Many believe that the Chinese lantern festival began during the first century to honor Buddha. The true birth of this ancient festival is shrouded in mythology and folklore. The origins of the festivities predate the arrival of Sidhartha Guatama. Like most other Chinese festivals, there is a story behind this festival. .
It is said that there once was a petty god who prized above all things his goose. Upon visiting his favorite village, the god was separated from his goose. Since it was his favorite village the god asked every man in the village where his goose had gone. Finally a brave little peasant boy stood and said that he had found the goose and cooked it for dinner with his family. The god was so enraged that he showed his true form and frightened all of the villagers. He demanded that the village sacrifice the boy to him or every year at this time he would burn the village down. The villagers would not turn in the boy. Instead, the same time next year, they all ran into the street with lit lanterns to fool the god into thinking he had already burned the village down. This belief that the Lantern festival was conceived to celebrate Buddha is similar to the Christian appropriation of Easter and Christmas. .
We watched as young girls did traditional dances generations old. The lanterns were hung in a crisscross fashion on the ceiling giving the appearance of a sky ablaze with light. Normally the festivities would have included fireworks but the CSA (Chinese student association) was limited in their scope, this being held in the LSC. They wrote riddles on their lanterns and gave prizes to the person who solved the riddle (I solved none). .
Yuanxiao is the special food of the Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing. It looked like an eyeball swimming in mucus; I respectably declined to partake in that particular ritual.
