文化圈

//Primary school kid Kazzy Lai  has set up a social media channel  to share special food and customs for celebrating Lantern Festival of Chinese New Year.  Let's check it out//

Kazzy：‘Hi! Do you know what I am doing now? I’m helping my mom to prepare some dessert for tonight, the sweet dumpling, This is one of my favorite desserts, We eat it every now and then, but today, there is a special meaning attached to it, Why?  Let me take the dessert on the dining table first, then i’ll tell you.’

Kazzy：‘Today is the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese New Year, It is the Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao Festival in China, This is one of the three most celebrated traditional festivals of the people in China, The other two most popular are the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, families will come together, have dinner and eat sweet dumpling or “tangyuan” in Putonghua, “Tuanyuan”, as you can see, is round, The inside is filled with various ingredients and white sugar, but the most common filling is sesame, wrapped in glutinous rice flour, “tangyuan” sounds similar to the word “Tuanyuan” (團圆), which means reunion. So when families eat “tangyuan” together on this special day of the new year, with the bright full moon hanging in the sky, it signifies reunion, happiness and harmony, It also brings good luck for the year ahead for the whole family.’

Kazzy：‘Therefore, eating glutinous rice balls, expresses people's love for the reunion of their family, It’s a tradition that has been followed for more than 2000 years since the Han Dynasty, Do you know where this tradition of eating tangyuan came from? Well, according to legend, there was a palace maid named “Yuan Xiao”,  during the time of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty who lived in the palace for many years, She missed her parents greatly and washed her face with tears all day long, The minister Dongfang Shuo was determined to help her, so he lied to Emperor Wu that the fire god was ordered by the Jade Emperor in Heaven, to burn Chang’an, the capital city at that time, on the 15th day of the first month, The only way to escape from the disaster, was to let "Yuan Xiao" make lots of rice balls that the fire god loved to eat, and all citizens would light up their lanterns to worship Him, Emperor Wu believed this display and allowed Yuan Xiao to leave the palace, She eventually was able to meet with her family and be reunited again, After that, the Lantern Festival was formed.’

Kazzy：‘During this festival, we also play a fun game called "Guessing Lantern Riddles” People write riddles on paper, and paste them on colorful lanterns for others to guess, If you have the correct answer for a riddle, you will get a prize, Because riddles can inspire wisdom and are very interesting, this game is quite popular among all walks of life.’

Kazzy：‘Well, thank you for listening about the Lantern Festival, its history and its traditions, I hope you have all have a wonderful reunion with your family this year, filled with fun riddle guessing games and lots of presents.’