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Description
The Lantern Festival, also known as the YuanXiao Festival, is a Cherished tradition in China. Celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar, during the full moon. In 2024, this falls on February 24th. With roots dating back over 2000 years to the Han dynasty, this festival has not only endured but has also gained popularity in Western countries. For instance, the Water Lantern Festival is now celebrated in multiple locations across the United States.
The festival is marked by a variety of activities that bring joy and excitement to the days leading up to the following festival. These include lion dances, stilt-walking, riddle games, and dragon dances. This Chinese ink brush painting captures the essence of the festival, with hanging lanterns symbolizing the heart of the celebration.
One of the highlighted of the festival is the lantern riddles. A host blocks one side of the lantern and pastes riddles on the remaining three sides. Participants then try to guess the blocked side by solving the riddles, with rewards for those who succeed. The themes of the riddles can vary widely, encompassing well-know stories, animals, novels, poems, and food.
Another interesting aspect of the festival is the matchmaking efforts made by parents for their unmarried children. But the most important tradition is the making of TangYuan, sticky rice dumplings typically filled with sweet nuts, sesame, and dried fruits. The painting features a bowl of these white, round dumplings.
The painting also incorporates an old poem by OuYang Xia, a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigraphic, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty, which was about 1000 years ago. The poem reads: “ I remember at last year’s Lantern Festival, the brightened lanterns lit the evening of the flower market much like daytime. I waited for my beautiful girl at sunset, and expressed our love when the moonlight hit the tree branches. The same moonlight and the same lantern festival this year, but where are you, my girl? I wipe my tear with my sleeve, filled with lovesickness.”

Description
The Lantern Festival, also known as the YuanXiao Festival, is a Cherished tradition in China. Celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar, during the full moon. In 2024, this falls on February 24th. With roots dating back over 2000 years to the Han dynasty, this festival has not only endured but has also gained popularity in Western countries. For instance, the Water Lantern Festival is now celebrated in multiple locations across the United States.
The festival is marked by a variety of activities that bring joy and excitement to the days leading up to the following festival. These include lion dances, stilt-walking, riddle games, and dragon dances. This Chinese ink brush painting captures the essence of the festival, with hanging lanterns symbolizing the heart of the celebration.
One of the highlighted of the festival is the lantern riddles. A host blocks one side of the lantern and pastes riddles on the remaining three sides. Participants then try to guess the blocked side by solving the riddles, with rewards for those who succeed. The themes of the riddles can vary widely, encompassing well-know stories, animals, novels, poems, and food.
Another interesting aspect of the festival is the matchmaking efforts made by parents for their unmarried children. But the most important tradition is the making of TangYuan, sticky rice dumplings typically filled with sweet nuts, sesame, and dried fruits. The painting features a bowl of these white, round dumplings.
The painting also incorporates an old poem by OuYang Xia, a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigraphic, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty, which was about 1000 years ago. The poem reads: “ I remember at last year’s Lantern Festival, the brightened lanterns lit the evening of the flower market much like daytime. I waited for my beautiful girl at sunset, and expressed our love when the moonlight hit the tree branches. The same moonlight and the same lantern festival this year, but where are you, my girl? I wipe my tear with my sleeve, filled with lovesickness.”