Social and Cultural Significance of Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival (the 15th day of the first lunar month) is a traditional festival in China. The first month is January, and the ancients called the night "Xiao". The fifteenth day is the first full moon night in a year, so the fifteenth day of the first month is called the Lantern Festival. Also known as "Shangyuan Festival". According to the folk tradition in China, the moon is high in the sky and there are 10,000 lanterns on the ground on the festival night of Spring Festival, so people can watch lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns, eat Yuanxiao and have family reunion. Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, and it is said that it was set up to commemorate Pinglu during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Liu Ying of the Han Dynasty, Lv Hou usurped power, and the Lushi family dominated the state affairs. After Lv Hou's death, Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others eliminated the influence of Lv Hou and established Liu Heng as the emperor of China. Because the day to calm Zhu Lu is the fifteenth day of the first month, after that, every year on the fifteenth night of the first month, Wendi will go out of the palace in disguise and have fun with the people as a souvenir. The fifteenth day of the first month is designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period 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 law.

Since the custom of decorating lanterns on the Lantern Festival came into being, it is a great event to watch lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month in all dynasties. Emperor Wen of Liang Jian once wrote a poem "Li Edeng Fu": "The south is full of oil, and the west is full of paint. Su Zheng is resting in peace, and the wax comes out of Longchuan. " Oblique light sets each other off, and the reflection is clear. "It depicts the grand occasion of the court decorating lanterns during the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Yang Di, a grand banquet was held every year on the 15th day of the first month to entertain guests and envoys from all over the world. According to the Records of Music in Sui Shu, the Lantern Festival is very grand, with lanterns and colorful decorations everywhere, singing and dancing day and night, with more than 30,000 performers and more than 0.8 million musicians. The stage is eight miles long, and countless people are watching lanterns, staying up all night, enjoying themselves and being very lively. In the Tang dynasty, it developed into an unprecedented lantern market, and after the middle Tang dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival. In the prosperous period of the Tang Xuanzong Kaiyuan (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 50,000 lanterns and all kinds of lanterns. The emperor ordered 20 giant lantern buildings with a height of 150 feet, resplendent and magnificent. In the Tang dynasty, a curfew was imposed, and it was forbidden to travel when drums were banned at night. Those who committed crimes at night were punished. Only on the Lantern Festival did the emperor grant a three-day ban, which was called "letting the night go". In the Song Dynasty, lanterns were extended from three nights to five nights. In addition to lanterns, fireworks were set off, and various juggling performances were held, making the scene more lively. "Tokyo Dream" records that during the Lantern Festival, on the Imperial Street in Kaifeng, 10,000 lanterns piled up into a lantern mountain, and the lanterns were fireworks, resplendent and magnificent. The girls in Kyoto are singing and dancing, and people are watching. "Tourists gathered under the two colonnades of the Imperial Street, with unique skills, singing and dancing, tangent scales and noisy music, stretching for more than ten miles." Streets and alleys, teahouses and restaurants, lights and candles are burning together, gongs and drums are loud, firecrackers are ringing, and hundreds of miles of lights are lit, and compatriots everywhere celebrate the Lantern Festival.

In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Jinling, in order to make the capital prosperous and lively, he also stipulated that the lights should be turned off on the eighth day of the first month and on the seventeenth day for ten consecutive nights. All kinds of figures are depicted on lanterns, dancing, birds flying, dragons dancing, lanterns and fireworks shining all night, drums and music ringing, which is the longest Lantern Festival in China. In the Qing Dynasty, Manchu entered the Central Plains. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day.