元宵 -yuan xiāo Lanterns/Lantern Festival By: Hao Duanli

Intro.  The lanterns are a very important and essential decoration during 春节 (chunjie). The 元宵节 (yuan xiāo jie) is the official closing to the 春节 (chun jie).

历史 -(li shi) istory  The Lantern Festival dates back thousands of years. There are many different shapes, sizes, colors, and shapes.

Celebrated.  Lantern Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. The reason it is celebrated on that day is because the first lunar month is called 元月 (yuan yue) and in ancient times people called night 宵 (xiāo).

More on the Celebration.  The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So, in China they call it the 元宵节 (yuan xiāo jie). When there is a full Moon in the sky you will see many Colorful lanterns hanging all Around.

Facts.  The festival is like a Chinese Valentines Day, so many spend beautiful and romantic evenings with their significant other.  Children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns and try to solve riddles on the lanterns.

Bibliography  09.html 09.html  english/Lantern.html english/Lantern.html  ival ival