Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Xiaoyuanyian Festival, Yuanxi Festival or Lantern Festival, is one of the traditional festivals in China, which 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 saying of "Sanyuan", the fifteenth day of the first month is also called "Shangyuan Festival". The custom of Lantern Festival has been based on the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns since ancient times.
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 of the eighth month until the night of the seventeenth month of the first month. When it was connected with the Spring Festival, the day was the city, which was very lively and 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.