Like the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month, the "Fishing Lantern Festival" is also a traditional folk celebration festival. Every year on the 13th day of the first lunar month, the fishing villages along the coast of Yantai Development Zone will welcome the Lantern Festival. This is a unique local festival custom, which has been approved by the Ministry of Culture as a national intangible cultural heritage.
On the day of Lantern Festival, local fishermen held a big banquet to entertain guests and friends, offering sacrifices to the sea and praying for happiness in the new year. The unique traditional folk festivals in this place, auspicious and harmonious, have become the annual groundbreaking ceremony for fishery production, and also reflect the fishermen's good wishes for a bumper harvest and happiness.
On the Fishing Lantern Festival, the fishing village is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the drums and music are loud and jubilant, as lively as the New Year. The fishermen held a banquet at noon and celebrated with wine. In the afternoon, they took offerings, sang and danced with friends and relatives, set off firecrackers all the way, and flocked to the harbor in costumes to "worship the sea."
The harbor pier, fishermen and tourists who worship the sea, is already a sea of people. Hundreds of fishing boats are dressed up and closely related. All masts and suspenders are covered with red lanterns, colorful flags and firecrackers. Fishing lights are lit at the bow and offerings are placed. The scene is spectacular. The offerings include pig heads, big fish, cakes, dining tables and so on. Fishermen sprinkle a little pig's blood on the pig's head, and tie a red silk flower on the "Six Doors", which means "making blood money" and "being lucky".
In a burst of firecrackers, the fishermen tied red ropes around their waists and began to dance yangko and beat gongs and drums. After a while, people spilled wine on the deck and in the sea, burned incense paper and threw it into the sea. Then their hearts were filled with piety and blessings, and they bowed to the "Poseidon" in the direction of worshipping the bow for a generation. The fishermen's professional yangko team and drum band took advantage of the situation and the atmosphere reached a climax in an instant. Thousands of firecrackers and fireworks filled the whole fishing port, and thousands of fishing lights gradually drifted to the boundless sea.
Lantern Festival originated from the traditional custom of playing lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month, and has a history of more than 300 years. At first, fishermen in the coastal areas of Yantai Development Zone only gave lanterns to the "Sea Temple" and "Longwang Temple" on the 15th day of the first month. People worship the Sea Dragon King and the Queen of Heaven. "Tianhou" originated from the southern coast, also known as "Tian Fei", and the south is respectfully called "Mazu". Legend has it that one night hundreds of years ago, several fishing boats lost their way in the vast sea, and the wind and waves were urgent, and fishermen were in danger of being swallowed up by the waves at any time. At this moment, a fishing lamp appeared on the sea, and people sailed with it and arrived safely at Chuwang Village, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides and near the sea on one side. This day is the thirteenth day of the first lunar month. Later, the fishermen chose to set off their lights on the 13th day of the first month, hoping that the whole year would be safe and smooth. There are fish and shrimp in Man Cang.
Fishing Lantern Festival is a typical culture of fishermen in Yantai Development Zone. It is not only a ritual activity, but also has distinctive fisherman characteristics and rich cultural connotation. Now, with the support of the government, Yantai Fishing Lantern Festival, which is rich in Jiaodong marine culture, has become a grand folk culture, entertainment and festival in local fishing villages, attracting a large number of foreign tourists every year.
"When the sky meets clouds and smoke, the Milky Way wants to turn to Qian Fan dance" and "The fish lamp is red and half-baked". Beautiful hometown, a small fishing village along the coast of Yantai Development Zone, remembers the unchanging affection and charm of the old folks living by the sea and their hometown, as well as the fishing lantern festival in that hometown, a fisherman's festival.