Chinese New Year Lantern Festival by Didge Daniels

General Information on the Chinese New Year It is the most important Chinese holiday Families and friends get together for fireworks, feasts, and parades Time to honor ancestors The holiday lasts 15 days, with many people only celebrating the eve, the first couple of days, and the last day, while traditional people observe the entire holiday

General information cont. Starts on first day of the lunar year Many myths about how it first started

Lanterns festivals origins Believed to be originated in the Han dynasty, who paid tribute to the origins of the universe on this night. The ceremony was held in the evening, so lanterns were used to light the palace. Han rulers normally imposed a curfew on their subjects, but during this time, they lifted the curfew so that everyone could see the illuminated palace

The lantern festival overview Yuán xiāo jié 元宵節 湯圓 tāng yuán- a glutinous riceball eaten at this time In the present, the cosmic and religious significance has been lost 3 day festival marks the end of the Chinese new year

Activities during the Lantern Festival Hanging laterns Eating rice flour dumplings Solving lantern riddles

Activities during the Lantern Festival Hanging laterns Eating rice flour dumplings Solving lantern riddles

Lantern riddles People hang laterns outside their house, with a riddle on them, sometimes with a object or character attached to the lantern. You may attempt to answer the riddle, and if you answer correctly, you were generally rewarded there on the spot.

Bibliography Otto, Carolyn. Celebrate Chinese New Year, Washington DC, National Geographic, 2008 Henderson, Helene. Holiday Symbols and Customs, Omnigraphics, 2009 Kaplan, Leslie C. Chinese New Year, New York, Rosen Publishing Group, 2004 • Name of the author, last name first. • Title of the book, underlined. • Place of publication (usually a city) • Publisher • Year of publication So a listing for a book would be: Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, New York: Scholastic, 2000