Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, and it is said that it was set in memory of Pinglu when Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty was in power. After the death of Liu Ying, Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, Lv Hou usurped power, and the Lushi clan dominated the state affairs. After Lv Hou's death, zhou bo, Chen Ping and others eliminated Lv Hou's influence and established Liu Heng as the Chinese Emperor. Because the day to quell Zhu Lu was the fifteenth day of the first month, after that, every year on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, Emperor Wendi went out of the palace incognito and enjoyed himself with the people as a souvenir. And the fifteenth day of the first month is designated as the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were held on the 15th day of the first month. Sima Qian listed the Lantern Festival as a major festival in "taichu calendar".
There is a folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on the Lantern Festival in our country. According to folk legend, Yuanxiao originated from King Zhao of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first month, King Zhao of Chu passed the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweet food with white outside and red inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius, who said, "This duckweed fruit is also a sign of the revival of the Lord." Yuanxiao, like rice cakes in the Spring Festival and zongzi in the Dragon Boat Festival, is a holiday food. Eating Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion like a full moon, and places people's good wishes for future life. Yuanxiao is called "Tangyuan", "Yuanzi", "Floating Yuanzi" and "Shuiyuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, solid or stuffed. Stuffing includes bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, etc., which can be boiled, fried, steamed and fried.
The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist "Sanyuan Theory". The 15th day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the 15th day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the 15th day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are "heaven", "earth" and "man" respectively, and the heaven official is happy, so the lantern festival should be lit. Burning lanterns and setting fire to the Lantern Festival has been a custom since the Han Dynasty, and it was paid more attention to in the Tang Dynasty. Burning lanterns on the Lantern Festival has become a custom. Lu Zhaolin, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, once described the grand occasion of lighting lanterns in the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying, "After the stars fall in the Han Dynasty, the building seems to hang like the moon." The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival has been passed down from generation to generation, and there are more and more kinds of lanterns, including mirror lanterns, phoenix lanterns, glazed lanterns and so on. In addition to burning lanterns, fireworks are also set off during the Lantern Festival.
"solve riddles on the lanterns", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the capital Lin 'an made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people guessing riddles. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and pasted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of spreading.
In addition to celebrating the Lantern Festival, there are also religious activities. That is, most of the participants in "walking all kinds of diseases", also known as "baking all kinds of diseases" and "spreading all kinds of diseases" are women. They walk together or walk by the wall, or cross the bridge and walk through the suburbs, with the aim of driving away diseases and eliminating disasters.
With the passage of time, there are more and more activities in the Lantern Festival. In many places, activities such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums have been added during festivals.