Lantern Festival 2022: Google marks Chinese Shangyuan Festival with Doodle

Google animated Doodle marks Lantern Festival (元宵節; 元宵节) on the first full moon of the Lunar calendar on February 15, 2022. Lantern Festival, additionally called Shangyuan Festival (上元節) or Yuan Xiao Festival (元宵節), is a holiday celebrated in China and other Asian countries that praises perished progenitors on the fifteenth day of the first month (Yuan) of the lunar calendar.

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival honored each fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. It generally falls in February, and it means the last day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Indeed, even as soon as the Western Han Dynasty, it was at that point celebrated as a festivity with extraordinary significance.

The Lantern Festival means to promotes reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness. The holiday denotes the first full moon of the new lunar year and the finish of the Chinese New Year (see Lunar New Year). During the celebration, houses are decorated with colorful lanterns, frequently with riddles written on them; if the riddle is answered accurately, the solver procures a small gift.

During the Lantern Festival in old times, the lanterns were reasonably straightforward. It was only the sovereign and incredible aristocrats who had enormous rich lanterns. In current times, lanterns have become upgraded with a few complex designs. A few lanterns are currently frequently made looking like animals.

Customs call for celebrants to light lanterns and send them drifting out of sight as a symbolic act that praises one’s precursors and represents the release of the past while shining a light on the year to come.

Modern-day celebrations of the Lantern Festival have antiquated roots. Extending back more than 2,000 years to the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the traditions that represent the holiday are a demonstration of the power of China’s oral narrating customs.

The most well-known type of lantern seen across the skies today are small orbs, yet numerous craftsmen make novel designs that take on all sizes and shapes-from giant dragons to lanterns small enough for kids to carry.

To add elements of fun, many individuals slip little bits of paper recorded with questions inside their lanterns. A few puzzles are even made so troublesome, they’ve acquired the nickname “lantern tigers,” as it’s said it’s more straightforward to battle a tiger than solve them!

Festival celebrations likewise incorporate lion and dragon dances, parades, and fireworks. Little glutinous rice balls loaded up with fruits and nuts, called yuanxiao or tangyuan, are eaten during the celebration. The round state of the balls represents completeness and solidarity within the family. The Lantern Festival is celebrated on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.