When the first full moon of the year goes up 15 days after the Chinese New Year, the Lantern Festival is celebrated. This year, the Lantern Festival is on Feb. 28, 2010.

It is believed that the gods are in full force during this lucky time. It comes as no surprise that there are so many legends about the Lantern Festival.

For now we will look at 3 of the other more active dieties expected to circulate during this special night :

- The God of Destiny, Taiyi, is all set to fulfill desires.
- Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea, is all ready to accept wishes, so families throw offerings to rivers.
- The Moon Minister of Marriages matches baby girls and boys, who will marry who when they grow up.

Taiyi is the god of heaven who controls human destiny. He has 16 dragons who can do his bidding should he wish to inflict drought, storm, famine or pestilence on the human race. During the lantern festival, splendid ceremonies are dedicated to Taiyi in exchange for good health or good weather throughout the year.

Mazu is the Goddess of the Sea and grants wishes to families. Families dedicate lanterns and an assortment of offerings so that their wishes may be granted.

What to toss to the river as offering for wishes to the Goddess of the Sea:

Oranges - Prosperity for husbands
Apples - Luck for Wives
Longan - to have kids
Red Dates - to have all good things in life
Pebbles - to have a coins
Coins - for more prosperity, treasures.

The Lantern Festival is also the time for the Moon Minister of Marriage to pair up baby boys and girls. It is the day marriages are made on the moon. He binds a boy and a girl with a magical red thread. Years later, when they are grown, they will meet on a night of the first full moon. They will feel that they are fated to their heaven-on-earth connection.

Yes, the Lantern Festival is a night of enchantment and happy wishes, indeed.

Labels: ancient chinese stories, Chinese legends, chinese new year

Here's something that will interest small and bigger students learning to read Chinese.

Chinese legends are always fascinating for the young and old student. And now, we have a book set with a bunch of them, entitled "Three Kingdoms". It's a set that has 2 books, but 38 stories total in Traditional Chinese. Most of the stories tell about the turbulent times of the Three Kingdom period.

It will be out any day soon, just fixing things up but it's already there. It's a great supplement material to practice reading Chinese.

Meanwhile, the Three Kingdoms CD-ROM is also available, so kids can also see the stories in animated in the computer.

Labels: ancient chinese stories, ChildBook products, Chinese legends

Some Ancient Chinese Stories I would recommend for reading:

The Magic Brocade - Cute story of an ancient Chinese legend, beautiful pictures! Bilingual in excellent Chinese and English

Lady White Snake - 800 year old Chinese Folktale, the book is just wonderful. Excellent background pages in the back all about the legend and Chinese opera. Highly recommended for learning about the Chinese Culture and especially for use in the class room. There is also a DVD of Lady White Snake available.

The Great Voyage of Zheng He, Bilingual Book -discovered America before Christopher Columbus.

Story of Chinese Zodiac, Hardcover Book - Cute book, also available in softcover and DVD.

Ancient China - DK Eyewitness Books. English. Hardcover. - Good book about Ancient China.

The Ch'I-Lin Purse : A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories by Linda Fang - Great book in English with lots of ancient Chinese Stories and a lot of fun to read. Stories are short. Also available in hard cover, The Ch'I-Lin Purse : A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories.

Cloud Weavers: Ancient Chinese Legends - 23 legends and myths from ancient China, the stories are a great read.

Labels: ancient chinese stories