HSK Exam - Traditional Lantern Festival celebrations

CITYLIFE / Odds & Ends






Traditional Lantern Festival celebrations

(baidu.com)
Updated: 2007-03-01 10:17



This year's Lantern Festival falls on March 4 and it's one of the three
major traditional festivals in Chinese folk (the other two are Spring
Festival and Mid-autumn Festival). With a history of more than 2000
years, Lantern Festival is celebrated grandly. Its celebrative activities
mainly consist of three parts: the daytime Huahui (lively and jolly
celebrations), the nighttime Denghui (display of various lanterns) and
eating Yuanxiao (sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour).

Huahui is held at daytime and mainly on famous streets or in big temples.
It's made up of various entertainment activities including yangko opera,
stilt walking, landboat rowing and the most fabulous lion dance which,
accompanied by the clamors of gongs and drums, always gathers the most
spotlight on the site.

*Where to find Huahui?
Date/Time: 9am to 11am, March 4
Location: main streets in Yanqing County

Date/Time: 10am to 11am, March 4
Location: Cuiliu Avenue, Suzhuang Village, Liangxiang, Fanghshan District

Date/Time: 9am to 10:30am, March 4
Location: Caiyu Township, Daxing District

Denghui is held at nighttime and it's where Lantern Festival gets its
name from, a festival to appreciate various lanterns. Lanterns will be
made into various shapes, the lotus flower, the aniseed, the dragon and
so on. Beijing's best place to appreciate the lanterns may be Dengshikou
(entrance to the lantern market) in Dongcheng District. Chaoyang Park
(No.1, Nongzhanguan Nanlu, Chaoyang District) also holds annual lantern
festivals.

Yuanxiao to Lantern Festival is the same as dumplings to Spring Festival,
but different from dumplings which are considered as a kind of staple
food, Yuanxiao is more like a kind of snack taken at late night. It is
sweet dumpling made of glutinous rice flour. Traditional Yuanxiao
stuffings mainly are hawthorn white sugar, white sugar sweet-scented
osmanthus, mashed Chinese dates pine nut and sweet bean paste, which are
enriched in modern society to include cream, chocolate and so on.
Yuanxiao is available at various supermarkets. Long cherished Yuanxiao
brands include Daoxiangcun, Gongyifu, Yixinfu and so on.


Related: Lantern festival events











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