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.
As the name indicates, it’s a tradition to hang beautiful lanterns today.
灯笼(dēnglong) lantern
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.
Zhēngyuè shíwǔ xuě dǎ dēng
正月十五雪打灯
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.
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. 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.