元宵节快乐(yuánxiāojié kuàilè)! Happy Lantern Festival! 

The Lantern Festival or 元宵节(yuánxiāojié) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar. Usually falling in February or early March, it is the first full moon of the year. Lantern festival is kind of like bitter sweet festival for us, because it is the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally.

As the name indicates, it’s a tradition to hang beautiful lanterns today. 

灯笼(dēnglong) lantern

Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are displayed in our houses, on trees, along the roads and in parks. 

Another tradition for this festival is lantern riddles, 猜灯谜(cāidēngmí). 猜(cāi) means guess, 灯(dēng) is from 灯笼(dēnglong), lanterns. 谜(mí) or 谜语(míyǔ) means riddles.

The riddles are hung on the lanterns. People who solve the riddles will get some small gifts. It’s also a good chance for young people to meet and know each other while enjoy the lantern and solve the riddles. So in ancient China, the Lantern Festival was a romantic festival like the "Valentine's Day" now. So coincidentally, yesterday was also Western Valentine's day this year. 

It snows a lot last Sunday here in Beijing. This is a saying in China:

Zhēngyuè shíwǔ xuě dǎ dēng

正月十五雪打灯

正月(zhēngyuè) is the first month in lunar calendar, 正月十五(zhēngyuè shíwǔ) the fifteenth of the first month is just another way to say Lantern Festival. 雪(xuě) means snow, 灯(dēng) is the lantern 灯笼(dēnglong). It means to get snow in Lantern Festival is a good sign of the year. 

That’s where the mascot for this Winter Paralympic Games, 雪容融(xuě róngróng), is coming from. She is a red lantern with snow on top as I mentioned in our last winter Olympics post. 

ruì xuě zhào fēng nián

瑞雪兆丰年

A fall of seasonal snow gives promise of a fruitful year.

Other than the lanterns, the most important thing to do today is to eat 元宵(yuánxiāo) or 汤圆(tāngyuán). It’s a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice flour. We call it 元宵(yuánxiāo) in northen China while in southern part it’s called 汤圆(tāngyuán). People from some place of China will also had savory 汤圆(tāngyuán). But no matter small or large, filled or unfilled, savory or sweet, they are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, because 汤圆(tāngyuán) sounds like 团圆(tuányuán) which means family reunion.

The filling of the 元宵(yuánxiāo) or 汤圆(tāngyuán) is 馅儿(xiànr) in Chinese. My favorite is 黑芝麻馅儿(hēizhīmá xiànr) black sesame paste.  红豆沙馅儿(hóngdòushā xiànr) red bean paste, 水果馅儿 (shuǐguǒ xiànr) fruit preserves or even chocolate 巧克力馅儿(qiaokèlì xiànr) are all very popular here.

I strongly recommend you to go to a Chinese restaurant with your family and try some 元宵(yuánxiāo) or 汤圆(tāngyuán) today.  Wish your family a happy reunion! 元宵节快乐(yuánxiāojié kuàilè)!