The so-called lanterns are a custom in my hometown. On the tenth day of the first month of the second year after the boy was born, the family will hold a "lantern-playing" ceremony for him, praying for the boy's happiness all his life. At the same time, it also means that this family will add more fragrance and there will be successors. Boys born before the tenth day of the first month will not hang the lights until the tenth day of the first month of the following year. This is the so-called "putting old lights away". Lighting lamps is a traditional custom in my hometown with a long history. Even during the Cultural Revolution, thousands of third-level cadres and militia were deployed, which could not stop them! It seems that neither administrative orders nor violence can stop the customs that have lasted for thousands of years. This is a landscape, a great spectacle!
Around the Lantern Festival on the tenth day of the first month, there will be three wonders in the city here:
The first miracle is that there are lanterns all over the street before the Lantern Festival. This is what people have to buy when the lights are on. It used to be handmade paper with lanterns and riddles on it, which is very distinctive. There are very few handicrafts now, and they are all ready-made goods. Generally, you should buy at least two lamps: one in the hall and the other in the temple you belong to in the country. Each lamp should be wrapped with two pebbles, indicating the possibility of carrying on the family line.
The second miracle is that children's clothes are on the market before the holiday. This is for people who drink. On the Lantern Festival, people will invite all relatives and friends to drink. People who drink usually buy gifts for boys, mostly clothes. Of course, there will be other things suitable for boys, such as strollers and toys, so this spectacle has appeared.
The third miracle is national drinking, and its scale and scope are probably unique in China. Everyone will have aunts, aunts, uncles, uncles, that is, many relatives and friends will go drinking, which has become a national drinking! This spectacle is rare in the country, unique! On this day, many shops are closed, and most government agencies and units are "empty plans" except for people on duty. People's greetings are also related to turning on the lights and drinking. City people go to restaurants to eat, and rural people go to villages to drink. The streets have become sparsely populated, and the roads are full of pedestrians who are eager to drink. Some people can't cope with the whole family going out to drink, but they have to "catch up" in a hurry-drink several places a day! All the hotels in the city booked wine tables a month ago, and they were all full. At least a dozen tables, more than a hundred tables. Some hotels have four rounds, with tables at 9: 00 am, 12: 00 pm, 3: 00 pm and 6: 00 pm. This day is the national "drinking day". It is busy with the host family and Hakkas, and hotels and restaurants are even busier! I don't know if there is such a large-scale drinking in other places, and if there is a national "drinking day" like this at home and abroad, you can apply for Guinness World Records! Have you ever heard of hundreds of thousands of people drinking on the same day?
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, lanterns are lit. After midnight on the ninth day, firecrackers exploded one after another. On the tenth day, the whole person almost binged drinking! People walking on the road are all rushing to drink. You will see people drinking in small groups with gifts. When people meet, the greeting becomes "Where are you going to drink?" "Have you been drinking?" There are few shops and pedestrians on the street, and most of the units are empty, because everyone is busy drinking! Some people may go to several places to drink in a day. On the sixteenth day of the first month, the "falling lamp" was another swig. If you don't come to drink when you turn on the light for other reasons (for example, you can't cope with the rush hour), you should make up when you turn off the light. This "Lantern Festival", the rumbling firecrackers kept coming and going, resounding through every village and alarming everyone. Relatively speaking, the scale of "turning off the lights" is smaller than "turning on the lights". If "lighting" is the "opening ceremony", "turning off the lights" is the "closing ceremony". No one has counted how much the city will spend on the Lantern Festival. My conservative estimate should be in billions. This "Lantern Festival" has formed a unique "lantern culture".
And if the baby is a girl, there will be no "lights" and no wine.
The ceremony of "lighting a lamp" is the same as the wedding ceremony in the countryside. Grand ceremony, big scene, consuming manpower and material resources, serious waste; It is held only for boys, which is contrary to the concept of equality between men and women advocated by the times and contains strong feudal thoughts; The lighting ceremony was held in the middle of the night.