1, solve riddles on the lanterns
Besides lanterns, the most popular activity of the Lantern Festival is solve riddles on the lanterns. Lantern riddle is to stick a riddle on a lamp so that people can enjoy the lamp and guess the riddle at the same time.
The answer focuses on the meaning of words, such as a word, a poem, an object or a name. Because riddles are difficult to guess, just like tigers are difficult to be shot, they are also called lamp tigers (also called wenhu).
Lantern riddle is an original folk art in China. It was made of hidden sentences from the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was called a riddle only in the Han and Wei Dynasties (Dong Fangshuo was good at argot when Emperor Wu was in the Han Dynasty, and once told argot with Guo Sheren, a favorite of Emperor Wu, before Emperor Wu, which won the trust of Emperor Wu).
It was only after the Southern Song Dynasty that people wrote riddles on lanterns. On the Lantern Festival, people guessed spring riddles, and some people quoted the so-called shooting method of riddles, which was called shooting riddles. Since then, lantern riddles have been held all over the country every Lantern Festival.
2. Send lanterns
Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival, and the lanterns are homophonic with the lanterns. Therefore, the greeting lanterns have the meaning of begging for children to add more flowers. The Chinese New Year ballads include: fourteen lanterns, fifteen lanterns and sixteen lanterns, which shows that the greeting lanterns have become an indispensable activity of the Lantern Festival.
After the Tang Dynasty, lanterns were not only varied and ever-changing, but also became popular activities. Song Dynasty is the heyday of lanterns, which are like glass balls, but also made of five-color wax paper, bodhi leaves, sheepskin, tortoiseshell and so on. They are magnificent and exquisite.
3. Eat Yuanxiao
Eating Yuanxiao is an important festival custom of Lantern Festival. It became fashionable to eat Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month in Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the ninth day of the Ming Dynasty, the capital city began to eat Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice powder, round and filled with walnut kernel, sesame or osmanthus sugar. Jiangnan is called "Tangtuan". Suzhou people call it Mariko, and Hangzhou people call it "the lantern mariko". After offering sacrifices to ancestors, family members and fellow villagers enjoy the dumplings together to get the meaning of reunion. In contemporary China, it is fashionable to eat Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, regardless of the north or south. The bright moon in the sky and the Lantern Festival in the bowl symbolize reunion and good luck. Eating Yuanxiao expresses people's enjoyment of family reunion.
In many places, "shaking Yuanxiao" is popular in the streets. The stuffing is shaken on the dry powder in the big basket, glued with powder, sprinkled with water, shaken again, rolled bigger and bigger, and finally formed. The process of shaking the Lantern Festival is also a process of folk custom display, which adds a festive atmosphere to the Lantern Festival.
4. Dragon dance
As early as the Han Dynasty (205 BC-AD 2 19), there were miscellaneous notes that recorded such a spectacular scene: in order to pray for rain, people wore colorful clothes and danced with colorful dragons. Gradually, dancing "dragon" has become a necessary form for people to express their good wishes and pray for a happy birthday, especially in festive festivals, people dance "dragon" with their hands and vent their cheerful emotions.
Dragon dance, also known as playing dragon lantern and dragon lantern dance, has a history of more than two thousand years. We in China have been advocating dragons since ancient times and regard them as auspicious symbols. In the eyes of the ancients, dragons have the ability to call the wind and call the rain, which is of great significance to the good weather, production and life, so the festival custom of dancing dragons in the Lantern Festival has gradually formed.
5, lion dance
Lion dance is needed in Lantern Festival because lion dance is an excellent folk art in China. Whenever the 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 Northern and Southern Dynasties. It has a history of more than 1000 years. At the same time, the lion dance on the Lantern Festival also implies festive meaning.
6, walking away from all diseases
"Walking through all diseases", also known as swimming through all diseases, dispersing all diseases, baking all diseases, walking across the bridge, etc., is an activity to eliminate disasters and pray for health. On the night of Lantern Festival, women meet and travel together, and when they see a bridge, they must cross it, thinking that this can cure diseases and prolong life. Walking away from all diseases is a custom in the north since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some of which are carried out on the 15th, but most of them are carried out on the 16th. On this day, women dressed in festive costumes went out of their homes in droves, crossed the bridge to cross the danger, went to the city, and begged for children until midnight.
7. Ying Zigu
Zigu is also called Qigu, and in the north, it is called toilet aunt and pit aunt. 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. On the night of greeting Zigu, people tie up a portrait of Zigu with straw and cloth heads, and greet it with a pigsty in the toilet at night. This custom is popular all over the north and south, and it was recorded as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
In a word, China has a vast territory and a long history, so the customs of Lantern Festival are different all over the country, among which eating Lantern Festival, enjoying lanterns, dancing dragons and lions are several important folk customs. Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, so it is celebrated all over the country. The customs in most areas are similar, but each area still has its own characteristics.