Although New Year's Day is celebrated in Asia, the new year does not begin until Chinese New Year's Day, starting with the new moon on the first day of the year in the Chinese lunar calendar. Since the calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, Chinese New Year's day differs from year to year in comparison to the Western calendar and can fall anywhere from late January to mid-February. This year, Chinese New Year's Day was on January 22.

Lantern Festival

Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. The fifteenth day is the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the festivities at the close of the full moon. Many legends abound concerning the festival's origin, which dates back to over 2000 years ago in the Han Dynasty.

One legend has it that the Jade Emperor in Heaven was once angry at a town for killing his favorite goose. He decided to destroy the town by setting it on fire, but a good-hearted fairy was able to warn the townspeople by telling them to light lanterns throughout the town on the appointed day. When that day came, the Jade Emperor saw from the Heavens that the town looked as if it was already on fire. He did not carry out his plan because he believed that his goose had been avenged. Ever since then, the townspeople have celebrated the day of their freedom by lighting decorated lanterns throughout the streets on the first full moon of the year.

Another legend says that there was once a palace maid called Yuan-xiao who was feeling homesick. To help her see her family again, a minister disguised himself as a fortune-teller and told people that the God of Fire would burn their city on the 16th day of the first lunar month. The terrified inhabitants told the emperor of the news, and the emperor then consulted his minister, who happened to be the "fortune-teller."

The minister told the emperor that the God of Fire loved to eat dumplings and that the homesick palace maid could be summoned to present the dumplings since she made the best dumplings in the palace. He further suggested that the city inhabitants set off firecrackers and hang lanterns at night so that it would look as if the city was on fire. That way the God of Fire wouldn't destroy the town if he thought it was already on fire. The emperor followed the minister's instructions on the night of the 15th day, and the city was thus alight with lanterns and firecrackers.

Meanwhile, the palace maid secretly escaped from the palace to meet her family outside. That evening, since nothing happened, the emperor believed that the minister's plan had worked and that they had succeeded. From that time on, he ordered lanterns to be hung all over the city on that day and to have the palace maid make dumplings. That is why the dumplings are called "yuan xiao" after the maid's name. In Chinese, "yuan" means unity and wholeness, representing the family reunions that take place during the time of the Lantern Festival.

Yuan xiao are also known as "tang yuan," or sweet balls made of glutinous sticky rice. Tang yuan can vary in size and taste; they can be sweet or salty. The most popular ones are small, chewy, pink and white in color, and submerged in sweet soup. Large ones contain sweet paste or salty filling inside such as black sesame paste, peanut powder, red beans, vegetables, or meat. Tang yuan balls also represent unity and wholeness since they are round in shape like the full moon.

Celebrations in Taiwan

The Tourism Bureau of Taiwan first hosted the Taipei Lantern Festival in 1990. Since then, it has continued putting on the festival each year, with its theme of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. The main event of the festival is the lighting of the principal lantern, a huge semblance of the animal of the year. This year the main lantern features the monkey.

Each year, the Lantern Festival at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei attracts multitudes of people who come to see the main lantern, its laser light show of colors and sounds, decorations, and other special features inside and around the memorial grounds. On one side of the memorial in particular is the "Tunnel of Lights," a walkway illuminated with lanterns and lights of all sorts and designs. Hundreds of thousands of handheld lanterns are also given away to children and adults on the first day of the festival.

This year, the Lantern Festival was also held in the suburb of Panchiao in Taipei County. The giant monkey used as the main lantern stood 25.5 meters [84 ft] tall on a rotating pedestal, weighed 25 metric tons, and contained 15,000 bulbs. According to the United Daily News, a county government official said it was the largest lantern ever made for the festival and utilized high-tech equipment in keeping with the theme of "traditional lanterns, high-tech light."

Elsewhere in Taipei County, in the mountain village of Pinghsi, the Sky Lantern Festival is held annually. Hundreds of paper lanterns illuminated and driven by burning kerosene are released into the night sky, offering a spectacular sight to watch.

The release of the sky lanterns has its historic origins in this area. When Chinese settlers came to develop the region, it was remote and difficult for others to get to. The pioneers came up with the idea of releasing lanterns into the sky to let others know they were safe and sound. The practice evolved into a popular cultural tradition over the years.

Despite the cold and rainy weather this year, hundreds of thousands of visitors still flocked to Pinghsi to take part in the Sky Lantern Festival. The release of the lanterns is associated with good luck and holds the blessings of those wishing for wealth, health, and good fortune.

In southern Taiwan, a spectacular fireworks display takes place every year in the village of Yenshui, Tainan county. The most impressive display is a "cannon wall" consisting of tens of thousands of firecrackers that fill the night sky with lights, colors, and deafening roars.

It is said that the display originated in 1875. A pestilence that lasted for twenty years had decimated the town's population. The few remaining survivors prayed to Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, and Kuan Kung, the protector deity, to look upon them and their land. The residents entreated them and other deities from Heaven to help them on the day of the Lantern Festival by setting off firecrackers and flares to help the spirits ward off evil and rid the town of the disease. When it was over, the plague was gone. Ever since then, the inhabitants have set off fireworks every year at this time to welcome the arrival of the spirits to protect them and their land.