The Lantern Festival is the last important festival in the Chinese Spring Festival customs. It is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year. According to the ancient calendar, the first lunar month is the first month of the lunar calendar. "Shuowen Jiezi" records: "Yuan means beginning; Xiao means night." It is the first full moon night of the new year, so it is called the "Lantern Festival"; there is a custom of watching lanterns on this festival in all dynasties, so it is also called the Lantern Festival. Before the Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was mostly called "Yuan Ye", "Yuan Xi" and "Shang Yuan", while "Yuan Xiao" is more common in documents after the Song Dynasty.
The formation of the Lantern Festival has gone through thousands of processes. There are many theories about its origin. The most influential one is that it originated from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty lighting lanterns to worship Taiyi God on the first day of the first lunar month. Therefore, if it is counted from the Western Han Dynasty, it has existed in China for more than two thousand years. Since the "Taichu Calendar" of the Han Dynasty was established to celebrate, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has been determined as a major festival. Since the Tang Dynasty, hanging lanterns on the Lantern Festival has become a festival and gradually became a folk custom. The festival period varies in different periods. The ten-day festival in the Ming Dynasty was the Lantern Festival in Chinese history.
The Lantern Festival is the day when the new year begins and spring returns to the earth. Chinese people have always valued the first and the new. There are various forms of activities with the theme of "noisy" in various places, including folk activities such as going out to enjoy the moon, lighting lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles, eating Lantern Festival dumplings together, and there are also social performances such as dragon lantern dances and stilt walking, expressing people's wishes for a good year. The special food of the festival is "Yuanxiao", also known as "Tangyuan", which means reunion and happiness.
The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival, which constitutes an important part of the Spring Festival customs and is a real "carnival" for the whole society. From staying up late on New Year's Eve to all members of society, regardless of gender, age or young, participating in the festival activities on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The Lantern Festival is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, but also valued in overseas Chinese communities. In June 2008, the folk customs of the Lantern Festival were included in the "Second Batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage List".
