What is the significance of Lantern Festival?

What is the significance of Lantern Festival?

What is the significance of Lantern Festival? Lantern Festival is one of the most important festivals in China. As the saying goes, the fifteenth day of the first month will push the Lantern Festival to another climax. Understand the significance of the Lantern Festival.

What is the significance of Lantern Festival? 1 Different from other traditional festivals, it emphasizes "family reunion" and Lantern Festival emphasizes "celebrating the whole world". Lantern Festival is regarded as the last climax of the Spring Festival, because after this day, people really enter the new year's production and life, so people all over the country celebrate the Lantern Festival and pray for God to bless the good weather and good harvests in the coming year, which also expresses people's good expectations for the new year. Because of this, China has the folk custom of "Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month".

This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is not only popular in the north and south of the river, but also celebrated every year in areas where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities. During the Lantern Festival, people will go out of their homes and pour into the streets. In addition to lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns, there are dragon dances, lion dances, walking on stilts, boating and beating Zhoushan gongs and drums ... Among them, many customs and activities are national intangible cultural heritage. Go out to enjoy the moon, light lamps and set fires, enjoy riddles, eat Yuanxiao, and celebrate festivals together, so that the masses can participate and enjoy the aesthetic memories left by these intangible cultural heritages.

In fact, the Lantern Festival is not an isolated festival, it is a part of the Spring Festival. To understand the significance of Lantern Festival, we have to put it in the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival, from the closing of New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival, is a process in which people constantly expand their activities and interpersonal relationships. Pay New Year greetings to parents on the first day and the next day. In the future, we will gradually expand the scope of New Year greetings to ordinary relatives and friends. During this period, people's activities are limited to acquaintances. The fifth day is the fifth day, so farm work can start and shops can open. During this period, society began to function normally. On the fifteenth day of the first month, all members of society, regardless of sex, age, and age, joined in the festival activities. Therefore, the Lantern Festival has the significance of confirming the relationship between all members of society (including people who don't know each other).

Lantern Festival is a real "carnival" of the whole society, and ancient women who are usually confined at home are free to go out and play. Of course, there are also some polite people who oppose this custom, such as Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty. At midnight snack, his wife was dressed up and ready to go out and enjoy the lights. Sima Guang asked, "Why do you have to look out when you light a lamp at home?" The lady replied, "I want to see tourists, too." Sima Guang said: "Is anyone (me) a ghost? ! "This is unreasonable. You can't let your wife watch him all year round, can you? Fortunately, society doesn't buy these proprietress's accounts, and most women still play. Lantern Festival allows people to have free entertainment, which is an export designed by ancient society for the overly strict etiquette system. Some young people took this opportunity to meet the right person. Just as Xin Qiji said: "The crowd looked for him for thousands of Baidu, and suddenly looking back, the man was in the dim light."

The main activity of Lantern Festival is mass entertainment, but its social and cultural significance is not just entertainment.

There are many religious activities on the fifteenth day of the first month, so pray for the blessing of the gods. Ancient people offered sacrifices to Taiyi (Taiyi) God, because he was the highest God and was in charge of human destiny. Sacrifice to him, you can get a bumper harvest and peace. The ancients offered sacrifices to the land gods to bless the harvest of silkworms.

Lantern Festival is also a festival for finding children. In Song Dynasty, Chen's Book of the Year, Volume 12, Stealing Lights, explained why people stole lights at the Lantern Festival at that time and said, "A cloud, whoever steals lights, is a good omen for men." The homonym of "light" here is "Ding", which is male. In this way, stealing a lamp symbolizes giving birth to a son. In the same way, watching lanterns also means looking for children. Therefore, it is reasonable for ancient women to go out to watch lights for this reason. Until the Republic of China, it was customary to send lanterns to childless families everywhere, hoping that they would have more children. There were activities of touching doornails in Qing Dynasty. Nail, also homophonic "Ding". People hope to have a son by touching the doornail. People in some areas also give jiaozi a symbolic meaning.

Of course, in today's huge population pressure, it is rare for Yuanxiao to beg for children. Modern people have given jiaozi a new explanation, that is, sweet and sweet, round and round, symbolizing family reunion and happiness. Meet people's inner hopes. Lantern Festival has a new cultural significance.

Lantern Festival customs

eat yuanxiao

There is not much difference between eating dumplings and eating Yuanxiao in some places, but the names of the north and the south are different. Eating glutinous rice balls on the fifteenth day of the first month is a traditional custom of the Lantern Festival, which means reunion and reunion. The older generation values harmony. I always hope that every family will be harmonious and beautiful in the new year, and everything will be reunited. Eating a bowl of glutinous rice balls with the elderly is a good sign for the coming year.

festive lantern (as displayed on the Lantern Festival)

Sending lanterns is also called sending lanterns to children. In ancient times, before the Lantern Festival, newlyweds always received lanterns from their parents. Because lanterns are homophonic with Ding, it means that their daughters will be able to import more flowers and the population will flourish in the new year. Now there are many such scenes in many TV dramas, where women put lanterns in the river.

Play with dragon lanterns

Since ancient times, China people have regarded themselves as descendants of dragons, because dragons symbolize good luck and wealth. On the Lantern Festival, dancing dragon lanterns together adds a festive atmosphere to the festival. Now many parks hold lantern festivals, which probably evolved from here.

Yingzigu

Therefore, according to the ancient legend, Zi Guben was a kind and beautiful woman who was forced by life to become the concubine of a rich man, but was envied by others and died unjustly in the toilet. Later, she was named Ce Shen. On the night of the Lantern Festival, people will make a model of a daughter-in-law out of straw to worship her and pray for her to bless her family's health and safety.

walk on stilts

Walking on stilts is one of the traditional activities of the Han nationality. Every holiday, people will move out and walk on stilts together to celebrate excitedly. At the same time, walking on stilts is also a traditional opera with various forms, which is deeply loved by ordinary people.

Walking sickness

In ancient times, on the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the first month in northern China, women would go out for a walk in groups, or walk by the bridge, or touch a nail in the door and beg for children, and then go home at night. Stay away from all diseases, also known as stay away from the old appearance. After the cold winter, the old people will also go out for a walk, stretch their bones and muscles, and live younger and younger.

The origin of the lantern festival

In ancient times, people called the night "Xiao". According to the laws of the lunar calendar, the first month is January, so the first full moon night of the New Year is called "Lantern Festival". As the first important festival after the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival is not only celebrated by Chinese all over the world, but also has a long history.

In fact, since ancient times, people have had the custom of "turning on the lights to pray", that is, on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, putting the tried lights into the river to worship the gods.

There is a traditional custom of "turning on the lights to pray for blessings" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which means "burning the lights to show Buddha". By the Tang Dynasty, Chinese and Western cultures had further close exchanges and contacts, and Buddhism became the mainstream culture. In North Korea, from officials and ministers to markets, thousands of people will "burn lanterns to worship Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month. Therefore, it is legal to decorate the Lantern Festival. But the official name of "Yuanxiao" was formed in the late Tang Dynasty. It was called "Lantern Festival" in Song Dynasty and "Lantern Festival" in Qing Dynasty.

What is the significance of Lantern Festival? When is the Lantern Festival?

Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, usually on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Because the first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, the ancients called "night" as "night", and the Lantern Festival custom has been dominated by the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns since ancient times.

Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. The Lantern Festival on 202 1 falls on February 26th, 20021.

What are the customs of Lantern Festival?

Lantern Festival, also known as the first lunar month, Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival, is the first important festival after the Spring Festival. Due to the vast territory of China, the customs of Lantern Festival are different in different regions. There are several important folk customs, such as eating Yuanxiao, enjoying lanterns, dancing dragons and lions and visiting lanterns.

Eat dumplings and jiaozi.

Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month is an indispensable custom of the Lantern Festival. In the Song Dynasty, a novel food was popular among the people. It was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao".

There are white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, cinnamon bark, walnut kernel, nuts, jujube paste and so on in Yuanxiao. After the stuffing ball is formed, it is rolled into glutinous rice flour, and the glutinous rice flour is made from jiaozi and then wrapped in jiaozi, which is completely different.

Sightseeing lamp

During the reign of Han Yongping, Ming Di advocated Buddhism, which coincided with the time when Cai Mao returned to Buddhism from India. He said that in Mohatuo, India, on the fifteenth day of the first month, monks get together to pay homage to the Buddhist relics, which is 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 putting lights on the Lantern Festival was originally held only in the court and spread to the people.

dragon dance and lion dance

Dragon and lion dancing is one of the important folk customs of Lantern Festival celebrations. The earliest recorded dragon dance is Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" in Han Dynasty. The author vividly described the dragon dance in the descriptions of hundreds of plays. According to Sui Shu? According to music records, Huanglongbian, similar to the dragon dance performances in hundreds of plays during the reign of Yang Di, is also very wonderful. Dragon dancing is very popular in many places in China.

Can I eat noodles on Lantern Festival?

You can eat.

Although people mainly eat glutinous rice balls, Yuanxiao, jiaozi and lanterns during the Lantern Festival, because these foods have a good meaning, symbolizing a happy life, making money, reunion and auspiciousness, giving people expectations for a better life in the coming year.

But this does not mean that you can only eat these foods during the Lantern Festival, and all other foods can be eaten normally, so you can also eat noodles during the Lantern Festival. Noodles have the meaning of longevity and health.

Is Lantern Festival Valentine's Day in China?

You could say that.

The so-called Valentine's Day in China mainly refers to the local festivals about love in China. There are three main theories about Valentine's Day in China. One is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month; The second is Shangsi Festival, which falls on the third day of the third lunar month every year. Third, Valentine's Day in China, Seven Sisters's birthday, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Lantern Festival, Shangsi Festival and Chinese Valentine's Day are the most interesting festivals for ancient women. In ancient times, ordinary women, especially those with a good family or a small family, were "three steps away from the boudoir." You can only come out during the Lantern Festival and Shangsi Festival, and even have a tryst with your boyfriend. Tanabata is more inclined to become a woman's exclusive festival, and its connotation includes not only begging for love, but also begging for luck and happiness. Tanabata had little to do with love in ancient times, but it became a festival symbolizing love in modern times, so Lantern Festival can also be said to be Valentine's Day in China.

What is the significance of Lantern Festival? The origin of the Lantern Festival: When did the Lantern Festival originate?

Lantern Festival, the Lantern Festival is the main traditional festival in China, also called Yuanxiao, Yuanxiao, and Shangyuan Festival, because it is the first full moon night of the New Year. Because this festival has the custom of watching lanterns in past dynasties, it is also called Lantern Festival. The Origin and Legend of the Spring Festival —— An Analysis of the Origin and Legend of the Spring Festival

The main custom of the Lantern Festival is to eat Yuanxiao, and the earliest record of eating Yuanxiao can be found in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Yuanxiao was called "floating dumplings", "dumplings", "lactose dumplings" and "sugar dumplings". According to historical records such as Pingyuan Xu, Guangji Four Years Old and Ode to Daming, Yuanxiao, as a timely food to celebrate the Lantern Festival, began in the Song Dynasty. Because we must eat "Zi Yuan" during the Lantern Festival, people named it Yuanxiao.

There are two theories about the origin of Lantern Festival.

First, Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, which began in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Lantern Festival viewing began in the period of Emperor Han Ming in the East. Ming Di advocates Buddhism. He heard that in Buddhism, there was a custom of monks watching the relics light up to worship Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first month, so he ordered them to light up to worship Buddha in palaces and temples that night, so that all the cremation and ordinary people could hang up lights. Later, this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. This festival has experienced the development process from the court to the people, and from the Central Plains to the whole country.

Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ordered the 15th day of the first month to be designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were scheduled for the 15th day of the first month. Taiyi: the God who rules the universe. When Sima Qian created the taichu calendar Law, he had already identified the Lantern Festival as a major festival.

Secondly, the custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival originated 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. The festivals and customs of Lantern Festival have been extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of festivals is concerned, there is only one day in Han Dynasty, three days in Tang Dynasty and five days in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, lights were lit from the eighth day of August until the seventeenth night of the first month, a total of ten days. Connected with the Spring Festival, it is a city during the day, full of excitement, and brightly lit at night, which is spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. 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.

It is understood that the formation of the Lantern Festival custom has a long process. According to general 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's activity of offering sacrifices to "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace on the moonlit night was regarded by later generations as the first sacrifice to God on the fifteenth day of the first month. However, the fifteenth day of the first month is indeed 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.

So, what about the legend of the Lantern Festival?

There are two legends about Lantern Festival, which are completely different. Some people say that the legend of Lantern Festival is that the Jade Emperor wants to unify the human world, while others say that the emperor's desire to kill mankind is different. What is the legend of Lantern Festival? Why are there these two diametrically opposite legends? See below.

The origin and legend of the Lantern Festival How did it come about?

Legend of Lantern Festival 1:

According to legend, in ancient times, in order to unify the whole country, the Jade Emperor sent the Kitchen God Bodhisattva to stay on earth to understand the people's feelings and report back every Wednesday. On the 23rd of the winter month in the summer calendar, the Kitchen God Bodhisattva reported back to the Jade Emperor: "People on earth eat only meager food for 365 days a year. Work hard every day and never rest. If this continues, I am worried that the common people will be exhausted and unable to produce because of excessive fatigue, which will definitely affect their contribution. " When the Jade Emperor heard this, he ordered his ministers to discuss a good plan. Taibai Jinxing said: "Your Majesty can order the founder of Heng Tuo to come down to earth and give people some medicine so that they can get sick slowly and rest naturally." The jade emperor allowed it to play, and the task was handled accordingly.

On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Father Heng Tuo secretly put crazy drugs in people's rice cookers. When the medicine is put into the pot, it becomes soybeans, peas, garlic sprouts, tofu and meat. After eating it, the people are really "crazy" slowly: women sew new clothes and embroidered shoes, and men kill pigs and sheep, unwilling to work in the fields. After the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, crazy people became very valuable for medicine. People invite people to eat at their host's house and drink at their home. At noon on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, the people took out all kinds of delicious food and sat around the table, and the family ate and drank. From the first day of the first month, men, women and children not only eat well, but also play around all day. Some painted painted faces, beating gongs and drums, wandering around; Some people invite people to pay New Year greetings with gifts.

On the thirteenth day of the first month, the kitchen god bodhisattva said to heaven, "Your Majesty, no, the people are crazy! Eat and play, live and do nothing. At this rate, how can you get it? " The Jade Emperor was very surprised when he heard that, so he ordered his ministers to discuss the best plan again. Taibai Venus also said, "If you want to cure crazy people, you can make the drug king Bodhisattva try." The Jade Emperor allowed the medicine king Bodhisattva to descend to the earth to govern.

On the 14th night of the first month, Bodhisattva, the King of Medicine, made the people's supper into glutinous rice balls, and put sesame seeds, walnuts, sugar and other anti-hangover agents into them. People ate them, and all the madness recovered the next morning, and the family went back to work as usual.

In this way, the cycle continues, forming the habit of Chinese New Year.

Legend of Lantern Festival 2:

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts everywhere that hurt people and livestock, so people organized to defeat them. A god bird was trapped and landed on the earth, but was accidentally shot by an unsuspecting hunter. The Emperor of Heaven was very angry when he learned that. He immediately issued a decree, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the land on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all the people, livestock and property. The daughter of the Emperor of Heaven is kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she risked her life and secretly rushed Xiangyun to the world to tell people the news. When people heard the news, it was like a blow to the head. I'm so scared that I don't know what to do. After a long time, an old man came up with an idea. He said: "On the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, every family decorated their houses, set off firecrackers and set off fireworks. In this way, the emperor will think that people have been burned to death. " Everyone nodded and said yes, and they were ready to go separately. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, the emperor looked down and found that for three consecutive nights, the world was red and the noise was deafening. He thought it was the flame of a big fire, and soon. In this way, people saved their lives and property. In order to commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month to commemorate this day.