A U.S. citizen (L) learns the brush
calligraphy of Chinese characters, literally, "Happy Lantern Festival",
during a get-together party of local residents and foreigners living on
Dongsisitiao Hutong (Alley), inside a quadrangle courtyard, the typical
residential rectangular compound, to live a jovial Chinese lunar Lantern
Festival, in Beijing, Feb. 8, 2009. (Chinese media/Hao Fei)
Photo Gallery
BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Chinese media) -- Traditionally an occasion
for family reunion, the Lantern Festival on Monday was celebrated widely by
Chinese people in different ways.
In a Siheyuan, or walled quadrangle residence, in the
Dongcheng district of Beijing, some foreigners were learning to make yuanxiao, a
kind of snack like glue pudding which was made especially for the festival.
"Put the stuffing inside...that's right," a granny
surnamed Li said while demonstrating the procedure herself.
A Mr. Jin made a red paper lantern and wrote "happy
Lantern Festival" with his brush pen. Following his instruction, an American who
would like to be identified with his Chinese name Zhang Zhimai wrote "yuanxiao
is delicious".
"The Lantern Festival is important to the Chinese
people. We invited the foreign friends to join us so as to help them feel the
traditional Chinese culture," said Wang Xi, head of the Dongsisitiao community.
Two kids enjoy rice balls in a Lantern
Festival catering activity held in Dalian, a coastal city of northeast
China's Liaoning Province, Feb. 7, 2009. Over 1,000 visitors ate rice
balls together at the Laodong Park in Dalian on Saturday. It is a
tradition for the Chinese to eat rice balls in celebrating the Lantern
Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese
lunar calendar, Feb. 9 this year. (Chinese media/Liu Debin) Photo Gallery
In the neighboring Tianjin Municipality, the third
session of "lantern making contest" is going on, which is set from Sunday to
Tuesday.
The lanterns made by citizens are hung on the ancient
crabapple trees in the Old City Museum.
"Some folk artists are invited to make performances
of calligraphy, painting, paper cutting, embroidery, flour sculpture, etc.,"
said Wang Liwen, curator of the museum.
In Inner Mongolia, the tradition of Zhuandeng was
followed. Zhuandeng literally means walking around the lanterns, which bore a
history of more than 3,000 years. A shelf made by more than 300 poles was made
to hold 365 lanterns, each representing a day in one year.
"People believe that walking around the shelf
symbolizes walking around hardship in the year," said Wang Yunliang, who
organized the activity in Hohhot. Similar rituals were performed in Baotou and
Bayannur as well.
In the Taer Monastery in Qinghai, more than 40 monks
made Ghee flowers to celebrate the festival. Exhibition of ghee flowers, which
the monastery was famous for, was held every year for the Lantern Festival.
The theme this year was the life story of Tsongkhapa,
founder of the Geluk school, or the largest one of Tibetan Buddhism.
Local residents parade with a self-made
colorful float on the Siping Street, Yangpu District, east China's
Shanghai, Feb. 7, 2009. (Chinese media/Zhang Haifeng)
Photo Gallery
Similarly, in Shanghai, flowers were also used for
Lantern Festival celebration, but these were real.
More than 150 plants with their names carrying the
character "Deng" or "lantern" were exhibited in the Shanghai arboretum, some
even with their shape resembling a lamp.
Lantern Festival, which fell on the fifteenth day of
the first month in China's lunar calendar, was seen as end of the Spring
Festival.
During the festival, people, especially children, go
out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns. Young
ladies who normally stayed at home were chaperoned in the streets in the hope of
finding love.
According to Wu Bing'an, a professor of Folklore, 17
ethnic groups, including Han, Mongolian, Korean, Hui, Tibetan, and Manchu, had
the tradition to celebrate the festival.
The Lantern Festival came into the list of China's
intangible cultural heritage last year.
At the end of 2007 China rescheduled its national
legal holidays, adding three traditional Chinese festivals, including the
"Tomb-Sweeping Day," "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Mid-Autumn Festival," as legal
holidays.
Hence many advocated that people should enjoy a day
off work during the Lantern Festival as well.
"In the past Lantern Festival was a carnival. It is
close to the Spring Festival and people are still in the atmosphere and mood of
celebration," said Liu Xuebin, curator of the Jinan folk art museum of Shandong
province. "No matter judged from its history or the current situation, the day
deserves to be a legal holiday," he said.
Li Yunzheng, a folk artist in Xi'an, capital of
Shaanxi province, believed that "making traditional festivals legal holidays
could help rejuvenating ancient culture". While Feng Jicai, president of the
China Folklore Society, is also for the appeal.
Lantern Festival in
pictures
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