough, wrap small balls around a spoon of filling and roll them smooth.
Boil the dumplings until they float, and serve them in their cooking water or a light ginger syrup. Their round shape stands for family unity and a complete year.
Eat together under the full moon if the sky is clear, and walk out to see public lantern displays if there are any nearby.
Before bed, take down your New Year decorations if your family does so; the Lantern Festival traditionally marks the end of the New Year season.
Take care: Do not release sky lanterns: they cause fires and harm animals and are illegal in many countries and US states. Light paper lanterns with LED or battery lights, not candles. Glutinous rice dumplings are sticky and a choking risk for small children and older adults, so cut them small.
Versions across time and place
i
Sky lanterns at Pingxi
Taiwanese and southern Chinese custom · Modern public festival
Paper sky lanterns, also called Kongming lanterns, are released with wishes written on their sides. Because a lantern can land while still burning, they are banned or restricted in many places, including Germany, Austria, Spain, Brazil, Vietnam, Washington state and Louisiana. A household should use a hanging or hand-held lantern instead.
Uses: Paper lantern, Brush and ink for wishes
Recorded in: Sky lantern (Wikipedia)
ii
Chap Goh Mei
Hokkien Chinese custom in Malaysia and Singapore · 19th century to present
In Malaysia and Singapore the fifteenth night is called Chap Goh Mei and is sometimes called a Chinese Valentine's Day. Unmarried women write their names and contact details on mandarin oranges and toss them into rivers or lakes, hoping a good partner will pick them up.
Uses: Mandarin oranges, Marker
Recorded in: Lantern Festival (Wikipedia)
iii
Lighting lanterns for the Buddha
Han dynasty Buddhist court custom · 1st century AD
One origin story says Emperor Ming of Han, a supporter of Buddhism, saw monks lighting lanterns in temples on this night and ordered homes, temples and the palace to do the same. A Taoist strand links the night to Tianguan, the official of Heaven who grants good fortune and whose birthday falls on the fifteenth day.
Uses: Oil lamps or lanterns
Recorded in: Lantern Festival (Wikipedia)
History
The festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, usually in February or early March, and closes the New Year season. Its roots go back more than 2,000 years. Emperor Wu of Han, in 104 BC, made the night one of the empire's major celebrations, with rites to the sky god Taiyi for good weather and health. Another account credits Emperor Ming of Han with spreading lantern lighting after he saw Buddhist monks lighting lamps on this date.
Lanterns were once simple, with grand ones kept for the court and nobility; now they take the shapes of animals and the year's zodiac sign. A popular tale says villagers saved themselves from the Jade Emperor's fire by hanging red lanterns and lighting fires so the village looked already ablaze. The sweet rice dumplings called yuanxiao in the north and tangyuan in the south give the festival its name, and their roundness echoes the full moon and the reunited family.
