During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Kyoto lantern market often stretched for dozens of miles. The time of the Lantern Festival was limited to the eleventh night of the first month in the Han Dynasty, extended to three nights in the Tang Xuanzong, and lasted from the eighth day of the first month to the seventeenth day of the first month in the Ming Dynasty. Acrobatics appeared in the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty, and lantern riddles began to appear in the Song Dynasty.
Opera performances were added in the Ming Dynasty. The colored lanterns used in the lantern market are also interpreted in various forms, such as "orange lantern", "silk lantern", "multicolored sheepskin lantern", "boneless wheat straw lantern", "lantern" and "Kongming lantern".
The lantern festival lanterns mean:
People should set up a "Heaven and Earth Hall" when offering sacrifices to God on New Year's Eve. People put up a small shed in the yard, and a small table in the shed stands the god's throne of "ten worlds of heaven and earth are really slaughtered"; There are incense burners and offerings in front of the shrine, and a lantern is hung, which represents Jiang Taigong's seat. It is said that when Jiang Taigong was a deity, everyone else was sealed, but he forgot to seal himself, so he had no seat and had to sit with God.
Lanterns are related to gods, so they are also endowed with many symbolic meanings. In ancient times, in order to drive away the fear of darkness, lanterns were derived to have the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and praying for light. In Minnan dialect, the pronunciation of "Deng" is similar to that of "Ding", so lanterns are also used to pray for children to add Ding, seek fame, and avoid evil spirits.