Belarus’ National Library hosting exhibition dedicated to Chinese Lantern Festival
The thematic book exhibition, Magic Lantern Festival, running until March 5th, has been presented at the Chinese Book Centre, the National Library reports
Legend has it that the very first lantern in China was lit under the Han Emperor Wudi, who ruled from 141-87 BC. The tradition developed further, and during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) riddle solving became an important part of the festivities. They were written on pieces of paper attached to the bottom of the lanterns and gifts were given to those who guessed them. Visitors to the National Library exposition will learn about this and much more.
“The exhibition includes about thirty books, art publications, and periodicals in Chinese, English and Russian, acquainting readers with one of the oldest traditional holidays in China: the Lantern Festival. It marks the imminent arrival of spring. In 2025, it will be on February 12th,” the National Library said.
The holiday is shown and described in detail in the albums, entitled Folk Customs of China, Traditional Chinese Holidays in Illustrations and Illustrations of Traditional Chinese Festival. There are also publications revealing the traditional choreographic performances of the Celestial Empire. These are a dance with lanterns in the form of a fiery dragon, a lion dance, a show on stilts, a land boat dance, a folk dance Yangge, and a Taiping drum dance. It is written about them in the books: Essays on Chinese Culture, It’s Impossible Not to Know – the Holidays of China and Chinese Festivals.
Like any traditional holiday, the Lantern Festival has its own signature dish. Balls of glutinous rice flour with filling are called ‘tangyuan’ in northern China and ‘yuanxiao’ in the southern part of the country. The authors of the exhibition propose to learn the secrets of cooking dishes from the publications Food in China and Chinese Food Life Care.
The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s operating hours.
