What is Yuanxiao?

Yuanxiao originally meant "Lantern Festival Night", because the main activity of the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month was to eat Yuanxiao at night and enjoy the moon. Later, the name of this festival evolved into "Lantern Festival".

The Lantern Festival will be held on the fifteenth day of the first month, which will push the celebration on New Year's Eve to another climax. On the night of Lantern Festival, the streets are decorated with lanterns and people appreciate them. Solve riddles on the lanterns and eating Yuanxiao have become the customs of several generations.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, it was ordered that the 15th day of the first month be designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were scheduled for the 15th day of the first month. Taiyi: the God who rules the universe. When Sima Qian created the taichu calendar Law, he had already identified the Lantern Festival as a major festival.

With the passage of time, there are more and more activities in the Lantern Festival, and many local festivals have added traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums.

This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also celebrated every year in areas where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities.