There were many peculiar Chinese Lantern Festival customs in the ancient China. It is different from the folk activities like dragon dance and guess riddles that will not only happen on the Lantern Festival.
Lantern Festival customs 1 : Making lanterns are hung outside each house to help the dead to find their way. (or keep off evil spirits)
Lantern Festival customs 2: Eating Tang-yuan, it means the family reunion, people eat Tang-yuan, and hope it can help their family reunion.
Lantern Festival customs 3: Watching fancy lanterns, Lantern Festival is the Chinese Valentine’s Day in the ancient China, the lovers go to the street which decorate with lanterns and coloured ribbons together, and watching the fancy lanterns.
Lantern Festival customs 4: Sending Lanterns, some blessing text were wrote on the lanterns to give the people who received the lanterns a good blessing.
Lantern Festival customs 5: Greeting the immortal of toilet, Chinese women use a red Shau Kei as a sedan chair, and greet the immortal of toilet (This immortal died under torture when she is alive).
Lantern Festival customs 6: Crossing the bridge for no illnesses, Chinese women go across the bridge with each other women, they believe this can help them no illnesses in the next year.
Lantern Festival customs 7: Stealing crops, Young women who steal men’s crops believe it would help them to keep the health of the their silkworm, improving the production of silk.
Lantern Festival customs 8: Hunting festival, 36 young women will pose as 36 different prey and dance beside the bonfire, the men arm with hunting weapons and dancing around the prey.
