The Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first month in Chinese lunar calendar, falls on February 5 this year, which marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations. In Guangde town of Dabu county, Guangdong's Meizhou city, people are holding festivities to usher in the Lantern Festival, which will usually last till the 20th day of the first lunar month or February 10 this year.
Dabu county is the center of Hakka culture in China. As a traditional custom to celebrate the Lantern Festival, Hakka people paraded the lanterns that they "invited" from places such as ancestral halls on February 2, with firecrackers setting off and lion dances performed along the road. Since "deng" (lantern) in Chinese sounds similar to "ding" (people), the celebration symbolizes adding more members to the family.
The parade started at 6:00 PM and visited twelve ancestral halls, where people prepared food and drinks, as well as calligraphy, paintings and handicrafts on the table to ancestors praying for a good year.
The celebration ended at 6:00 AM the next day (January 3).
Video | Ou Xiaoming, Bao Bao
Text | Lydia Liu
Editor | Wing, Nan, Monica, Jerry
