Giant full moon to light up China's Lantern Festival
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The biggest full moon of the year will light up China's Lantern Festival on the weekend, assuming favorable weather.
"The full moon on Sunday, which coincides with the Lantern Festival, will look 10 percent bigger than its normal size," said Wang Sichao, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Purple Mountain Observatory based in east China's Nanjing City.
He said the moon will pass the area around the perigee at 6:00 a.m. Sunday. However, the brightest and roundest moon will be observed on Monday, March 1.
The Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is an occasion for family reunion. It marks the formal end of lunar New Year festivities.
According to Chinese tradition, people go outside and enjoy the colorful lanterns on the streets and in parks the night of the festival. They also eat yuanxiao, small dumplings made of glutinous rice flour usually with a sweet filling.
The Beijing city government on Friday sent text messages to mobile phone users to remind all that fireworks are not permitted in the city after the Lantern Festival.
Many big Chinese cities like Beijing impose fireworks bans, only allowing fireworks celebrations during the lunar New Year festival period.
The Beijing fire department said fireworks caused 106 fires since Feb. 13, the first day of China's Spring Festival holiday, but that there were no cases of big fires yet.
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