中国节—— Lantern Festival （元宵节）
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.
牛年元宵节的时间是2月26日，农历正月十五。它的到来意味着，春节庆祝活动将告一段落。
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.
元宵节，又称上元节，是中国的传统节日之一，时间为每年农历正月十五。早在西汉（公元前206年-公元25年)， 元宵节就已经成为具有重大意义的节日。在这一天，人们通过赏花灯、吃汤圆、吃元宵、猜灯谜、放烟花等一系列传统民俗活动来庆贺佳节。
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.
闹花灯是元宵节传统节日习俗，始于西汉，兴盛于隋唐。隋唐以后，历代灯火之风盛行，并沿袭传于后世。如今每逢元宵节，中国各地都组织各具特色的灯会。
Tangyuan or Yuanxiao?
汤圆还是元宵？
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节庆美食，由糯米制成，包着豆沙、芝麻、山楂等馅料，煮、煎、蒸、炸皆可，口感软糯香甜，深受大家的喜爱。而在中国南方和北方，对于元宵也有不同的做法。北方人滚“元宵”，先把馅捏成均匀的小球状，放在铺有干糯米粉的萝筐里不断摇晃，不时加入清水使馅粘上越来越多的糯米粉，直至大小适中。南方人在这一天则是汤包圆，先将糯米粉用水调和成皮，然后将馅“包”好。
【和元宵节有关的词汇】
the Lantern Festival 元宵节
glutinous rice ball 元宵
exhibit of lanterns 灯会
dragon lantern dancing 耍龙灯
walking on stilts 踩高跷
land boat dancing 划旱船
yangko/yangge dance 扭秧歌
lions/dragons dancing舞狮/舞弄
guessing lantern riddles 猜灯谜
playing couplets game 对对联
enjoying beautiful lanterns 赏花灯
snuff 灯花
beating drums while dancing 打太平鼓
drum dance 腰鼓舞
fireworks party 焰火大会
traditional opera 戏曲
variety show/vaudeville 杂耍
Lantern Festival's temple fair 元宵庙会
colored lanterns' temple fair 彩灯庙会
元宵节的来历和习俗
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.
元宵节在农历正月十五，通常是公历二月或三月，早在我国西汉时期（公元前206年——公元25年）就成为一个重要节日了。
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.
这一天重要的活动就是看灯啦。早在公元前206年至公元220年的汉代，佛教就在中国盛行。有一位帝王听说僧侣可以看到舍利，也就是佛被火化后留存在体内的东西，在阴历的正月十五这一天点灯敬拜佛祖，于是这位帝王就命令这一天在他的宫殿和庙宇里点灯以表现他对佛祖的尊敬。此后，这项佛教仪式发展成为普通民众的盛大节日，它的影响力从中原地区一直蔓延到整个中国。
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，全国上下每年都会过元宵节。不同形状和大小的灯笼会悬挂在街上，吸引无数的游人。孩子们会拿着自制的或买来的灯笼在街上闲逛，十分开心。
'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.
“猜灯谜”是节日的核心部分。灯笼的主人会将谜语写在一张纸条上并贴在灯笼上。如果游客能解开灯谜，他们就能将纸条拿下来去灯笼的主人那看答案是否正确。如果答案是对的，他们将会得到一份小礼物。这项活动最早在宋朝（公元960-1279）出现，当人们在赏灯的时候开始。由于猜灯谜极具趣味性，又需要动脑筋，所以后来在全社会各阶层中收到普遍欢迎。
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.
人们在元宵节的时候会吃元宵，因此这个节日也就叫做元宵节。“元宵”还有另外一个名字—汤圆，用糯米粉做皮，玫瑰花瓣、芝麻、豆酱、枣泥、胡桃肉、干果、糖和食用油做馅，做成的小面球团。汤圆可以煮、炸或者蒸来吃。吃起来甜甜的，很美味。而且，汤圆在中国和“团圆”这个词的发音相似，代表着团团圆圆。因此人们吃汤圆会象征着家庭的团圆、和谐和快乐。
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.
在元宵节的白天里，会有很多表演节目，例如，舞龙灯、舞狮、采莲船、扭秧歌、踩高跷和打鼓。到了晚上，除了华丽的灯笼，烟火也是另一道美丽的风景。很多家庭从春节开始就在放烟火，并且延续到了元宵节。一些本地政府还会组织烟火晚会。在晚上，当新年的第一轮满月出来后，人们就会被天空中华丽的烟火和明月所陶醉。
老外给你讲元宵节来历 其实是一骗局？！