Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Xiaoyuanyian, Yuanxi 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" "night". The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, so it is called "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "Sanyuan", the fifteenth day of the first month is also called "Shangyuan Festival", and the Lantern Festival custom has been dominated by warm and festive lantern watching customs since ancient times.
The formation of Lantern Festival has a long process, which is rooted in the folk custom of turning on lights to pray for blessings. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month has been paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month really became a national folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties. The rise of the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month is also related to the spread of Buddhism to the east. In the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism flourished, and officials and ordinary people generally "burned lanterns for the Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, so Buddhist lanterns were spread all over the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has become a legal thing to light lanterns on Lantern Festival.
Festival and custom
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 until the night of the seventeenth day of the first month. It is the longest Lantern Festival in China history, which is connected with the Spring Festival. Daytime is the city, it is very lively, and burning lights at night 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. In ancient China, Lantern Festival was a romantic festival. Women who stay indoors on weekdays can go out to enjoy the lanterns on this day, which also provides opportunities for young men and women to meet. It can be seen that the Lantern Festival has created a good opportunity for people to express their feelings, and it is also the "Valentine's Day" in ancient China.
Reference to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Lantern Festival