When is the Lantern Festival? What's the date of Lunar New Year every year?

When is the Lantern Festival? What's the date of Lunar New Year every year?

Every year, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival.

What is the Lantern Festival?

Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is a traditional festival in China. Also known as Shangyuan Festival, Lantern Festival and Lantern Festival.

Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is an important traditional festival in China. This day was called Shangyuan in ancient times, and its night was called Yuanye, Yuanxi or Yuanxiao. In ancient China, there was a close relationship between the calendar and the moon phases. There is a full moon on 15 every month, which is called "full moon". The full moon symbolizes a happy reunion. On the fifteenth day of the first month, people ushered in the first full moon night of the year, which is naturally regarded as an auspicious day. According to historical records? According to Le Shu, as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, there were ceremonies in the court to offer sacrifices to Taiyi God on the 15th day of the first month and pray for blessing. According to the folk tradition in China, on this bright night, people light thousands of lanterns to celebrate.

Playing lanterns, going out to enjoy the moon, burning lamps and setting fires, enjoying riddles, having Lantern Festival, family reunion and celebrating the festival are all very enjoyable.

Lantern Festival is the first full moon night of the Lunar New Year, symbolizing the arrival of spring. People eat Yuanxiao and enjoy lanterns, and solve riddles on the lanterns comes to express their congratulations.

The origin and origin of Lantern Festival

The formation of Lantern Festival custom has a long process. According to historical data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sacrificed "Taiyi" (Taiyi: the God who rules everything in the world) in Ganquan Palace on the first night of the first month, which was regarded by later generations as the forerunner of offering sacrifices to the gods on the fifteenth day of the first month.

The fifteenth day of the first month is really a folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties. The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty is of great significance to the formation of Lantern Festival customs.

During the Yong Ping period of Han Dynasty (58- 175 AD), because Ming Taizu advocated Buddhism, it coincided with Cai Cheng's return from India to seek Buddhism, saying that on the 15th day of the first month of Mohato, India, monks gathered to pay tribute to the relics, which was an auspicious day to participate in Buddhism. In order to carry forward Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in the palace temple on the 15th night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth night of the first month, with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture, gradually spread in China.

There is also a saying that the Lantern Festival originated from the Torch Festival. In the Han dynasty, people held torches in rural fields to drive away insects and wild animals, hoping to reduce pests and pray for a bumper harvest. Since the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, it has been in full swing. To this day, people in some areas in southwest China still use reeds or branches as torches on the 15th day of the first month, and hold high in groups to dance in fields or grain drying fields.

Another way of saying it is that the custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originates from Taoism's "ternary theory": the fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man respectively. The celestial officials are happy and the Lantern Festival should be lit.

As far as the length of festivals is concerned, the Han Dynasty is one day, the Tang Dynasty is three days and the Song Dynasty is five days. In the Ming dynasty, the lantern festival lasted for ten days from the eighth day to the evening of the seventeenth day of the first month. Connected with the Spring Festival, it is a city during the day, full of excitement, and brightly lit at night, which is spectacular. In the Qing Dynasty, there were more "hundred operas" such as dragon dancing, lion dancing, dry boating, walking on stilts and yangko dancing, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days.

What are the customs of Lantern Festival?

eat yuanxiao

Eating Yuanxiao is one of the most representative customs, and Yuanxiao with various fillings is a highlight of every Lantern Festival. In ancient times, Lantern Festival was relatively simple. Now, Yuanxiao has everything from bean paste stuffing, sesame stuffing, nut stuffing to sweet and salty stuffing. The cooking method is no longer a single water boiling, but can be fried, fried and so on. Eating Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion and is also a beautiful expectation for the Lunar New Year.

Solve riddles; solve lantern riddles; guess riddles on hanging lanterns

Solving riddles on lanterns, as we mentioned, has been handed down since ancient times. On the Lantern Festival, the main streets in many areas will be lit with lanterns and hung with prepared riddles for everyone to guess. Various riddles correspond to various prizes. You will be twice as happy if you guess right, and you will be happy for a while if you guess wrong.

Watch the lantern show

The night of Lantern Festival is gorgeous and lively. On the fifteenth day of the first month, it is an essential link to watch the lantern show with lanterns, which has been spread from the Western Han Dynasty to the present. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the streets and alleys will be full of lanterns, and lanterns of various shapes and colors will be decorated all day. There are animals that children like, and palace lanterns that adults marvel at.

lion dance

As a traditional art of our Chinese nation, lion dance can be seen in many festivals, and the Lantern Festival is no exception. Since the Tang Dynasty, the unique skills of lion dance have continued to this day. The two men hid in the lion costume and used their hands and feet to give people one wonderful performance after another.