Spring Lantern Festival: Lanterns, Riddles and Full Moon

Description

As Chinese New Year celebrations quieten in Hong Kong, the Lantern Festival (jyun4 siu1 zit3, 元宵節) lands on 3 March this year — the fifteenth day of the lunar year — when locals play with and admire glowing lanterns. The Lantern Festival marks the first full moon of the new lunar year. Notably, the Hong Kong Observatory has forecasted a total lunar eclipse from 19:04 to 20:03, during which the moon is expected to appear red.

A tradition of the Lantern Festival is to solve riddles tied to lanterns (caai1 dang1 mai4 猜燈謎). Some housing estates put up riddles in public areas, where there are enthusiastic families surrounding the lanterns. Another custom is to eat tong1 jyun4 (湯圓), glutinous rice balls typically stuffed with sesame or peanut paste.

To admire grander lantern displays, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s lantern display is still on show, featuring lanterns made by paper crafting masters Mo Cheuk-kei and Hui Ka-hung. The lanterns will light up from 18:00 to 23:00.