The Lantern Festival

On the 15th day of the Chinese New Year (CNY) is the Lantern Festival. This marks the end of the CNY and is the first full moon in the first lunar month. The Lantern Festival has over 2000 years of history, there are many traditions and customs that go along with the day, including watching lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, folk dances and songs, eating yuanxiao and of course more fireworks.

During the Han Dynasty, (206+ BC), Buddhism flourished in China, so in order to popularize Buddism, one of the emperors gave an order to light lanterns to show respect for Budda on the 15th day of the first lunar month. During the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties the lighting of lanterns became a tradition for the Chinese people. Today red lanterns can be seen hanging across streets, in houses and stores and in many public buildings around China. Lanterns now come in many shapes and types.

Beginning in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) guessing riddles became a big part of the Lantern Festival. People would write riddles on pieces of paper and paste them on colorful lanterns and have visitors guess the riddles. If you know the answer to a riddle, you would pull the piece of paper from the lantern and let the organizers verify the answer. Gifts were give to the people who gave the rights answer. Today riddles are printer on the lanterns and numbered. If you know the answer you go the organizers and tell them the answer and the number and if right you receive a gift.

Yuanxiao is a sweet sticky rice or sticky rice floor treat that is filled with either sugar, rose petals, sesame, or sweetened bean paste. This popular treat is round in shape and means reunion, harmony and happiness. Family members sit together and eat the yuanxiao and enjoy the lanterns, fireworks and the full moon.

In Shanghai, the place to be is Yu Garden in the heart of old town. On the day of the Lantern festival the roads around the old town are closed and there is a fee to enter  into the Yu Garden market place. The area becomes filled with families looking at the lanterns and eating the sweets. Below are some of the pictures I took to try to capture festival.  

street scene in old city

same street night view

front of Yu Garden market place

in Yu garden, square in front of tea house

riddles with numbers

floats depicting legends of CNY

click to enlargen

alleyways winding around Yu Garden

families enjoying the lanterns 

all shapes and styles

guess the riddle

it goes on and on

year of the snake

more alleyways 

crowds enjoying the full moon

the main square