Zee Wong

    zedwong@163.com

    LANTERN Festival falls on the 15th day of the first Lunar Calendar month, during the first full moon of the new year. People decorate with lanterns and streamers, and eat tangyuan that day. Tangyuan is made of glutinous rice, with fillings of sugary paste such as sesame, red bean and peanuts.

    The festival is related to a girl named Yuanxiao, who was a lady-in-waiting to Emperor Hanwu, the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). She had been in the palace for quite a while, and missed her parents and younger sister. One day she sobbed by a well, struck by homesickness and dying to see her family. At this moment, a man passed by and he made her wish come true.

    The man was Dongfang Shuo, a scholar who was known for his intelligence and humor. These assets earned him a favorable position with Emperor Hanwu but his sharp political views held him back from further promotion. In other words, Emperor Hanwu’s inner circle consisted mostly of men used for entertainment and only sometimes for counseling.

    The next day, Dongfang disguised himself as a fortune-teller and went downtown in the capital Chang’an. He had a very successful business and he told each customer that they would get burnt on the 16th day of the first Lunar month. People were really afraid and asked him why. Dongfang said that the God of Fire was going to burn down Chang’an so he suggested them to ask the emperor for help. Dongfang wrote a prophecy and had the people pass it to the emperor.

    When the emperor read the prophecy saying that Heaven was sending the God of Fire to burn down the capital on the 15th day of the month, he was concerned and went to Dongfang for advice.

    Dangfang pretended to ponder, and then he said:”Hmm... God of Fire... I heard his favorite is tangyuan! Doesn’t the girl Yuanxiao make amazing tangyuan for you? On the 15th, Yuanxiao should lead the people to make tangyuan so we could bribe the God of Fire. At the same time, we could trick Heaven by gathering people in Chang’an and lighting the city up with lanterns, fireworks and firecrackers.”

    The emperor thought it was a great idea and followed along.

    On the 15th, the entire city of Chang’an was decorated with lanterns and streamers. Yuanxiao followed the order to make tangyuan for the emperor and her family was invited to see Chang’an. She finally got a chance to reunite with her parents and younger sister. After the big party in Chang’an, no disaster occurred.

    The emperor thought it was Yuanxiao who made such delicious tangyuan, so he named tangyuan after her.

    We now call this day Yuanxiao Festival in Chinese. This festival has lasted for about 2,000 years. Today it is a tradition for families to gather and eat yuanxiao. This chewy dessert lived up to its endearing name, “tangyuan.” It signifies that eating yuanxiao would bring us unity (团圆, tuanyuan). Tangyuan and tuanyuan have similar pronunciations. Coincidentally, tangyuan brought a family reunion to lady Yuanxiao.

Zee Wong is a Chinese student at Carnegie Mellon University who is also offering an innovative course in Chinese language and culture to multinational students and professionals.