The Lantern Festival 元宵节

元宵节简介
 A Brief introduction to the Lantern Festival
正月是农历的元月，古人称夜为“宵”，所以称正月十五为元宵节。正月十五日是一年中第一个月圆之夜，也是一元复始，大地回春的夜晚，人们对此加以庆祝，也是庆贺新春的延续。元宵节又称为“上元节”。
The first month of the lunar calendar is known as the yuan month, and in olden times, the night was called xiao in Mandarin; therefore, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was called Yuanxiao Festival, which is translated as the Lantern Festival in English. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, one sees a bright full moon hanging in the sky for the first time in that lunar year, and spring will return at the beginning of a new lunar year. At this time, people celebrate. It is also an extension to the celebration of the Spring Festival. The Lantern Festival is also known as the Shangyuan Festival.
元宵节的节期与节俗活动，是随历史的发展而延长、扩展的。就节期长短而言，汉代才一天，到唐代已为三天，宋代则长达五天，明代更是自初八点灯，一直到正月十七的夜里才落灯，整整十天。与春节相接，白昼为市，热闹非凡，夜间燃灯，蔚为壮观。特别是那精巧、多彩的灯火，更使其成为春节期间娱乐活动的高潮。至清代，又增加了舞龙、舞狮、跑旱船、踩高跷、扭秧歌等“百戏”内容，只是节期缩短为四到五天。
Over history the duration of the Lantern Festival has been extended and traditions and customs have developed over time. In terms of the duration, the festival lasted one day in the Han Dynasty, three in the Tang Dynasty, five in the Song Dynasty, and ten in the Ming Dynasty when lanterns were hung out from the night of the eighth day of the first lunar month to the night of the seventeenth day of the same month. It was an extension of the Spring Festival. There were busy markets in the daytime and magnificent lanterns at night. Exquisite and colorful lanterns, among others, highlighted the Spring Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, there were acrobatics like dragon dances, lion dances, land boating, stilt shows, yangko and so on, but the duration decreased to four or five days.