Lantern 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 there are many people watching lanterns in spring night. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected in candles and listed in the thoroughfare, which makes people guess, so it is called "lantern riddle". Guessing became a lantern riddle, and there is an interesting story. According to legend, a long time ago, there was a rich man called a smiling tiger. When he met a well-dressed man, he tried to curry favor with him; Seeing the poor man in rags, he blew his beard and stared. There was a young man named Wang Shao, who was once thrown out of the gate when he went to borrow food because of his ragged clothes. Wang Shao became more and more angry when he went back. On the night of Lantern Festival, I tied a big lantern and came to the front of the smiling tiger's house. There is a poem inscribed on this big lantern. A smiling tiger came forward to watch and saw that it read:
The head is pointed and the body is as white as silver, and the Lantern Festival riddles.
It is said that there is no half a cent;
Eyes up to the ass,
Just recognize clothes, not people.
After reading it, the smiling tiger blushed with anger and flew into a rage, shouting, "Good boy, how dare you come and scold your master." Then he ordered the servant to grab the lantern. Wang Shao quickly provoked the lantern and said with a smile, "Hey, master, don't be suspicious. My four poems are a mystery, and the answer is' needle'. Think about it. How is this' needle' for you? "Did the' needle' tell you? How else would you know it was you?" A smiling tiger thought, yes, so he just stared angrily and left, and everyone around him laughed happily. After this story spread, it spread further and further. In the second year of Lantern Festival, people followed suit and wrote riddles on lanterns for people to guess and shoot for fun. So it's called "lantern riddle". Since then, solve riddles on the lanterns and the Lantern Festival have become important activities. There are several chapters in A Dream of Red Mansions that describe the Qing Dynasty's solve riddles on the lanterns. The lantern riddle activity has been passed down to this day. The riddle of Spring Lantern, though it belongs to the art and literature trail, covers everything from astronomy to geography, classics and history, and modern knowledge. It is not easy to guess unless you have a certain cultural accomplishment. And its mystery is enough to express one's feelings, exercise one's thinking and inspire one's spirit. It is an educational entertainment.