First, the lantern
This festival is also called Lantern Festival because of the folk custom of hanging lanterns, lighting lanterns and watching lanterns. Before the fifteenth day of the first month, lanterns were hung all over the street, flowers were everywhere, and lights were swaying, reaching a climax on the fifteenth night of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the first month, "watching lanterns" has become a spontaneous activity of Shanxi folk people. On the fifteenth night of the first month, red lights are hung high in the streets and lanes, with palace lanterns, animal headlights, lantern lanterns, flower lanterns, bird lanterns and so on, attracting people to watch lanterns.
Second, solve riddles on the lanterns
Solve riddles on the lanterns, also known as playing riddles, is a unique form of Han folk cultural activities with rich national style in China, and it has been a characteristic activity of Lantern Festival since ancient times. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Han people hang lanterns and set off fireworks. Later, some busybodies wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles can enlighten wisdom and cater to the festive atmosphere, so many people responded, and then guessing riddles gradually became an indispensable program of the Lantern Festival. Lantern riddles add to the festive atmosphere, showing the intelligence and wisdom of the ancient Han working people and their yearning for a better life.
Third, the lion dance
Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China. Every 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 Southern and Northern Dynasties. It has a history of more than 1000 years.
Fourth, rowing a dry boat
Rowing a dry boat, folklore is to commemorate Dayu who has made great contributions to water control. Rowing a dry boat, also known as running a dry boat, is to imitate the boat on land, and most of the performers are girls. A dry boat is not a real boat. It is made of two thin sheets, sawed into a boat shape, tied with bamboo and wood, covered with colored cloth, tied around the girl's waist, just like sitting in a boat, rowing with paddles in hand, singing and dancing while running. This is a dry boat. Sometimes, another man dressed as a boatman and performing with a partner, mostly dressed as a clown, amused the audience with all kinds of funny actions. Dry boating is popular in many areas of China.
Five, walking on stilts
Walking on stilts is a popular folk mass performance.
Six, playing with dragon lanterns
Playing dragon lantern, also known as dragon lantern or dragon dance. Its origin can be traced back to ancient times.
Seven, 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.