Why China custom requires new wife to leave husband’s home, hide from family lantern

A traditional custom in northern China known as “hiding from the lanterns” requires that newly married women leave their husband’s home and avoid the groom’s family lantern on their first Lantern Festival after marriage. In China, lanterns are commonly seen as symbols of light and hope. However, during the Lantern Festival, celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, they become a taboo for newly married women in some areas. In a tradition popularly known as...