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The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. The festival marks the end of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year.
Chinese started to celebrate the Lantern Festival from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 221 AD). Like most other Chinese festivals, there is also a story behind the Festival. It is also believed that the festival has Taoist origins.
This day's important activity is watching lanterns. 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. "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 right solutions to the riddles, they will get a little gift.
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.
People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day. Yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) or Tangyuan is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. It is made of glutinous rice 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. You can find Yuanxiao in oriental food stores. If you enjoy cooking, here is a recipe of Yuanxiao for you.
Ingredients
500 g sticky rice flour
200g butter
200g black sesame powder
250g sugar
1 tsp wine
Methods
1. Mix the butter with sesame powder, sugar and wine together. You need to heat a little bit. Make small balls about 0.3-0.4 oz (10 g)each.
2. Take 1/2 cup of sticky rice flour. Add water into the flour and make a flatten dough. Cook it in boiled water and take out until done. Let it cool down. Then put it in the rest of the sticky rice flour. Add water and knead until the dough is smooth.
3. Make the dough into small pieces about 0.3-0.4 oz (10 g) each. Make it like a ball using hands first and then make a hole in the ball like a snail. Put the sesame ball into it and close it up.
4. Cook them in boiled water. Make sure to keep stirring in one direction while cooking. When they float on the water, continue to boil for about one minute using less heat.
參考譯文：
每年農歷的正月十五日是元宵節，常常是在西歷（陽歷）的2月或3月。元宵節的到來也標志著春節的結束。
元宵節的傳統可以追溯到西漢時期，像其他的傳統節日一樣，關于元宵節也有一個美麗的傳說。據說，它還與與道家的傳統有關。
元宵節的重要活動是賞花燈。街上掛著各式各樣美麗的花燈，吸引著無數參觀者。孩子們提著自制的或買來的燈籠走街串巷，非常高興。猜燈謎也是元宵節的一項重要活動�；舻闹魅藢⒅i面寫在紙上，然后貼在燈籠上。如果賞花燈的人猜中謎底，就會得到小禮物。
元宵節的白天有耍龍燈、耍獅子、劃旱船、扭秧歌、踩高蹺、打太平鼓等表演。到了夜晚，除了五顏六色的漂亮花燈之外，還有艷麗多姿的煙火。大多數家庭會在春節時留下一些煙花，等到元宵節這天燃放，而一些地方政府也會舉辦煙花大會。當新年的第一個月圓之夜來臨時，人們都陶醉在這令人難忘的煙花與天空皎潔的明月中。
人們在元宵節這天要吃元宵。元宵（黏米團子）或者叫做湯圓，相傳為漢武帝時宮中一位宮女的名字。（注：她長年幽于宮中，思念父母，終日以淚洗面。大臣東方朔決心幫助她，于是對漢武帝謊稱，火神奉玉帝之命于正月十五火燒長安，要逃過動難，唯一的辦法是讓“元宵姑娘” 在正月十五這天做很多火神愛吃的湯圓，并由全體臣民張燈供奉。武帝準湊，“元宵姑娘”終于見到家人。此后，便形成了元宵節。）。它是由糯米制成，用玫瑰花瓣、芝麻、豆沙、棗泥、核桃、干果、糖及食用油作餡。湯圓可以煮、炸、或蒸著吃，香甜可口。而且，湯圓與"團圓"字音相近，取團圓之意，因而人們在元宵節吃湯圓，象征全家人團團圓圓、和睦幸福。在一般的中國店鋪都可以買到。如果您喜歡烹飪，這里就向您介紹一個做元宵的食譜：
原料：
500克黏糯米面
200克黃油
200克黑芝麻粉
250克白糖
一茶匙酒
方法：
1、將黃油、黑芝麻粉、白糖和酒混合，加熱一會，搓成10克左右的小團。
2、取約100克黏糯米面，加水和成面團，放在開水中煮熟。晾涼后加入到剩余的糯米面中，揉捏到平滑。
3、將面團分成10克左右的小團，用手搓成球形，再在中間刺出一個蝸形，再把之前做好的芝麻餡填充進去。
4、在開水中煮熟，在煮的過程中要始終順著一個方向攪拌，湯圓全部浮起在水面后小火再煮一分鐘，即可。
