灯谜(lantern riddles)是指写在彩灯上面的谜语。灯谜是中华民族一门传统的综合性艺术，是我国劳动人民智慧的结晶。猜灯谜是元宵节的一项娱乐活动。灯笼的主人把谜面写在纸条上，然后把纸条贴在灯笼上。如果有人猜到了谜底，就可以将纸条取下来，到灯笼主人那里去对谜底，如果猜对了谜底，就可以得到小礼物。设置灯谜和猜谜底可以遵循许多不同的方法。猜灯谜出现于宋朝(the Song Dynasty)，到了明清时代(the Ming and Qing Dynasties)，该活动在民间变得非常流行。

Lantern riddles refer to riddles which write on the colorful laterns. It is one of the chinese compositively traditional arts which was created by all o the chinese wisdom. Solving riddles on the lantern has become the amusement of Lantern Festival. The owner of the lantern writes riddle on the note, then, stick the note on his lantern. If there is someone who could solve the riddle, he could pick up the note and tell the owner his answer. If he is right, he would get the owner's little gift. Setting riddles and guessing them can obey many different methods. Guessing lantern riddles appears in the Song Dynasty, when it come to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the activity was becoming very popular in folk.

灯谜lantern riddle