Lantern Festival    

The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China. It falls on the15th day of the first lunar month. In my hometown, one countryside of Shanxi province, women use sorghum stalks to make lantern frames, then they paste red paper on the frames. In this way, they make all sorts of lanterns, such as pumpkin lanterns,persimmon lanterns and sheep lanterns. They also cut potatoes into a bowl shape. Then they put oil into the bowl-shaped potatoes and place lamp wicks in them and cover the potatoes with red paper lampshades. People hang red lanterns over the gates of their cave dwellings. Willow trees are also decorated with colored paper. Red lanterns are hung here and there on willow trees. The trees are called lantern trees or spark trees. This is our Lantern Festival.