Kindergarten B Track Lesson Three Spring 2009 February 8th 2009

Legend of Lantern Festival Long time ago, there was a holy bird from Haven which got lost in human world and was accidently killed by a hunter. The Emperor of Heaven was very angry and wanted to set fire in human world on the fifteenth day of first lunar month as revenge. Daughter of the Emperor of Heaven was so kind that she can’t tolerate to see innocent people suffer. Therefore, she came to human world and told people this news. All human were stunned by that and didn’t know what to do. After a long silent, an old man had an idea. He told people to hang lanterns and shoot off firework on the fifteenth day of first lunar month. Then the Emperor of Heaven might think people were burned to death by fire.

People agreed with him and began to prepare People agreed with him and began to prepare. On that night, thePeople agreed with him and began to prepare. On that night, the Emperor of Heaven looked down from sky and found human world was full of red light and loud noise. Hence he assumed people were all killed by fire and people on the ground kept their life and property successfully. In order to commemorate victories, since that every year on this day, people hang lanterns and shoot off fireworks to celebrate.

Activities of Lantern Festival People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "Yuanxiao Festival."Yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. It is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed. It tastes sweet and delicious. What's more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.

Activities of Lantern Festival In the daytime of the Festival, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. On the night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people become really intoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (ㄧ) (ㄦˋ) (ㄙㄢ) (ㄙˋ) (ㄨˇ) (ㄌㄧㄡˋ) 七 (ㄑㄧ) 八 (ㄅㄚ) 九 (ㄐㄧㄡˇ) 十 (ㄕˊ)

11 12 13 14 15 十一 十二 十三 十四 十五 16 17 18 19 20 十六 十七 十八 十九 二十

21 22 23 24 25 二十一 二十二 二十三 二十四 二十五 26 27 28 29 30 二十六 二十七 二十八 二十九 三十

31 32 33 34 35 三十一 三十二 三十三 三十四 三十五 36 37 38 39 40 三十六 三十七 三十八 三十九 四十

41 42 43 44 45 四十一 四十二 四十三 四十四 四十五 46 47 48 49 50 四十六 四十七 四十八 四十九 五十

51 52 53 54 55 五十一 五十二 五十三 五十四 五十五 56 57 58 59 60 五十六 五十七 五十八 五十九 六十

61 62 63 64 65 六十一 六十二 六十三 六十四 六十五 66 67 68 69 70 六十六 六十七 六十八 六十九 七十