When lantern festival meets the Holi vibe

Revellers celebrate Holi n Bhopal.
| Photo Credit:
ANI

The lantern festival (also called Yuanxiao festival) was celebrated on March 3 in China. It marked the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Falling on the 15th day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar, the lantern festival dates back more than 2,000 years to the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), when the Chinese Emperor Liu Zhuang, a devout Buddhist, promoted the learning of Buddhism in China and adopted the practice of lighting lanterns in temples to worship and honour Buddha. As the night of the festival sees the first full moon following the spring festival, it symbolises the end of winter and the return of spring. The full moon also symbolises harmony and family unity.

For celebration, people decorate their homes as well as public places with colourful lanterns in various shapes and materials, eat yuanxiao, a traditional Chinese glutinous, sweet rice ball filled with ingredients such as sesame, jujube, peanuts, walnut, and red bean paste. People wish this round, sweet delicacy bring them happiness and sweetness in future life. People also watch and participate in various types of folk dances, creating an exciting festive atmosphere.

The same day when Chinese people were celebrating the lantern festival, our Indian friends were immersed in the Holi festival vibe. My Indian friends told me that Holi is rooted in Hindu mythology and has been observed for thousands of years. Also known as the festival of colours, it is celebrated on the full moon in the lunar month of Phalgun, a time of transition which usually occurs in March. The night before Holi, I saw my neighbours light bonfires, dance to music, and pray to bid farewell to winter and welcome the fresh start of spring. I got to learn that this ancient cultural practice also symbolises the triumph of good over evil.

During the Holi festival, families prepare and share gujiya at home, a typical, dumpling-like sweet with the fillings of dried fruit and nuts spiced with cardamom. I also found that the real fun and ‘craze’ starts on the very day of Holi, when people throw Holi gulal, coloured powders, and water at literally anybody and everybody. Friends told me that each colour represents a distinct meaning, red for love, yellow for knowledge, green for new life, blue for God Krishna and divinity, etc. With a riot of colours, people’s faces and clothes are transformed into canvas and beautiful works of art. This March 3 is the first time I have celebrated the lantern festival and Holi two in one, together with some Mumbaikars. Beyond excitement, the two fascinating festival activities make me think how similar they are in multiple dimensions: cultural connotation, symbolic significance, observance of natural laws, and even in food choices.

As two ancient civilizations, although separated by mountains and rivers, our ancestors have lived on the same planet, observed the same sky, and formed similar wisdom and practices. Thousands of years down, these wisdom and cultural gene have turned into invaluable assets to us. We both love family and friends. We both cherish peace and harmony. We both value the unity of humanity and nature. Both our peoples desire happiness and sweetness of life. The two-in-one festive vibe makes me further think that facing a turbulent and increasingly uncertain world, we shoulder a historical responsibility to unswervingly enhance cultural exchanges and promote civilisational dialogue and communications among all world countries at large.

Civilisation initiative

Three years ago, President Xi of China raised the Global Civilization Initiative in Beijing, emphasising that countries need to uphold the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilisations, and let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and inclusiveness transcend any sense of superiority.

As BRICS summit is to be held this year in India, we should seize the opportunity to jointly advocate robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation among the member countries. We should encourage all peace-loving countries and people to jointly contribute to ever-increasing inter-civilisation mutual learning and sharing. We should consistently enrich the content of exchanges and expand avenues of cooperation to promote mutual understanding and friendship, and advance the progress of human civilisations in building a community of shared future. As China’s NPC and CPPCC are convening in Beijing to deliberate on the 15th Five Year Plan and the priorities of social and economic development for 2026, China will pledge again to the world that its path toward modernisation is on the right course of peaceful development. With peace-and-harmony at the very core of its civilization, in pursuing Chinese modernisation, China will neither tread the old path of colonisation and plunder, nor the crooked path of seeking hegemony, but continue to innovate faster and open wider to share development opportunities with the world.

The author is Consul-General, Chinese Consulate General, Mumbai