Today is the fifteen day of the first month in lunar calendar, which is known as ‘Yuan Xiao Jie 元宵节’ the Lantern Festival.
It is the last day we celebrate Chinese New Year, and in this day, the traditional food we have is called ‘Yuan Xiao’, also known as ‘Tang Yuan汤圆’.
Tang Yuan as you can guess the meanings from the individual characters, it is something round 圆, like ball shape, and in soup汤.
It is the glutinous rice ball in sugary syrup.
The glutinous rice ball is made of glutinous rice, often stuffed with sweet filling such as red bean paste, sesame paste, nuts and rose paste.
You can also find glutinous rice ball stuffed with mince meat and cooked in savoury soup with vegetables as well.
It all depends on where you are from and people from different places prefer different ways of cooking rice balls for sure.
Besides eating rice balls, Lantern Festival is also the time to display all various shapes of lanterns.
It was one of my favorite festivals when I was a little girl.
We were allowed to choose our own lanterns and bring them out to play (and show off) with friends.
Of course these lanterns all ended up broken somehow as children simply don’t know how to look after their stuffs well!
(I remember that one of my ‘traditional style’ lanterns was burnt by candles…)
photo from Liberty Times
Nowadays city councils hold special celebration on Lantern Festival by displaying hundreds of various lanterns.
Some displays will take miles and city council has to divert traffic so pedestrians can enjoy the lovely night out with families and friends.
In ancient time, Lantern Festival was considered a romantic day. Lots of young people, especial young ladies, were allowed go out with friends to see lanterns and they might have the chance to meet some handsome guys they fancied.
So in some places, people consider Lantern Festival as important as Chinese Valentines Day.
I just had my rice balls as dessert after dinner.
I very much enjoyed them.
After today, all the Chinese New Year celebration will finish.
It’s time to be back to normal life!
Hope you all enjoy this day and are not bothered by the snowy, icy, cold and damp weather too much!
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Best Regards
Cindy
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