What are the customs of Lantern Festival? What is their historical origin?

Let people who grew up in the 1960s remember it deeply, as if eating Yuanxiao was a symbol of that festival, just like the fifth day of May is called Zongzi Festival and the fifteenth day of August is called Moon Cake Festival. In fact, eating is a very small part of the festival. Just eating, there is a lot of food in the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. When it comes to Yuanxiao, people immediately think of delicious food. "Secretary He, the classic line of eating Yuanxiao ..." Let people who grew up in the 1960s remember it deeply, as if eating Yuanxiao was a symbol of that festival, just like the fifth day of May is called Zongzi Festival and the fifteenth day of August is called Moon Cake Festival. In fact, eating is a very small part of the festival. Just eating, there is a lot of food in the Lantern Festival. "Yanjing Years Old" said, "The city sells grain, both dry and fresh, with Yuanxiao as the bulk". At this time, only the Lantern Festival has a large sales volume.

There were few varieties of Yuanxiao at that time. Liu Ruoyu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, recorded in the Chronicle of Proceedings published in Wanli years that Yuanxiao "takes glutinous rice flour as stuffing, walnuts and sugar as fruit stuffing, and sprinkles water to roll it into balls as big as walnuts, that is, Jiangnan Dumplings". Now it is very troublesome to remember Yuanxiao. There are dozens of kinds of fillings, not a word in detail. On important festivals, eating is only a form and meaning, otherwise "Lantern Festival" eating will become a ridiculous move.

In my childhood memory, the Spring Festival has been linked with the Lantern Festival, and almost everyone has to buy a lantern for the Spring Festival. The standard of living was not high at that time. Most of the lanterns sold are made of paper, foldable, red, yellow, green and painted with patterns, with candles in the middle. They are hung outside the door at night or carried to the street to play. In the 1980s, lanterns lit by batteries were used. Before the Cultural Revolution, Beihai Park always held a Lantern Festival during the Spring Festival. Red palace lanterns were hung, and lanterns of different shapes made of silk thread, glass or paper were painted with stories of flowers, animals, ladies and people of different sizes. There is also a riddle area, which lists various riddles. On each lamp, a riddle is written on a piece of paper. Guess right, tear it off and win the prize. I remember there were ice lamps, malt lamps and so on. At that time, I was young and didn't know the power of the wind. I thought lanterns were strange. How to turn without a machine?

Yuanxiao originally meant time. The first month is January, and the meaning of "night" and "night" in ancient Chinese is the same, hence the name, also known as Shangyuan Festival. The custom of Lantern Festival has a long history, which began in Han Dynasty. With the Lantern Festival, there will be a lantern market. Lamp and market are two concepts: lamp refers to a lamp, which hangs from late to early; The city refers to the market, which is open from morning till night. The lantern market in the Ming Dynasty was also in the same place, stretching for two miles from Donghuamen to the east. "Miscellaneous Notes of Wanbu" said: All kinds of articles are placed in "Donganmenwai North Street", so that location is called dengshikou. In the Qing dynasty, the lights left the city and the market moved to Liulichang. The place where the lights were hung was changed to the front door and the underground door. In the early Qing Dynasty, Pan Rongbi wrote in Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jing: "The best places to hang lanterns are Dongyuemen, Mill, Xiheyan, Langfang Lane and Dashilan." The Chronicle of Yanjing in the late Qing Dynasty records: "The lights of the Six Streets are the most prosperous in the east of Sipailou and Di 'anmen, followed by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, and nowhere else. For example, Dong 'anmen, Xinjiekou and Xisi Pailou are also slightly impressed. " In the Republic of China, Xia wrote "Notes on Old Beijing": "The Lantern Festival in the first month is located in the front door of the Sixth Hospital, focusing on the Ministry of Industry ... The lantern market is located in four archways in the east and west, and then moved to the end of the corridor." The author's time is different, and it can be seen that the location and scale have also changed.

Liulichang in Qing Dynasty was also a place where department stores gathered. From the third day to the seventeenth day, tourists swarmed, and the Temple of Fire in East Liulichang was even more lively. Going there for shopping and sightseeing is called "factory visit" in the records of Shuntian Prefecture in Guangxu. And "visiting the factory" is a modern thing, and the market has expanded to South Xinhua Street. I remember that before the "Cultural Revolution", on the second day of the first day of junior high school, merchants in power plants set up stalls to deliver goods, and most people came to visit New Year. After the third grade, more and more people came to visit the factory.

In addition to watching lanterns, there are various entertainment performances: walking on stilts, running dry boats, dancing knives and sticks, and dancing dragon lanterns, which are very lively. Various vaudeville performances "group dance, fine dance, bobbin, somersault, stepping on the altar and climbing stairs". The drummer played "Orange Fayang, Shake Dongshan, Blue Sea". Sixian instrumental music also pops up various tracks such as "condom, ditty, swearing and cooking". There are also stories in the performance. "The elegant tamer of a hundred plays is like the south ten", and it is even more interesting to dance as a big-headed monk. In addition, there are many programs, such as throwing rough bars, running bamboo horses, knocking on the Taiping drum and so on.

Maids-in-waiting should also come out to visit the Lantern Festival, which has existed since ancient times. In the eyes of Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty: "Moonlight lights are full of imperial capital, and cars are full of streets." Xin Qiji saw that "BMW carved cars are full of fragrance." The same is true in the Qing Dynasty. Jean Lian described it in "Kyoto Customs": "Wang Sun, a distinguished guest, his wife and children, traveled all over the city, called sightseeing lights. There is no difference between a car and a horse. " "Ji Sheng at the age of Emperor Jingdi" records: "Five nights ringing, six street sedan chairs and cars, competing to see the ladies-in-waiting spring outing." The grand scene itself is a scene, and many people are watching.

During the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival, a woman often has an ornament, which is cut with black paper and then pasted with a piece of paper, or tied with five or seven points with a needle, such as a hairpin inserted or worn on her head. This ornament is called a moth. The explanation of "examining old news in the sun" reminds me of the famous sentence "moth, snow, willow, golden thread" Some anthologies of Song Ci are generally described as women's ornaments, and there is no exact explanation for "moth". However, A Qing Yu Minzhong clearly put forward that "this ancient custom is also", which has become a custom for a long time. As luck would have it, a textual research in The Scenery of the Imperial Capital shows that on the day of beginning of spring, the folk ribbon-cutting ceremony is a "Spring Flag", which is put on the head. In the Ming dynasty, black paper was used to paint pictures, which were called moths. There is also a description in "Random Thoughts" that women are "wearing moths and made of black gold paper". It seems that Xin Qiji's Moth in the Southern Song Dynasty should refer to this thing.

With the participation of the whole people, how can the scene not be enthusiastic? In the Southern Song Dynasty, an aojiang-shaped platform was erected in the center of the lantern market. The emperor went to Xuande Gate to see Aoshan Mountain. According to the Records of Xuanhe Legacy of the Great Song Dynasty, there is a high lamp in Aoshan, which is 16 feet long and 265 steps wide, with two Aoshan pillars in the middle. In the Ming Dynasty, the capital also set up "Aoshan lanterns and fireworks". The emperor will also set off large fireworks when enjoying the lanterns. There was another project in the streets of Qing dynasty: molding a judge with clay, which was called "burning at the stake". There is a big stove in the belly, which can hold hundreds of kilograms of coal. When I watch it at night, my whole body is red, and my five senses smoke and breathe fire. It's beautiful and novel.

With women's travel, this festival has led to many stories, allowing scholars to write immortal masterpieces, which can be read in classical masterpieces. In a well-known poem, Ouyang Xiu wrote: "Last year's Lantern Festival, the flower market was as bright as day. "Meet at dusk on the moon" is straightforward, while Xin Qiji's "Looking for him in the crowd for thousands of Baidu, suddenly looking back, people are there, and the lights are dim" is implicit and meaningful, giving people endless reverie and aftertaste. People often meet at the Lantern Festival, so some people think this meaning is closer to Valentine's Day in the west.

Looking back, the traditional festivals in China are mostly sacrifices and memorials, but there are really not many entertainments and celebrations, which are worth remembering and cherishing. There are red lanterns hanging in the street, dragon lanterns dancing, and lanterns hanging in every household. The warm scene of the Lantern Festival is the atmosphere and taste of Yuanxiao.