Chinese Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This is the first day of the lunar new year with a full moon which symbolizes unity and perfection.  The Lantern Festival is an important part of the Spring Festival. It marks the end of the new year’s celebration.

Chinese people celebrate by displaying lanterns and eating ‘yuanxiao’ (sweet dumpling balls made of sticky rice flour) is one of the special traditions of the Lantern Festival which is also called Yuanxiao Festival. Another name for yuanxiao is tangyuan, which literally means “boiled spheres.”