Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival, falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year.

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ancients called "night". The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, so it is called "Lantern Festival". Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. In addition, Youlong Lantern Festival, lion dance, stilt walking and other traditional folk performances have been added in many places. In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

Origin origin

The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty also played an important role in promoting the formation of Lantern Festival customs. During the Yongping period of Emperor Hanming, in order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Hanming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in palaces and temples on the fifteenth night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the 15th night of the first month was gradually spread in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture. During the Tang Dynasty, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries became closer, Buddhism flourished, and officials and ordinary people generally "burned lanterns to worship Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, so Buddha lanterns spread all over the people. It has been legal to set off lanterns on the Lantern Festival since the Tang Dynasty.

Festival period

The festivals and customs of Lantern Festival have been extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of festivals is concerned, there is only one day in Han Dynasty, three days in Tang Dynasty and five days in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, lights were lit from the eighth day until the seventeenth night of the first month. It is the longest Lantern Festival in the history of China, which is connected with the Spring Festival. This day is a city. Very lively and spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, there were more "hundred operas" such as dragon dancing, lion dancing, dry boating, walking on stilts and yangko dancing, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days.

Denglong accommodation

People should set up a "heaven and earth hall" when offering sacrifices to God on New Year's Eve. People set up a small shed in the yard, and on a small table in the shed stood the throne of God, "Heaven and Earth are truly slaughtered for ten times"; There are incense burners and offerings in front of the shrine, and a lantern is hung to represent Jiang Taigong's seat. In ancient times, in order to dispel the fear of darkness, lanterns were derived with 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.

eat yuanxiao

Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, as a kind of food, has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao". Shaanxi jiaozi is not wrapped, but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour, or boiled or fried, warm and round. In ancient times, "Yuanxiao" was more expensive, and a poem said: "Guests look at the Imperial Street with a hook curtain, and the treasures in the city come for a while. There is no way to go before the curtain, and the money can't be returned. "

the Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is a traditional festival custom, which began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, lantern style prevailed in all previous dynasties and spread to future generations. The fifteenth day of the first month is the climax of the annual lantern fireworks. Therefore, the Lantern Festival is also called "Lantern Festival". In Shanxi's county-level city walls and even towns and villages, these residents are concentrated in busy and lively areas. Before the fifteenth day of the first month, the streets were covered with lanterns, flowers were everywhere and lights were swaying, which reached its climax on the fifteenth night of the first month.

Solve riddles; solve lantern riddles; guess riddles on hanging lanterns

Solve riddles on the lanterns, also known as playing riddles, is a unique form of traditional folk entertainment with rich national style in China.

Lantern Festival, a special activity that has been spread for generations. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, traditional folks hang lanterns and set off fireworks. Later, some busybodies wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because solve riddles on the lanterns can enlighten wisdom and cater to the festive atmosphere, many people responded. Later, solve riddles on the lanterns gradually became an indispensable program for the Lantern Festival. Lantern riddles add to the festive atmosphere, showing the intelligence and wisdom of ancient working people and their yearning for a better life.

Holiday proverb

August 15, Yun Zheyue, the fifteenth day of the first month, it snows and lights up.

Rain plays lanterns and clouds cover the autumn moon.

August 15, Yun Zheyue, it rained and lit up the Lantern Festival next year.

The moon is bright and beautiful, and the lights are bright.

Dissolved moonlight connects the lantern market, and misty spring scenery permeates the night city.

I traveled in the spring on the sixteenth day of the first month, and I didn't get sick all year round.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, it is booming.

Lantern Festival, away from all diseases.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, it snows and lights up, and it rains in succession during the Qingming Festival.

Steal onions and marry good Weng; Steal vegetables and marry a good husband

Poetry accumulation

Watch the lights for fifteen nights

Don Lu Zhao Lin

A fragrant banquet was held in Jinli, the early year of Lan Hongyan.

The color is far, and the light is far.

After the fall of China people's suspected star, the building was like a hanging moon.

Don't laugh so much, come and show off the nine branches.

Light on the fifteenth night of the first month.

moustache

Thousands of doors are locked and brightly lit. In the middle of January, it moved to Beijing.

Three hundred wives danced in sleeves and wrote the sky in an instant.