Lantern Festival is on
the fifteenth day of first lunar
month, which marks the end of the
series of Chinese New Year
celebrations.
Traditionally, on the
Lantern Festival night, children went
out carrying bright lanterns that
were often made in the shapes of
legendary gods and animals, such as
Monkey King and rabbit, while adults
would parade the lanterns under the
very first full moon of the year.
The Lantern Festival
is also known, along with the seventh
day in the seventh lunar month, as
China’s Valentine’s Day. In the
ancient times, it was one of the few
nights when young ladies were allowed
going out, and lovers would be able
to meet each other on the street when
watching lantern shows.
On the night of 12
Feruary this year, fireworks lit up
the skies and blazing lanterns dotted
the Chinese cities as the 2006
Lantern Festival began. The
"Ping-pung" sound was the
main rhythm of the celebration as
Chinese grasped their last chance to
set off firecracker.
An
ancient city gate on the festival
night in a northern Chinese city, Wei
County
The day before that,
residents of Wei County in northern
China's Hebei Province kicked off the
celebration with their 300 year-old
tradition – dashuhua (beat
flowers out of a tree).
A
man in Wei County performing
traditional dashuhua
The performer carried
a wet felt hat and wore a sheepskin
jacket inside-out. With a wooden
ladle that had been soaked in water
for three days, he repeatedly scooped
up from a bucket the boiling liquid
of melted iron, and threw it with
force against the ancient city wall,
producing sparks which were like
millions of colourful flowers burst
out of an invisible tree.
