Feature: Folk organizations try to revive traditional flavor of Lantern Festival Flickering red lanterns, loud firecrackers and laughter when people goof on
word puzzles - such was the scene when some Beijing folk organizations crammed into an old hutong to
relive long-gone Lantern Festival traditions.
The Chinese Lantern Festival, or 'Yuanxiao Festival', takes place on the 15th
day of the first lunar month, the first night of the new year with a full moon.
Celebrations often carry on from the 13th day to the 17th day of the lunar New
Year.
Traditionally people would hold a five-day carnival nationwide by hanging up
red lanterns believed to bring good luck, guessing word puzzles, performing lion
and dragon dances and eating yuanxiao -- a round-shaped dumpling
made of glutinous rice and a sweet filling.
"It seems that the only celebration left these days is eating," said Gao Wei,
secretary general of the Beijing Folk Art Association, who attended the
presentation of the traditional rituals in a hutong restaurant that serves
traditional Beijing food.
"We want to remind the public of traditions which are fading away among the
forest of high-rise buildings," said Zhang Wei, the organizer of the activity
and founder of the Old Beijing website which records old hutongs before the bulldozers move in as part of Beijing's
relentless modernization.
The 30-year-old man, dressed in a traditional long Chinese gown, invited folk
culture experts and lantern craftsmen to the activity.
"Unlike today's tomato-shaped red lanterns, animals and characters from
ancient literature are often pictured on the traditional lantern shades. The
craftsmanship is so delicate that the artist may paint a woman's hair seven
times," said Chang Renchun, 76, an expert on Chinese traditions.
Strips of red paper hang from the lanterns with word puzzles, and anyone who
answers correctly can win a prize, Chang said, sitting in a beautiful old wooden
chair under a sea of bobbing lanterns.
"I am glad to learn so many traditional rituals," said Jia Yan,a 24-year-old
graduate student of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who won three gifts from
the organizers.
He rushed to the activity after discovering it on the Old Beijing website,
but none of his schoolmates joined him.
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