这是一道有名的中国点心，香香的米粉包着好吃的馅儿。这种点心与一个古老的传统节日同名，那就是“元宵”。

Yuanxiao, a well-known delicacy in China, is made of glutinous rice-flour with many types of delicious filling. The food happens to share the same name as a traditional Chinese festival called “Yuanxiao Festival”, or the Lantern Festival.

　   元宵节在农历正月十五，是一年里第一个晚上有圆月的日子。古代中国人认为圆月代表事事圆满、吉祥如意。圆圆的元宵也有这种寓意，因此，正月十五这一天，家家户户都要吃元宵。有的地方也把元宵称为汤圆，芝麻、核桃、豆沙什么的都可以做馅儿。

The festival falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, when the moon becomes full for the first time of the year. Ancient Chinese held that the full moon stood for success and felicity. The round dumpling happened to have the same symbolic meaning. For this reason, every household enjoys eating yuanxiao on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Yuanxiao, also called “tangyuan” in some localities, may contain an assortment of ingredients such as sesame, walnut, bean paste and so on.

　   除了吃元宵，元宵节最重要的习俗是赏灯会、闹元宵。元宵节为什么要“闹”呢？这是因为，古代中国等级观念很重，贵族与平民一般不来往，只有元宵节这天例外。这一天，不同身份的人一起看灯，一起庆祝，非常热闹。

Eating yuanxiao is only a part of the traditional celebration. The most important custom for the occasion is to watch the dazzling lantern display and revel in the excitement. The reason for “reveling” is that in the old China the society was rigidly hierarchical. The nobility and the ordinary people rarely communicated with each other. The Lantern Festival provided the only occasion for people of different social positions to mix up and to share the lively atmosphere of the carnival.

　   在灯会上，人们一边欣赏各种造型的彩灯，一边还可以猜灯谜。灯谜是中国人特有的一种文字游戏，人们在彩色的纸条上写上谜语，并把它悬挂在灯笼的下方，任何一个游客都可以去猜。这是一件很有趣味的事情。

On such a night, people enjoy viewing myriad shapes of colored lanterns on the one hand, and try to guess lantern riddles on the other. Guessing lantern riddles has been a unique word game in China. Riddles are written on strips of colored paper and hung from the bottom of the lanterns for visitors to guess. The game is intriguing and exhilarating indeed.

　   除了看花灯、猜灯谜，闹元宵的方式还有很多，比如舞龙、舞狮、扭秧歌踩高跷、跑旱船。所以有人说，元宵节是中国人的狂欢节。

In addition to the lantern show and riddle guessing, there are many other kinds of celebration such as lion dance, dragon dance, yangge dance, walking on stilts and boat rowing on land (a kind of folk dance). In the mind of Chinese, Yuanxiao Festival is a Chinese version of carnival.

　   过了元宵节，中国人对新春的庆祝活动才算真正画上了句号。

With the festival, the Chinese celebration of new spring comes to an end.