As the Chinese saying goes,"The Chinese Lunar New Year lasts until the Yuanxiao Festival(元宵節(jié)in Chinese,or the Lantern Festival)."The Yuanxiao Festival is not only the first major festival after the Spring Festival in China,but also the first day with a full-moon night on the Chinese lunar calendar。
俗話說，“不過元宵不出年�！痹�(jié)不僅是春節(jié)過后的第一個重要節(jié)日，也是農(nóng)歷新年的第一個月圓之夜。
In recent years,China has been opening its door wider to the outside world.As the traditions of the Yuanxiao Festival spread around the world,many foreigners also celebrate it.Do you know the original meaning of the characters of"Yuan"(元in Chinese)and"Xiao"(宵in Chinese)？To better celebrate the festival,you need to know more about it。
近年來，隨著中國對外開放的力度不斷加大，許多外國人也開始過起了元宵節(jié)。那么，“元”的本義是什么？“宵”的含義又為何？“鬧”元宵，你有必要了解一下她的前世今生。
The character"Yuan"is first seen in oracle bone inscriptions.In both oracle bone inscriptions and inscriptions on China's ancient bronze objects,the character"Yuan"looks like one standing sideways with his head highlighted(Picture 1)，whose original meaning is"head"(頭in Chinese)."Head"is not only the first part of the body from top to bottom,but also the most important part,so"Yuan"also has some extended meaning in Chinese,such as"being important","the first","the start",etc.In Chinese,"Yuan"is also used to describe the origin of all things,meaning"fundamental".The character"Yuan"of the Yuanxiao Festival shares the same meaning as that of Yuandan(元旦in Chinese,or New Year's Day)，indicating"the first"。
“元”字，始見于甲骨文。從甲骨文和金文來看，“元”字就像是一個側(cè)立的人，頭部突出(見圖1)，本意即“頭”。頭，不僅是身體從上到下的起始部分，也是最重要的部分，因此“元”字在漢語中又有了“重要、第一、開始”等引申義，也可以用來表示天地萬物的本源，含有“根本”的意思。元宵的“元”與元旦的“元”同意，都是“第一”的意思。
As a pictophonetic character,"Xiao"(宵)means"night",with"肖"representing the sound.In the oracle bone inscriptions that have been identified so far,the character"Xiao"has not yet been found,but"宀"(a part related to its meaning)has been frequently seen.In oracle bone inscriptions and inscriptions on China's ancient bronze objects,"宀"looks like a house(Picture 2)，representing nighttime when people usually rest in the house。
“宵”字本意為夜晚，聲旁為“肖”。在目前已經(jīng)識別出來的甲骨文中，雖然還沒有遇到“宵”字，但它的形旁“宀”在甲骨文中卻已經(jīng)多次出現(xiàn)。甲骨文中的“宀”字像房屋，金文也同樣如此(見圖2)，表示入夜時段，此時的人們多在屋內(nèi)休息。
"Yuanxiao",therefore,indicates the first day with a full-moon night on the Chinese lunar calendar.To celebrate this special day,people usually enjoy lanterns,solve riddles and do some shopping,bringing the Spring Festival cheer to a new climax。
因此，“元宵”指的就是農(nóng)歷新年中的第一個月圓之夜。為了慶祝這一特殊的日子，在這一天，人們紛紛走上街頭，賞燈、猜謎、逛集市，將新春佳節(jié)的歡樂氛圍推向又一個高潮。
