Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao) gets its name from yuan, the first lunar month and xiao, night. A full moon occurs on the 15th so it is also called the Lantern Festival (Yuanxi or Shangyuan).
The customs of carrying lanterns comes from the Taoist Theory of Three Yuan – Shangyuan (15th of the first lunar month), Zhongyuan (15th of the seventh) and Xiayuan (15th of the tenth), responsible for heaven, earth and the human world. For heaven, lanterns are lit, as the official in charge likes bright and cheerful things, and this has been the custom since the Han dynasty. All sorts of lanterns are now being made, in all kinds of shapes, and people also set off fireworks, making the Lantern Festival an explosion of colour and light.
One of the activities is a guessing game – lantern riddles must be solved, the answers of which are hidden behind poems or sayings which have been stuck onto the lanterns. The games are similar to crosswords and were first played in the Song dynasty.
Another custom is that of eating rice glue balls, made of sticky rice. These can either be stuffed or not; if they are, it will be with something such as bean paste, sugar or dried fruit. The rice glue balls are boiled, steamed or fried. Eating them under a full moon or for the first time that year is symbolic of the Chinese wish for happiness.
More activities now accompany the traditional ones: lantern ceremonies (in the cities), fireworks and stilt-walking (in the countryside), as well as dancing, playing taiping drums and rowing boats on dry land.
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