the lantern festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in february or march in the gregorian calendar. as early as the western han dynasty (206 bc-ad 25), it had become a festival with great significance. this day's important activity is watching lanterns. throughout the han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220), buddhism flourished in china. one emperor heard that buddhist monks would watch sarira, or remains from the cremation of buddha's body, and light lanterns to worship buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to buddha on this day. later, the buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the central plains to the whole of china.

每年農(nóng)歷的正月十五日，春節(jié)剛過，迎來的就是中國的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日--元宵節(jié)。元宵主要的活動(dòng)就是看燈。東漢明帝時(shí)期，明帝提倡佛教，聽說佛教有正月十五日僧人觀佛舍利，點(diǎn)燈敬佛的做法，就命令這一天夜晚在皇宮和寺廟里點(diǎn)燈敬佛，令士族庶民都掛燈。以后這種佛教禮儀節(jié)日逐漸形成民間盛大的節(jié)日。該節(jié)經(jīng)歷了由宮廷到民間，由中原到全國的發(fā)展過程。

till today, the lantern festival is still held each year around the country. lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors. children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited. "guessing lantern riddles"is an essential part of the festival. lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. if visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. if they are right, they will get a little gift. the activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the song dynasty (960-1279). as riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.

直到今天，元宵點(diǎn)燈的習(xí)俗仍然在中國的各地流傳的，各式各樣美麗的花燈在這一天都會(huì)點(diǎn)亮，孩子們提著自制的燈籠走街串巷，非常高興。猜燈謎也是元宵節(jié)的一項(xiàng)重要活動(dòng)，花燈的主人會(huì)將謎面寫在燈籠上，掛在門口，如果有人可以猜中，就能得到小小的禮物。這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)最早起源于宋朝，因?yàn)橹i語能啟迪智慧又饒有興趣，所以流傳過程中深受社會(huì)各階層的歡迎。

people will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "yuanxiao festival."yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. it is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed. it tastes sweet and delicious. what’s more, tangyuan in chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. so people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.

民間過元宵節(jié)吃元宵的習(xí)俗。元宵由糯米制成，或?qū)嵭?，或帶餡。餡有豆沙、白糖、山楂、各類果料等，食用時(shí)煮、煎、蒸、炸皆可。起初，人們把這種食物叫“浮圓子”，后來又叫“湯團(tuán)”或“湯圓”，這些名稱“團(tuán)圓”字音相近，取團(tuán)圓之意，象征全家人團(tuán)團(tuán)圓圓，和睦幸福，人們也以此懷念離別的親人,寄托了對(duì)未來生活的美好愿望。

in the daytime of the festival, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. on the night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. most families spare some fireworks from the spring festival and let them off in the lantern festival. some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. on the night when the first full moon enters the new year, people become really intoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

隨著時(shí)間的推移，元宵節(jié)的活動(dòng)越來越多，白天有耍龍燈、耍獅子、踩高蹺、劃旱船扭秧歌、打太平鼓等傳統(tǒng)民俗表演。到了夜晚，除了五顏六色的美花燈之外，還有艷麗多姿的煙火。大多數(shù)家庭會(huì)在春節(jié)時(shí)留下一些煙花等到元宵節(jié)這天燃放，而一些地方政府也會(huì)舉辦煙花大會(huì)，當(dāng)新年的第一個(gè)月圓之夜在盛大的煙火表演中來臨時(shí)，人們都陶醉在這令人難忘了煙花與皎潔的明月中。

元宵節(jié)詞匯

元宵節(jié)：festival of lanterns，lantern festival dumplings

元宵：    the rice glue ball

燈謎：riddles written on lanterns

燈具：lamps and lanterns

燈花   snuff

燈籠褲 bloomers galligaskins knickers pantalettes plus fours

燈籠   lantern scaldfish

燈塔   beacon lighthouse pharos

燈語   lamp signal

燈油   kerosene lamp oil

燈心蜻蜓 damselfly

元宵節(jié)的由來

lantern festival

the 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the chinese lantern festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night xiao. the 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. so the day is also called yuan xiao festival in china.

according to the chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. at this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

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