Lantern Festival
Today we are travelling from the luxury hotel in Spain Asia Gardens Hotel & Thai Spa to China, specifically to Hong Kong, to find out more about one of the most famous traditional holiday celebration of the country: the Lantern Festival.
The Lantern Festival, also known as Yuen Siu, is the last day of China´s most important festival, Spring Festival. It supposes going back to everyday life after two weeks of celebrations and family meals. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month. Thousands of red lanterns are hung up from houses, business and streets.
One of the legends explaining the origin of the Lantern Festival is that the Jade Emperor in Heaven was so angered at a villager for killing one of his sacred gooses that he decided to destroy the villager´s town with a storm of fire on January 15. Jade Emperor´s daughter, who got along with humans, warned the people of the town telling them to light lanterns throughout the town on the appointed day to hold back her father. The Jade Emperor decided not to destroy the town, because he thought it had already been burnt. From that day on, people celebrate the festival.
The lanterns are an indispensable part of the celebration. People write riddles on a piece of paper and paste them on the lanterns to let other people guess. Gifts are given to those ones who get the right answers. They are made with silk, paper and even glass. The most common lantern is the red one but nowadays there are many types of different sizes and colours such as square-shaped lanterns, lotus flower-shape lanterns or dragon-shape ones.
The Lantern Festival includes parades, music, drums, clowns, acrobats and specially, the famous Dragon Dance and fireworks.
Food is very important for Chinese culture. During the Lantern Festival attendees eat the famous tangyuan, ball-shaped dumplings made of rice flour filled with sweet goodies or meat. Its round shape symbolizes family ties.
If you would like to celebrate the Lantern Festival, you can either make your own paper lanterns or visit our 5 star hotels in Spain Asia Gardens Hotel & Thai Spa and enjoy Asia in the Mediterranean.
