Festival legend

Origin of lighting lanterns

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts, which harmed people and livestock everywhere, so people organized to beat them. A god bird fell to earth because it got lost, but was accidentally shot dead by an unsuspecting hunter.

The Emperor of Heaven was very angry when he learned about it. He immediately issued a decree, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the earth on the 15th day of the first month, and burn all human and animal property. The daughter of Emperor Tiandi was kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she risked her life and secretly drove Xiangyun to the world to tell people the news. When people heard the news, it was like a thunderclap on their heads, and they were so scared that they didn't know what to do.

It was a long time before an old man came up with an idea. He said, "On the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, every family decorated their houses, lit firecrackers and set off fireworks. In this way, the Emperor of Heaven will think that people have been burned to death. "

everyone nodded and said yes, and then they were ready to go separately. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, the Emperor looked down and found that the world was red and the noise was deafening for three consecutive nights. He thought it was the flame of a big fire, and his heart was so happy. In this way, people saved their lives and property. In order to commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks to commemorate this day on the fifteenth day of the first month.

Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty commemorates Pinglu

Legend has it that the Lantern Festival was set up by Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty to commemorate Pinglu. After the death of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, Lv Hou's son Liu Ying became Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty. Huidi was born weak and indecisive, and the power gradually fell into the hands of Lv Hou. After the death of Emperor Huidi, Lv Hou monopolized the state affairs and turned Liu's world into Lu's world. The old courtiers and Liu's imperial clan were deeply indignant, but they were all afraid of Lv Hou's cruelty and dared not speak out.

After Lv Hou's death, Zhu Lu was in a state of anxiety and was afraid of being hurt and excluded. So, in the home of the general Lv Lu, they secretly assembled and conspired for the insurrection, so as to completely seize Liu Jiangshan.

The story reached Liu Nang, the king of Qi in the imperial clan of Liu. Liu Nang decided to fight against Zhu Lv in order to protect Liu Jiangshan. Later, he got in touch with zhou bo and Chen Ping, the founding elders, and designed to dissolve Lv Lu. The "rebellion of Zhu Lv" was finally completely put down.

After the rebellion, all the officials made Liu Bang's second son Liu Heng ascend to the throne, calling him Emperor Wen of China. Wendi was deeply impressed by the hard-won peace and prosperity. Since then, the fifteenth day of the first month has become a popular folk festival-"Lantern Festival".

Another theory is that the custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist "three-yuan theory"; The 15th day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the 15th day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the 15th day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower three elements are heaven, earth and man respectively, and the heaven official is happy, so the lantern festival should be lit.

The festivals and customs activities of the Lantern Festival are extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of the festival is concerned, it was only one day in the Han Dynasty, three days in the Tang Dynasty, and five days in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the lights were lit from the eighth day of the eighth month until the night of the seventeenth day of the first month, for ten days. Connecting with the Spring Festival, the day is the city, which is very lively, and the lights are lit at night, which is spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. By the Qing Dynasty, there were more "hundred plays" such as dragon dancing, lion dancing, roller boating, walking on stilts and dancing yangko, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days.

The legend of Dong Fangshuo and Yuanxiao Girl

has something to do with the custom of eating Yuanxiao: According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a favorite named Dong Fangshuo, who was kind and funny. One winter, it snowed heavily for several days, and Dong Fangshuo went to the Imperial Garden to fold plum blossoms for Emperor Wu. As soon as I entered the garden gate, I found a maid-in-waiting in tears ready to throw herself into the well. Dong Fangshuo rushed forward to help and asked why she wanted to commit suicide. It turns out that this maid-in-waiting named Yuanxiao has parents and a younger sister at home. Since she entered the palace, she has never missed the legend of Dong Fangshuo and Yuanxiao girl to meet her family. Every year, when spring comes, she misses her family more than usual. I think it is better to die than to be filial in front of my parents. Dong Fangshuo was deeply sympathetic to what happened to her and assured her that she would try to reunite her with her family. One day, Dong Fangshuo left the palace and set up a divination booth on Chang 'an Avenue. Many people are vying to ask him for divination. Unexpectedly, what everyone wants is the signature of "the sixteenth day of the first month burns us". Suddenly, there was a great panic in Chang 'an. People are asking for solutions to the disaster. Dong Fangshuo said, "On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first month, Vulcan will send a goddess in red to visit the earth. She is the messenger who ordered the burning of Chang 'an. I will give you the transcribed poems, so that today's emperors can do something." Say that finish, then dropped a red post and roared off. The common people picked up the red post and quickly sent it to the palace to report to the emperor.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took it and saw that it said, "Chang 'an is robbing, the imperial palace is being burned by fire, and the fire is burning for fifteen days, and the midnight snack is red." He was so frightened that he quickly invited Dong Fangshuo, who was resourceful. Dong Fangshuo thought for a while, and said, "I heard that Vulcan loves to eat glutinous rice balls. Doesn't Yuanxiao in the palace often make glutinous rice balls for you? Let Yuanxiao make dumplings on 15th night. Long live the incense and offerings, and command every family in Kyoto to make dumplings and worship Vulcan together. Then tell the subjects to hang lights together on the fifteenth night, light firecrackers and set off fireworks all over the city, which seems to be a fire all over the city, so that the jade emperor can be fooled. In addition, inform the people outside the city that they will go to the city to watch the lights on the fifteenth night, and they will eliminate disasters and solve problems in the crowd. " Upon hearing this, Emperor Wu was very happy, so he sent a decree to do it according to Dong Fangshuo's way.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, Chang 'an City was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and tourists were bustling and very lively. The parents of the maid-in-waiting Yuanxiao also took their sister to the city to watch the lights. When they saw the big palace lantern with the words "Yuanxiao" written on it, they shouted in surprise: "Yuanxiao! Lantern Festival! " When Yuanxiao heard the shouts, she was finally reunited with her relatives at home.

After such a busy night, Chang 'an was really safe. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was overjoyed, so he ordered that glutinous rice balls should be made for Vulcan every fifteenth day of the first month, and the whole city would hang lights and set off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month. Because Yuanxiao makes the best dumplings, this day is called Lantern Festival.

Yuan Shikai and Yuanxiao

Legend has it that Yuan Shikai, a national thief, usurped the achievements of the Revolution of 1911, was bent on restoring his throne as emperor, but he was afraid of people's opposition, and he was always on tenterhooks. One day, he heard people selling Yuanxiao in the street screaming, "Yuan-Xiao." I think that the word "Yuanxiao" is homophonic with "Yuan Xiao", which is suspected of Yuan Shikai's extinction and associated with my own fate. So before the Lantern Festival in 1913, it was forbidden to call it "Yuanxiao" and it could only be called "Tangyuan" or "Pink Fruit". However, the word "Yuanxiao" was not cancelled because of his will, and the people did not buy his account, so it was still circulated among the people.

Lantern Festival custom

Han nationality

Decorating lanterns and decorating colors

Since the custom of decorating lanterns on Lantern Festival was formed, the fifteenth day of the first month has been regarded as a great event in all dynasties. Liang Jian Wendi once wrote a poem "Liedeng Fu": "The south oil is full, and the west paint is burning. Su Zheng rests in peace, and wax comes out of Longchuan. The oblique light is reflected, and the reflection is clear. " It depicts the grand occasion when the court decorated lanterns at the Lantern Festival. During Emperor Yangdi's reign, a grand party was held on the 15th day of the first month every year to entertain guests and envoys from all over the world. According to "Sui Shu Music Records", the Lantern Festival is very grand, with lanterns and colorful decorations everywhere, singing and dancing day and night, with more than 3, performers and more than 18, musicians. The stage is eight miles long, and countless people are playing and watching the lanterns, staying up all night, enjoying themselves and being very lively. In the Tang dynasty, it developed into an unprecedented lantern market, and after the middle Tang dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival. During the prosperous time of Kaiyuan in Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 5, lanterns and various lanterns. The emperor ordered people to make 2 giant lantern buildings, which were 15 feet high and glittering and spectacular. In the Tang Dynasty, a curfew was imposed, and it was forbidden to travel when the drums were banned at night, and people who committed crimes at night were punished. Only on the Shangyuan Festival, the emperor granted a three-day ban, which was called "letting the night go". Along the Song Dynasty, lanterns were extended from three nights to five nights, fireworks were set off in addition to lanterns, and various juggling performances were performed, making the scene more lively. It is recorded in "Dream of Tokyo" that during the Lantern Festival, on the Imperial Street in Kaifeng, 1, lanterns are built into a lantern mountain, and the lanterns are fireworks, which are resplendent and splendid. Girls in Kyoto are singing and dancing, and people are watching. "Visitors gather under the two colonnades of the Imperial Street, with marvelous skills, singing and dancing, tangency of scales, and noisy music for more than ten miles." In the streets and lanes, the lights and candles of tea houses and wine shops are all burning, gongs and drums are ringing, firecrackers are ringing, and hundreds of miles of lights are on

People all over the country celebrate the Lantern Festival

In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Jinling, in order to make the capital prosperous, it was stipulated that the lights would be on the eighth day of the first month, and the lights would be off for 17 days, and every household would hang colorful lights, which depicted various figures, dancing and birds. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day.

solve riddles on the lanterns riddles

"solve riddles on the lanterns", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival. The riddles first developed from riddles and originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is a literary game full of ridicule, discipline, humor and banter. The riddle hung on the lamp for people to guess and shoot, which began in the Southern Song Dynasty. "Old Things in Wulin: Lamps" records: "When writing poems with silk lanterns, people laugh at them, and draw characters, hide their heads and slang words, and tease pedestrians. "On the Lantern Festival, the emperor city stays up all night, and spring night enjoys the lantern festival. The people are mixed. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected in candles, and listed in the thoroughfare, so people can guess, so they are called" lantern riddles ". Nowadays, every Lantern Festival, riddles are played everywhere. I hope this year will be jubilant and safe. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of spreading.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, various acrobatic skills began to appear in the lantern market. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, besides riddles and hundreds of operas, there were also opera performances.

In addition to visiting the Lantern Festival, people in the past dynasties also had customs such as welcoming Zigu to offer sacrifices to Ce Shen, crossing the bridge and touching nails to walk away from all diseases, and played games such as beating Taiping drum, yangko, stilts, dragon dance and lion dance.

In traditional society, Lantern Festival is a folk festival that urban and rural areas attach great importance to, especially in the city, where the noise of Lantern Festival is particularly warm, which embodies the unique carnival spirit of China people. The function of festival custom carried by traditional Lantern Festival has been dispelled by daily life, and people have gradually lost their spiritual interest. The complex festival custom has been simplified to the food custom of "eating Lantern Festival".

dragon lantern

playing dragon lantern, also known as dragon lantern or dragon dance. Its origin can be traced back to ancient times. Legend has it that as early as the Yellow Emperor's period, in a large-scale song and dance of Qing Jiao, there was an image of a leading bird played by a man, and then a dance scene with six dragons interspersed with each other was arranged. The dragon dance recorded in writing is Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" in the Han Dynasty. The author vividly describes the dragon dance in the description of hundreds of plays. According to the Records of Sui Shu Music, Huanglongbian, which was similar to the dragon dance performance in one hundred plays during Emperor Yangdi's reign, was also very wonderful, and dragon dance was popular in many places in China. The Chinese nation advocates dragons and regards them as auspicious symbols.

Walking on stilts

Walking on stilts is a popular folk mass performance. Stilts, originally one of the hundreds of ancient dramas in China, appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. China first introduced stilts in Liezi Shuofu: "In Song Dynasty, there were lanzi, who used their skills to dry Song and Yuan Dynasties. Song and Yuan Dynasties summoned them to see their skills.

lion dance is a traditional folk program-lion dance

lion dance is an excellent folk art in China. Every Lantern Festival or assembly celebration, people always come to entertain with lion dance. This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms period and became popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It has a history of more than 1 years.

"Lion Dance" began in Wei and Jin Dynasties and flourished in Tang Dynasty. It is also called "Lion Dance" and "Taiping Music". Generally, it is completed by three people, two of whom dress up as lions, one acts as the lion's head, one acts as the lion's body and hind feet, and the other acts as a lion leader. The dance method is also divided into civil and military. The literary dance shows the gentleness of the lion, with actions such as shaking hair and rolling, while the martial lion shows it.

boating on a dry boat

boating on a dry boat is a folk legend to commemorate Dayu who made great contributions to water control. Rowing a dry boat, also known as running a dry boat, is to imitate the boat on land, and most of the performers are girls. A dry boat is not a real boat. It is made of two thin sheets, sawed into a boat shape, tied with bamboo and wood, covered with colored cloth, tied around the girl's waist, just like sitting in a boat, rowing with paddles in hand, singing and dancing while running. This is a dry boat. Sometimes, another man dressed as a boatman and performing with a partner, mostly dressed as a clown, amused the audience with all kinds of funny actions. Dry boating is popular in many areas of China.

Eating Yuanxiao

"Yuanxiao" as food has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel food for the Lantern Festival was popular among the people. This kind of food was first called "Floating Yuanzi" and later called "Yuanxiao", and businessmen also called it "Yuanbao". In ancient times, the price of "Yuanxiao" was relatively expensive, and a poem said: "Guests look at the Imperial Street with a hook curtain, and the treasures in the city come at one time. There is no way to go in front of the curtain, and no money can be returned. " On the fifteenth day of the first month, Yuanxiao, or "Tangyuan", is filled with white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernels, nuts, jujube paste, etc., and wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape, which can be vegetarian and has different flavors. It can be boiled in soup, fried and steamed, which means a happy reunion. Shaanxi dumplings are not wrapped, but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour, or boiled or fried, hot and round. [2]

sacrifice gate and sacrifice household

There were "seven sacrifices" in ancient times, which were two of them. The method of sacrifice is to insert poplar branches above the door, insert a pair of chopsticks in a bowl filled with bean porridge, or put wine and meat directly in front of the door.

Rat-by-rat

This activity is mainly for sericulture families. Because mice often eat silkworms in large areas at night, it is said that mice can stop eating silkworms by feeding them rice porridge on the fifteenth day of the first month. As a result, these people cooked a large pot of sticky porridge on the fifteenth day of the first month, and some of them covered it with a layer of meat. They put the porridge in a bowl and put it in the ceiling, corner and mouth where mice were infested, cursing the mice that they would not die a natural death if they ate silkworm babies again.

The Chronicle of the Age of Jingchu says that on the fifteenth day of the first month, a fairy descended to a family named Chen and said to them, If you can sacrifice to me, your silkworms will have a bumper harvest this year. Later, customs were formed.

Sending lanterns to children

Short for "sending lanterns", it is also called "sending lanterns" and so on, that is, before the Lantern Festival, the bride's family sends lanterns to her newly-married daughter's home, or ordinary relatives and friends give them to her newly-married infertile home, in order to add good luck, because "lamp" is homophonic with "Ding". This custom is found in many places. In Xi 'an, Shaanxi Province, lanterns are given during the eighth to fifteenth day of the first month. In the first year, a pair of palace lanterns and a pair of glass lamps with colorful paintings are given. I hope that my daughter will be lucky and have children early after marriage. If the daughter is pregnant, in addition to the big palace lantern, one or two pairs of small lanterns should be sent to wish her a safe pregnancy.

Ying Zi Gu

Zi Gu is also called Qi Gu, and in the north, it is called toilet Gu and Hang San Gu. The ancient folk custom is to offer sacrifices to Ce Shen Zigu on the 15th day of the first month, and to divine silkworm and mulberry, which accounts for many things. Legend has it that Zigu was originally a concubine and was envied by the eldest woman. She was killed in the toilet on the fifteenth day of the first month and became Ce Shen. Every Lantern Festival to welcome Zigu, "walk away from all diseases" and seek well-being < P > days.