Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year with dazzling displays across China

In pictures: Festivities held under full moon to celebrate end of 15-day celebrations

(REUTERS)

Cities and villages across China have celebrated the last day of Chinese New Year with dazzling light displays.

The Lantern Festival celebrates the first full moon of the new year and marks the end of the 15-day celebrations.

During the festivities, people eat rice dumplings called yuanxiao to mark the full moon and watch as lanterns rise into the sky.

The lantern tradition emerged as a popular tradition in ancient China after an emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch light lanterns to worship Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

The festival marks the return of spring and symbolises the reunion of family. 2017 is the year of the tenth Chinese zodiac, the rooster.

The years of the rooster include 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993 and 2005. However, this is the year of the fire rooster.

Those born in 1957 or 2017 are fire roosters, and are considered trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility at work.

They are also thought to be talkative, popular in a crowd and loyal. Their lucky numbers are thought to be five, seven and eight, and their lucky colours gold, brown and yellow.

Fire roosters are recommended to avoid the colour red and their unlucky numbers: one, three and nine.

The rooster will be followed by the dog in 2018 and the pig in 2019.