78 E Washington St
Chicago
IL 60602
Happy Lantern Festival 2023! 元宵节快乐! Yuánxiāo Jié Kuàilè!
Join us in closing out the 2023 Chinese New Year celebrations with a Lantern Festival Celebration at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall! This iconic Chicago location will be transformed into a festive Chinese marketplace featuring lion dance, music, dance and more by some of Chicago’s most illustrious performers, and enjoy food, calligraphy, puppets, a selfie booth, trinkets and more.
Sunday, February 5th, 12:00 – 4:00pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall
78 E. Washington St
Free Admission
About Lantern Festival
February 5th marks the Lantern Festival, a festival held each year on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar calendar. The Lantern Festival closes out Chinese New Year Celebrations, and honors the first full moon in the new lunisolar calendar. While there are many different origin stories for this festival, one famous legend is that The Jade Emperor became angered with the people of a small village for killing his favorite bird, and planned to burn down their village in revenge. His daughter took pity on the villagers, and warned them of The Jade Emperor’s plans. To trick The Jade Emperor into thinking the village was already on fire and save their village, the villagers lit and carried red lanterns and lit firecrackers. To commemorate this legend, people celebrate by decorating with red lanterns, participating in lantern processions, and lighting firecrackers and fireworks, among many other things.