Today is Lantern Festival in my homeland of China; my friends at the Albany Public Library have told me that Albany also has a Lantern festival. It is interesting to compare these two festivals. First of all, they are months apart! The Chinese Lantern Festival is always in February or March, while the Albany Lantern Parade takes place in November. Read on to find out about more differences.
Lantern Festival in China
The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the lunar New Year, and is the traditional end of the New Year celebration. This is when the first full moon of the new year arrives, symbolizing the return of spring. On this night, Chinese will traditionally eat yuanxiao, enjoy flower lanterns, and guess “lantern riddles“.
Yuanxiao (rice balls) is a traditional Chinese festival food. It is usually made of glutinous rice and wrapped with fillings. Sweet ones include sesame, red beans and peanuts, and savory ones include fresh meat.
In China, on the Lantern Festival, we eat sweet rice dumplings called Yuanxiao.
Lantern Parade in Albany
In Albany, the Lantern Parade is held each fall on the first Sunday in November, when the clocks change from daylight time to standard time. The Albany Lantern Parade is a new modern festival created in 2016. According to Lantern Parade founder, Sarah Read, The Albany Lantern Parade was created “to celebrate simplicity, art, people coming together, and kind of welcoming this earlier darkness.” Interestingly, in Seoul, South Korea they also have a modern Lantern Festival that takes place November. It was created in 2009.
Some people have wondered if the Albany Lantern Parade is inspired by an old Dutch holiday called St. Martin’s Day. Albany was once a Dutch city, and there are many Dutch place names and some traditions that live on. On St. Martin’s Day, school-age children make hand-crafted lanterns made of sugar and paper and go door-to-door singing songs and asking for candy.
Dutch Children celebrating St. Martin’s Day
The Albany Lantern Parade is also a festival that is very popular with school age children. In the month of October, children work together at Albany schools or at the Albany Public Library to make lanterns from paper and recycled bottles. But the festival is for all ages, children and adults, who gather in Washington Park at sunset on the first Sunday in November to parade around the lake with their lanterns. The Chinese holiday looks forward to the arrival of spring. The Albany festival welcomes the approach of winter.
I have seen many pictures of children with their lanterns, but I haven’t seen any pictures of people eating anything. Tell me, are there any special dishes that people eat for Albany Lantern Parade?
Here are more pictures from the Albany Lantern Parade
