The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month,usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar.As early as the Western Han Dynasty(206 BC-AD 25),it had become a festival with great significance.

元宵節(jié)是在陰歷正月的十五，通常在陽歷的二月或三月。早在西漢時期（公元前206年至公元25年），它已經(jīng)成為具有重要意義的節(jié)日。

This day's important activity is watching lanterns.Throughout the Han Dynasty(206 BC-AD 220),Buddhism flourished in China.One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch sarira,or remains from the cremation of Buddha's body,and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month,so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day.Later,the Buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China.

這一天的重要活動看花燈。在漢代（公元前206年至公元220年），佛教在中國盛行。一個皇帝聽說僧侶可以看到舍利，或是從火化的佛體中能得到舍利，他就下令陰歷第一個月的第十五天在故宮和寺廟點燈拜佛來展示對佛的尊敬。后來，佛教儀式發(fā)展成為普通民眾的重大節(jié)日，而其影響從中原地區(qū)一直蔓延到整個中國。

Till today,the lantern festival is still held each year around the country.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.

直到今天，全國各地每年都舉行元宵節(jié)。各種形狀和大小的燈籠掛在街上，吸引無數(shù)的游客。孩子們提著自制或購買的燈籠在街上閑逛，非常興奮。”猜燈謎”是這個節(jié)日的重要組成部分。

Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns.If visitors have solutions to the riddles,they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer.If they are right,they will get a little gift.The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty(960-1279).As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom,it has become popular among all social strata.

燈籠的主人會將謎語寫在一張紙上，貼在燈籠上。如果游客能解開燈謎，他們就能將紙條拿去燈籠的主人那里檢查他們的答案是否正確。如果他們是對的，他們將會得到一份小禮物。在宋代（960-1279）出現(xiàn)了燈籠，人民喜歡這個活動。猜燈謎是有趣和充滿智慧的，它已成為深受社會各階層的喜愛。

People will eat yuanxiao,or rice dumplings,on this day,so it is also called the"Yuanxiao Festival."Yuanxiao also has another name,tangyuan.It is small dumpling balls 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.

在那一天人們會吃元宵，粽子，因此，被稱為“元宵節(jié)”。元宵還有另外一個名字，湯圓。那是一種小粽子由糯米粉和玫瑰花瓣，芝麻，豆沙，棗糊，核桃肉，干水果，糖和食用油做成的。湯圓可以煮，炒或蒸。它的味道是甜的，美味的。而且，湯圓在中國與“團圓”的發(fā)音相似，含義團聚。因此人們吃湯圓來表聯(lián)盟，家庭和諧與幸福。

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.

在節(jié)日的白天有如舞龍，舞獅，劃旱船，扭秧歌，踩高蹺和打太平鼓等的表演。在晚上，除了華麗的花燈，艷麗多姿的煙火也形成了美麗的景色。大多數(shù)家庭在春節(jié)騰出一些煙花，留到元宵節(jié)放。一些地方政府甚至會組織焰火晚會。在新年的第一個月圓的晚上，人們都陶醉在燃放的煙火和空中的明月。

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