Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, the first night to see a full moon. The first lunar month is called “Yuan” month and in the ancient times people called night “Xiao”. So the day is also called “Yuan Xiao Festival” in China. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people, getting all their families united, will guess lantern riddles and eat “Yuan Xiao” (glutinous rice ball).

What is the history of Lantern Festival?

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. It had something to do with religious worship. One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought, storms or pestilence upon human beings.
Beginning with the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty, the first emperor to unite the country, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperors would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night.

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday was on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainments. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

The third story was related to Buddhism. Buddhism first entered China during the reign of Emperor Ming of Eastern Han Dynasty in 1th Century BC. It was said that Emperor Ming had a dream about a gold man in his palace. He was about to ask the mysterious figure who he was, but the gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in the west. The next day, Emperor Ming sent a scholar to India on a pilgrimage to locate Buddhist scriptures. After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures.

Emperor Ming ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as a repository for the scriptures. Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness. So Emperor Ming ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to become the Lantern Festival.

Until the Sui Dynasty in the 6th century, Emperor Yang invited envoys from other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy the gala performances.
By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew, allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is not difficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.
In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread out to many big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.
However, the largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. Emperor Chengzu of Ming Dynasty had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Even today, there is a place in Beijing called Deng Shi Kou in Chinese. (“Deng” means lantern and “Shi” market) .The area became a market where lanterns were sold. In the evening, the local people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.
Today, Latten Festival is still an important festival and the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the 15th day of the first lunar month throughout China. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors.

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival is eating Yuanxiao, as Latten Festival is also called as “Yuanxiao Festival”. It is also called “Tangyuan”, which has the same pronunciation as “Tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. People thus eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao was originally from the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the 4th century. It then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.

Yuanxiao is a kind of small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. The fillings inside the Yuanxiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste. The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling.
The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In northern China, sweet or nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped slightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size. Yuanxiao can be boiled, fried or steamed.
The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains today, and it encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. Most restaurants try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.