Double Romance--- When Valentine Meets Lantern Festival

The upcoming Valentine's Day will coincide with the lunar-calendar-based Lantern Festival. The two holidays only meet once in many years. Their rare encounter is especially remarkable because they are both associated with romance.

Given the large Chinese population in Cupertino, it's relevant to introduce Lantern Festival, a romantic holiday of the Chinese, to the mainstream reader here.

On the 15th of the first lunar month (which may fall on different days of February from year to year), Lantern Festival is the finale of the 15-day Chinese New Year's celebration. It also marks the first full moon of the lunar year.

As if to compete with the full moon, the Chinese display lanterns everywhere on this night. Children get to carry lanterns to go out while adults gather at a temple to solve riddles written on strips hanging down from the temple's many lanterns.

In ancient China, Lantern Festival used to be one of the few occasions for unwed young women to be seen in public. Those days parents generally made their teenage daughters stay home all day to prevent temptations. But customarily, everyone was encouraged to watch lanterns on Lantern Festival, so the girls could go, too, just never alone.

Some men would seize this opportunity to approach a young lady they found desirable, to start a conversation or make an impression by quietly slipping a poem in a folded piece of paper into her pocket, despite her being in the company of her peers or an older female relative.

Love stories often began this way in China's old times, and they made Lantern Festival a romantic holiday. However, since China adopted Valentine's Day from the West in the 20th century, Lantern Festival has given its place in romance to Valentine's Day, and has become more of a holiday for family-friendly activities.

Even so, since the two holidays will take place on the same day this year, why not think about the way Lantern Festival used to be to make your Valentine's Day doubly romantic?

In closing, here is a famous Chinese poem about the romance of Lantern Festival, "At a Green Jade Table", and its English translation from an e-book, A Poetic Portal to Chinese Culture, available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a%20poetic%20portal%20t...

青玉案---元夕 At a Green Jade Table---A Song about Lantern Festival

作者：辛棄疾  Author: Xin, Qi-Ji (1140-1207)

東風夜放花千树 An east wind brings up blossoms of fireworks above thousands of treetops;
更吹落，星如雨 It also carries down showers of sparks that resemble raindrops.
宝马雕车香满路 Scented ornate carriages proceed fragrantly all the way before their stops.
鳳箫聲动，玉壶光转 Flute music vibrates; jade pots radiate.
一夜鱼龍舞 All night long every lantern in the shape of fish or dragon hops.

娥兒雪柳黄金缕 A lady with snow-white skin and a willowy figure in a golden dress,
笑语盈盈暗香去 She passes by smiling, chuckling, with a subtle fragrance in her tress.
眾裡寻他千百度 For hundreds of thousands of times I have looked for the one
蓦然回首，那人却在 Now suddenly turning around, I see that special someone,
灯火阑珊處 Standing where lighting is less done.