Lunar Year Day 15

Day 15 - Feb24

Lantern Festival - in China this is called Yuan-Xiao after the soup which is eaten.
The story behind this festival -
Once upon a time in a land very far from here a beautiful heavenly bird flew down to a village and was killed by a villager. The God of Heaven was very displeased and decided to burn the village on day 15 of the first lunar month. However, a bright spark in the village persuaded all the villagers to make candle lanterns and to put them in all their windows. They also paraded in the street with lanterns and set off fireworks. The God of Heaven looked down and thought that the village was already burning and left it alone.

London's Chinatown February 2011