Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is an important traditional festival in China. This day was called Shangyuan in ancient times, and its night was called Yuanye, Yuanxi or Yuanxiao. In ancient China, there was a close relationship between the calendar and the phases of the moon. On the 15th of each month, there was a full moon, which was called "looking".
The full moon symbolizes a happy reunion. On the fifteenth day of the first month, people ushered in the first full moon night of the year, which is naturally regarded as an auspicious day. According to records, as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, there was a ritual activity in the court to offer sacrifices to Taiyi God (Heaven Emperor) on the fifteenth day of the first month and pray for blessing. According to the folk tradition in China, on this bright night, people light up thousands of lanterns to celebrate.
Popular areas of Lantern Festival Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival (the custom of nine yellow river lanterns) is mainly distributed in the north of China. Among all kinds of formation structures, the "Middle Nine" formation is representative. Jiuqu Yellow River lantern custom is widely distributed in more than ten provinces and cities such as Shanxi, Hebei, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Beijing and Liaoning.
In addition to the short names of the Yellow River and the Yellow River Jiuqu, there are many common names in various places, such as stringing the Yellow River, running the Yellow River, turning to the Yellow River, turning to Jiuqu, traveling to Jiuqu, Jiuqu Club, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, Ground Lamp, Walking Bend, Laying Ground Lamp and so on.
Northern Shaanxi is often called "disturbing the old religion", Inner Mongolia is called "Jiuqu Shenghui" and "Jiuqu Lantern Festival", and southern Shanxi is called "ground lantern". There are also swastika lantern arrays (Mancheng, Hebei Province, Yongchang, Gansu Province, Shouxian County, Anhui Province) and lantern ecstasy arrays (Lixin, Anhui Province) which also belong to the customs of Jiuqu Yellow River lanterns.