元宵節(jié)的習(xí)俗

Eating Yuanxiao

吃元宵

Yuanxiao is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing. And the Festival is named after the famous dumpling. It is very easy to cook - simply dump them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes - and eaten as a dessert.

元宵是元宵節(jié)的特色食品。據(jù)說，元宵是因漢武帝時期的一位名叫元宵的宮女而得名。元宵是一種帶餡兒的甜食，是由糯米粉加上甜的餡料制成。元宵節(jié)就是因此食品得名。元宵的烹制方法非常簡單，將元宵倒入裝滿沸水的鍋中煮幾分鐘就可以了。

Guessing lantern riddles

猜燈謎

"Guessing lantern riddles"is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people’s enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.

猜燈謎也是元宵節(jié)活動的一個基本組成部分。燈籠的所有者將謎語寫在一張紙條上，然后將紙條展示在燈籠上。如果賞燈者猜出謎語，就將紙條取出，然后找燈籠所有者確認(rèn)答案。打?qū)Φ脑?，他們就可以領(lǐng)取一份小禮品。這個活動起源于宋朝(960—1279)。猜燈謎活動極富情趣和智慧，因此在全社會廣受歡迎。

Watch fireworks

看煙火

In the daytime of the Festival, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. On the night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people become reallyintoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

元宵節(jié)的白天會有舞龍舞獅、劃旱船、扭秧歌、踩高蹺。而在晚上，除了各種大型燈會，燦爛的焰火也是一幅美麗的畫卷。很多家庭在春節(jié)時會留下一部分煙花等著元宵節(jié)放。有的地方政府甚至?xí)M織焰火晚會。當(dāng)新年的第一輪圓月升上夜空時，人們都會因燃放的煙火和空中的明月而興奮。