The Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in my country. It is a bustling festival with people watching lanterns, reading riddles, and hosting social gatherings, and eating the Lantern Festival is naturally indispensable. There are many folk legends about the origin of the Lantern Festival in my country, but Taiyuan County has its own unique legend.

According to legend, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, had been living in Jinyang City (an area of ??the ancient county of Taiyuan) when he was the king. During this period, he was very familiar with a round stuffed folk food, glutinous rice balls. Interested in it, he introduced it to Jinyang Palace for consumption. After the death of Lu Fei, the queen of Han Dynasty, Zhu Lu conspired to cause rebellion. Taiwei Zhou Bo and others put down the rebellion, and welcomed Liu Heng, the acting king, to the capital and ascended the throne. He was Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty.

This day happened to be the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Emperor Wen was so happy that he allowed his entourage and maids to go out to play in the palace at night and enjoy themselves with the people. The people put up lanterns and streamers to express their joy. When he returned to the palace late at night, Emperor Wen felt hungry, so he asked his attendants to cook a pot of Jinyang glutinous rice balls for everyone to share. After eating, they all said it was delicious and asked about its name.

When Emperor Wen was excited, he took the yuan of "Yuanyue" and the "xiao" of midnight snack, and renamed it "Yuanxiao", so as to increase the reunion of the monarch and his ministers and the family reunion. After that, the custom of eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month spread. Taiyuan County was originally the hometown of Lantern Festival. Therefore, in the past, on the Lantern Festival, Taiyuan County was bustling with activity, and every household must have the Lantern Festival, which was an unprecedented event.