Netizens on a Chinese portal website are pushing to have the
Lantern Festival, which falls on Thursday -- the equivalent of Jan.
15 on the lunar calendar -- designated as a legal holiday.
Yuyuan Garden, a well-known tourist
attraction in downtown Shanghai, is lit with newly installed,
energy-saving lights prior to the Lantern Festival.
Lantern Festival marks the formal end to the new year
festivities.
"Lantern Festival, like Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival
and the Mid-Autumn Festival, is one of the best-known traditional
festivals in China. Since these three are public holidays, why is
Lantern Festival an exception?" wrote a netizen nicknamed "Shenliu
hermit" on Sina.com. "The Lantern Festival represents part of
China's cultural heritage. Making Lantern Festival an official
holiday will promote the Chinese people's awareness of its
significance", according to Shenliu hermit. Netizens also agreed
that domestic consumption would be boosted if one more legal
holiday was added onto the end of the Spring Festival. "The local
government puts up a lot of lanterns along the streets during the
festival each year. Since both the government and common people
think highly of the festival, why not call it a day off?" a netizen
named "Lan benben" from Changsha, the capital of southern Hunan
Province, wrote on Sina.com, one of the portal websites in
China.
On Sina, more than 500 netizens agreed that the day ought to be
a legal holiday and were strongly critical of those who
objected.
To add one more legal day to the current calendar seems to be
too much since China has already had so many holidays, a netizen
from east Shandong Province wrote. One more day off during
festivals means more celebrations and more extravagance, he
said.
His comment drew critics who said that he was being ironic or
sick.
Under a government plan released at the end of last year, China
is to abolish the May Day "Golden Week" but keep the other two
week-long holidays -- the National Holiday and the Spring Festival.
The May Day holidays were distributed to traditional festivals
including Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and the
Mid-Autumn Festival in a bid to help carry forward Chinese history
and culture and ease the burden of "Golden Weeks". The government
introduced the "Golden Week" holidays in 1999 but found the
week-long holidays caused problems such as overcrowding, poor
service, a scarcity of hotel rooms and damage to scenic spots.
Last year, the government sought opinions online and decided to
abandon the May Day "Golden Week".
The Lantern Festival was then not included in the list because
the date was very close to the Spring Festival, according to the
official explanation.
The Lantern Festival, also called Yuan Xiao Festival, takes
place under the first full moon of lunar calendar. The festival
dates back to the Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000
years.
There are many forms of entertainment available during the
festival, such as making and exhibiting lanterns, guessing games,
lion dancing and stilt-walking.
Another important part of the Lantern Festival is eating small
dumpling balls called Yuanxiao or Tangyuan, which are made of
glutinous rice flour, sometimes rolled around a filling of sesame,
peanuts, vegetables or meat.
The festival is widely celebrated by Chinese communities around
the world.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)
