Light for a new year
Spring Festival revelers in Zhuanghe are snapping up animal lanterns representing the Chinese zodiac sign for the lunar year in which they were born. Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin report on the fun and the tradition in Dalian.
Several days after the Lunar New Year, booths selling "animal lanterns" pop up on the streets of Zhuanghe of Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province. The lanterns are made of bean flour in the shapes of the animal signs of the Chinese zodiac, or shengxiao, which is composed of 12 animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig), each symbolizing a lunar year. The flames burn in external holders.
"It is a tradition in Zhuanghe that on the night of the Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb 14 this year, people ignite lanterns for each family member, wishing for good fortune," says Zhao Mou, who was buying a rat for her 5-year-old daughter, a rabbit for her husband and a monkey for herself on Tuesday at a booth in downtown Zhuanghe.
