Watch this episode of Festive China to learn about what you should do and eat on the day.

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first month on Chinese lunar calendar, which is Feb 26 this year. Its arrival also marks the end of Spring Festival celebrations.

牛年元宵節(jié)的時(shí)間是2月26日，農(nóng)歷正月十五。它的到來(lái)意味著，春節(jié)慶?；顒?dòng)將告一段落。

The Lantern Festival is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. 

As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE-CE 25), it had become a festival with great significance. During the Lantern Festival, people celebrate through a series of traditional folk activities such as viewing lanterns, eating Tangyuan or Yuanxiao (Glutinous rice balls),guessing lantern riddles, and setting off fireworks.

元宵節(jié)，又稱上元節(jié)，是中國(guó)的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日之一，時(shí)間為每年農(nóng)歷正月十五。早在西漢（公元前206年-公元25年)， 元宵節(jié)就已經(jīng)成為具有重大意義的節(jié)日。在這一天，人們通過(guò)賞花燈、吃湯圓、吃元宵、猜燈謎、放煙花等一系列傳統(tǒng)民俗活動(dòng)來(lái)慶賀佳節(jié)。

Viewing the Lanterns

Viewing the lantern is a traditional custom of Lantern Festival, which began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the trends of lanterns prevailed and passed on to later generations. Nowadays，every Lantern Festival, various distinctive lantern shows are organized all over China.

鬧花燈是元宵節(jié)傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日習(xí)俗，始于西漢，興盛于隋唐。隋唐以后，歷代燈火之風(fēng)盛行，并沿襲傳于后世。如今每逢元宵節(jié)，中國(guó)各地都組織各具特色的燈會(huì)。

湯圓還是元宵？

Yuanxiao （ glutious rice balls) is a must-eat festival delicacy during Latern Festival. It's made of glutious rice, wrapped in bean paste, sesame, hawthorn and other fillings. It can be boilded, fried and steamed.With the soft and sweet taste, Yuanxiao is deeply loved by everyone. In southern and northern China, there are also different cooking methods for Yuanxiao. The northerners roll the 'Yuanxiao' first by kneading the stuffing into uniform small balls, placing them in a basket covered with dried glutious rice flour and shaking them constantly, adding water time to time during this process to make the stuffing stick with more and more glutinous rice flour until the size is right. However in southern China, it's called Tangyuan, people mix  glutinous rice flour with water to form glutinous rice balls, and then wrap the filling.

元宵是正月十五必吃的節(jié)慶美食，由糯米制成，包著豆沙、芝麻、山楂等餡料，煮、煎、蒸、炸皆可，口感軟糯香甜，深受大家的喜愛(ài)。而在中國(guó)南方和北方，對(duì)于元宵也有不同的做法。北方人滾“元宵”，先把餡捏成均勻的小球狀，放在鋪有干糯米粉的蘿筐里不斷搖晃，不時(shí)加入清水使餡粘上越來(lái)越多的糯米粉，直至大小適中。南方人在這一天則是湯包圓，先將糯米粉用水調(diào)和成皮，然后將餡“包”好。

【和元宵節(jié)有關(guān)的詞匯】

the Lantern Festival 元宵節(jié)

glutinous rice ball 元宵

exhibit of lanterns 燈會(huì)

dragon lantern dancing 耍龍燈

walking on stilts 踩高蹺

land boat dancing 劃旱船

yangko/yangge dance 扭秧歌

lions/dragons dancing舞獅/舞弄

guessing lantern riddles 猜燈謎

playing couplets game 對(duì)對(duì)聯(lián)

enjoying beautiful lanterns 賞花燈

snuff 燈花

beating drums while dancing 打太平鼓

drum dance 腰鼓舞

fireworks party 焰火大會(huì)

traditional opera 戲曲

variety show/vaudeville 雜耍

Lantern Festival's temple fair 元宵廟會(huì)

colored lanterns' temple fair 彩燈廟會(huì) 

元宵節(jié)的來(lái)歷和習(xí)俗

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.

元宵節(jié)在農(nóng)歷正月十五，通常是公歷二月或三月，早在我國(guó)西漢時(shí)期（公元前206年——公元25年）就成為一個(gè)重要節(jié)日了。

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 grandfestival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China.

這一天重要的活動(dòng)就是看燈啦。早在公元前206年至公元220年的漢代，佛教就在中國(guó)盛行。有一位帝王聽(tīng)說(shuō)僧侶可以看到舍利，也就是佛被火化后留存在體內(nèi)的東西，在陰歷的正月十五這一天點(diǎn)燈敬拜佛祖，于是這位帝王就命令這一天在他的宮殿和廟宇里點(diǎn)燈以表現(xiàn)他對(duì)佛祖的尊敬。此后，這項(xiàng)佛教儀式發(fā)展成為普通民眾的盛大節(jié)日，它的影響力從中原地區(qū)一直蔓延到整個(gè)中國(guó)。

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.

直到今天，全國(guó)上下每年都會(huì)過(guò)元宵節(jié)。不同形狀和大小的燈籠會(huì)懸掛在街上，吸引無(wú)數(shù)的游人。孩子們會(huì)拿著自制的或買(mǎi)來(lái)的燈籠在街上閑逛，十分開(kāi)心。

'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.

“猜燈謎”是節(jié)日的核心部分。燈籠的主人會(huì)將謎語(yǔ)寫(xiě)在一張紙條上并貼在燈籠上。如果游客能解開(kāi)燈謎，他們就能將紙條拿下來(lái)去燈籠的主人那看答案是否正確。如果答案是對(duì)的，他們將會(huì)得到一份小禮物。這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)最早在宋朝（公元960-1279）出現(xiàn)，當(dāng)人們?cè)谫p燈的時(shí)候開(kāi)始。由于猜燈謎極具趣味性，又需要?jiǎng)幽X筋，所以后來(lái)在全社會(huì)各階層中收到普遍歡迎。

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 glutinousrice 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.

人們?cè)谠?jié)的時(shí)候會(huì)吃元宵，因此這個(gè)節(jié)日也就叫做元宵節(jié)?！霸边€有另外一個(gè)名字—湯圓，用糯米粉做皮，玫瑰花瓣、芝麻、豆醬、棗泥、胡桃肉、干果、糖和食用油做餡，做成的小面球團(tuán)。湯圓可以煮、炸或者蒸來(lái)吃。吃起來(lái)甜甜的，很美味。而且，湯圓在中國(guó)和“團(tuán)圓”這個(gè)詞的發(fā)音相似，代表著團(tuán)團(tuán)圓圓。因此人們吃湯圓會(huì)象征著家庭的團(tuán)圓、和諧和快樂(lè)。

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.

在元宵節(jié)的白天里，會(huì)有很多表演節(jié)目，例如，舞龍燈、舞獅、采蓮船、扭秧歌、踩高蹺和打鼓。到了晚上，除了華麗的燈籠，煙火也是另一道美麗的風(fēng)景。很多家庭從春節(jié)開(kāi)始就在放煙火，并且延續(xù)到了元宵節(jié)。一些本地政府還會(huì)組織煙火晚會(huì)。在晚上，當(dāng)新年的第一輪滿月出來(lái)后，人們就會(huì)被天空中華麗的煙火和明月所陶醉。

老外給你講元宵節(jié)來(lái)歷 其實(shí)是一騙局？！