The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival becausethe first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times peoplecalled night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So theday 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 thousandsof colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, peoplewill try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous riceball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

元宵节正月十五吃元宵的的习俗由来已久，元宵也叫“汤圆”、“圆子”。据说元宵象征合家团圆，吃元宵意味新的一年合家幸福、万事如意。

元宵节闹花灯的习俗起源于道教的“三元说”;正月十五日为上元节，七月十五日为中元节，十月十五日为下元节。主管上、中、下三元的分别为天、地、人三官，天官喜乐，故上元节要燃灯。元宵节的节期与节俗活动，是随历史的发展而延长、扩展的。就节期长短而言，汉代才一天，到唐代已为三天，宋代则长达五天，明代更是自初八点灯，一直到正月十七的夜里才落灯，整整十天。与春节相接，白昼为市，热闹非凡，夜间燃灯，蔚为壮观。特别是那精巧、多彩的灯火，更使其成为春节期间娱乐活动的高潮。至清代，又增加了舞龙、舞狮、跑旱船、踩高跷、扭秧歌等“百戏”内容，只是节期缩短为四到五天。

History

Until the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yangdi invited envoysfrom other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy thegala(节日的，庆祝的)performances.

By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lanterndisplays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew(宵禁令),allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is notdifficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.

In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and theactivities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glassand even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales paintedon the lanterns.

However, the largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the earlypart of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. EmperorChengzu had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns.Even today, there is a place in Beijing called Dengshikou. In Chinese, Dengmeans lantern and Shi is market. The area became a market where lanterns weresold during the day. In the evening, the local people would go there to see thebeautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Today, the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the 15th day ofthe first lunar month throughout China. People enjoy the brightly lit night.Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, holds a lantern faireach year in the Cultural Park. During the Lantern Festival, the park isliterally an ocean of lanterns! Many new designs attract countless visitors. Themost eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole. This is a lantern in the shape ofa golden dragon, spiraling up a 27-meter -high pole, spewing fireworks from itsmouth. It is quite an impressive sight!

元宵节是中国的传统节日，早在2000多年前的西汉就有了，元宵赏灯始于东汉明帝时期，明帝提倡佛教，听说佛教有正月十五日僧人观佛舍利，点灯敬佛的做法，就命令这一天夜晚在皇宫和寺庙里点灯敬佛，令士族庶民都挂灯。以后这种佛教礼仪节日逐渐形成民间盛大的节日。该节经历了由宫廷到民间，由中原到全国的发展过程。

在汉文帝时，已下令将正月十五定为元宵节。汉武帝时，“太一神”的祭祀活动定在正月十五。(太一：主宰宇宙一切之神)。司马迁创建“太初历”时，就已将元宵节确定为重大节日。

另有一说是元宵燃灯的习俗起源于道教的“三元说”;正月十五日为上元节，七月十五日为中元节，十月十五日为下元节。主管上、中、下三元的分别为天、地、人三官，天官喜乐，故上元节要燃灯。

元宵节的节期与节俗活动，是随历史的发展而延长、扩展的。就节期长短而言，汉代才一天，到唐代已为三天，宋代则长达五天，明代更是自初八点灯，一直到正月十七的夜里才落灯，整整十天。与春节相接，白昼为市，热闹非凡，夜间燃灯，蔚为壮观。特别是那精巧、多彩的灯火，更使其成为春节期间娱乐活动的高潮。至清代，又增加了舞龙、舞狮、跑旱船、踩高跷、扭秧歌等“百戏”内容，只是节期缩短为四到五天。

Origin

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival.But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with religiousworship.

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heavenin ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destinyof the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decidedwhen to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence(瘟疫)upon human beings.Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, allsubsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would askTaiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. EmperorWudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, heproclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would lastthroughout the night.托福词汇串讲

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

The third story about the origin of the festival is like this. Buddhismfirst entered China during the reign of Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern HanDynasty. That was in the first century. However, it did not exert any greatinfluence among the Chinese people. one day, Emperor Mingdi had a dream about agold man in his palace. At the very moment when he was about to ask themysterious figure who he was, the gold man suddenly rose to the sky anddisappeared in the west. The next day, Emperor Mingdi sent a scholar to India ona pilgrimage(朝圣)to locate Buddhist scriptures. After journeying thousands ofmiles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures. Emperor Mingdi orderedthat a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as a repository forthe scriptures. Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness.So Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during whatwas to become the Lantern Festival.

关于元宵节的来历，民间还有几种有趣的传说：

关于灯的传说

传说在很久以前，凶禽猛兽很多，四处伤害人和牲畜，人们就组织起来去打它们，有一只神鸟困为迷路而降落人间，却意外的被不知情的猎人给射死了。天帝知道后十分震怒，立即传旨，下令让天兵于正月十五日到人间放火，把人间的人畜财产通通烧死。天帝的女儿心地善良，不忍心看百姓无辜受难，就冒着生命的危险，偷偷驾着祥云来到人间，把这个消息告诉了人们。众人听说了这个消息，有如头上响了一个焦雷。吓得不知如何是好，过了好久，才有个老人家想出个法子，他说：“在正月十四、十五、十六日这三天，每户人家都在家里张灯结彩、点响爆竹、燃放烟火。这样一来，天帝就会以为人们都被烧死了”。

大家听了都点头称是，便分头准备去了。到了正月十五这天晚上，天帝往下一看，发觉人间一片红光，响声震天，连续三个夜晚都是如此，以为是大火燃烧的火焰，以中大快。人们就这样保住了自己的生命及财产。为了纪念这次成功，从此每到正月十五，家家户户都悬挂灯笼，放烟火来纪念这个日子。

Yuanxiao

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of theLantern Festival,or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made ofglutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, theyget the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eatingYuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth centuty, thenbecame popular during the Tang and Song periods.

The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuansiao are either sweet or salty.Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts(胡桃), sesame, osmanthus flowers(桂花),rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste(枣泥). A singleingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety isfilled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.

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 riceflour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole andsmooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweetor nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed intohardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containingdry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which isthen again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so itgoes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.

The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encouragesboth old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try theirbest to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract morecustomers.

汉文帝时为纪念“平吕”而设

另一个传说是元宵节是汉文帝时为纪念“平吕”而设。汉高祖刘邦死后，吕后之子刘盈登基为汉惠帝。惠帝生性懦弱，优柔寡断，大权渐渐落再吕后手中。汉惠帝病死后吕后独揽朝政把刘氏天下变成了吕氏天下，朝中老臣，刘氏宗室深感愤慨，但都惧怕吕后残暴而敢怒不敢言。

吕后病死后，诸吕惶惶不安害怕遭到伤害和排挤。于是，在上将军吕禄家中秘密集合，共谋作乱之事，以便彻底夺取刘氏江山。

此事传至刘氏宗室齐王刘囊耳中，刘囊为保刘氏江山，决定起兵讨伐诸吕随后与开国老臣周勃，陈平取得联系，设计解除了吕禄，“诸吕之乱”终于被彻底平定。

平乱之后，众臣拥立刘邦的第二个儿子刘恒登基，称汉文帝。文帝深感太平盛世来之不易，便把平息“诸吕之乱”的正月十五，定为与民同乐日，京城里家家张灯结彩，以示庆祝。从此，正月十五便成了一个普天同庆的民间节日——“闹元宵”。

元宵节英语词汇

元宵节：festival of lanterns，lantern festival dumplings

元宵： the rice glue ball

灯谜：riddles written on lanterns

灯具：lamps and lanterns

灯花 snuff

灯笼裤 bloomers galligaskins knickers pantalettes plus fours

灯笼 lantern scaldfish

灯塔 beacon lighthouse pharos

灯语 lamp signal

灯油 kerosene lamp oil

灯心蜻蜓 damselfly