Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - The 24 Solar Terms - What are the customs about Lantern Festival?

What are the customs about Lantern Festival?

The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern 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. There is a folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on the Lantern Festival in China. According to folklore, Yuanxiao originated from King Zhao of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first month, King Chu Zhao crossed the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweets with white outside and red inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius, and Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is also a sign of the Lord's revival." Yuanxiao is a kind of holiday food, just like rice cakes in the Spring Festival and zongzi in the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating Yuanxiao, like a full moon, symbolizes family reunion and entrusts people with good wishes for their future life. Yuanxiao is called "Tangyuan", "Zi Yuan", "Floating Zi Yuan" and "Shui Yuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, solid or stuffed. The fillings are red bean paste, sugar, hawthorn and so on. Can be boiled, fried, steamed and fried. The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated from the "ternary theory" of Taoism. 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 three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man, respectively. Heaven officials are happy, and lanterns are lit on the Lantern Festival. 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. It has become a custom to light lanterns on the Lantern Festival. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of lighting the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights". The custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival has been passed down from generation to generation, and there are more and more kinds of lanterns, such as mirror lanterns, phoenix lanterns, glazed lanterns and so on. Besides burning lanterns, there will be fireworks on the Lantern Festival. "Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted 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 communication. Besides celebrating the Lantern Festival, there are also religious activities. That is to say, most of the participants in "walking all diseases", also known as "baking all diseases" and "eliminating all diseases" are women. They walk together or against the wall, or cross the bridge through the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters. As time goes by, there are more and more activities for 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 were also added during the festival. The custom of Lantern Festival is to eat Yuanxiao: According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was a palace maid named Yuanxiao who lived in seclusion for many years and missed her parents, and spent all day in Lacrimosa. Dong Fangshuo, the minister, was determined to help her, so he lied to Emperor Wu that Vulcan burned Chang 'an on the 15th day of the first month on orders from the Jade Emperor. The only way to get out of trouble is to let the Lantern Festival girl make many jiaozi that Vulcan loves to eat on the 15th day of the first month, and all the subjects decorate them with lanterns. Emperor Wu must work together, and the "Yuanxiao" girl finally met her family. Since then, the Lantern Festival has been formed. Lantern Festival Entertainment: Hanging lanterns: This custom originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty and became a common practice in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty was set for three days, from the 14th to 16th of the first month, changed to five days in the Song Dynasty and ten days in the Ming Dynasty. Lanterns Lanterns were hung in the palaces of the Qing Dynasty since childhood. There is a beautiful folk legend about hanging lanterns. In ancient times, a hunter shot and killed a god goose. When the Jade Emperor heard this, he was furious and wanted to avenge the God Goose. On the fifteenth day of the first month, he burned the world. A kind fairy stole the earth and reported the news to people. People decided to hang red lights and set off fireworks in every household around the fifteenth day of the first month. When the heavenly soldiers were about to descend to earth, they saw the fire. Thinking that the fire had burned out long ago, he stopped going to the lower bound and took a job directly with the Jade Emperor, thus saving a disaster on earth. Since then, every household has hung lanterns until today. Up to now, on the 15th day of the first month, there are still many Lantern Festivals all over the country, such as the Lantern Festival in Beijing Beihai Park, the Lantern Festival in Zigong, Sichuan and the Ice Lantern Festival in Harbin. Lion-playing: Lion-playing began in Wei and Jin Dynasties and flourished in Tang Dynasty. Also known as "lion dance" and "peace music". It is usually done by three people. Two people dressed as lions, one as the lion's head, one as the lion's body and hind feet, and one as the lion's head. Dance is divided into civilian and military. The dance shows the gentleness of the lion, shaking his hair and rolling. The military lion shows the ferocity of the lion. Dragon Lantern Dance: According to legend, there was a drought in the Tang Dynasty, and the dragon king made a mistake in making love and drowned many people in Chang 'an. The Jade Emperor ordered Wei Zhi to supervise and behead the Dragon King. From then on, the Dragon King was haunted and disturbed the palace every night, which frightened Li Shimin, king of the Tang Dynasty. So he asked the ministers for advice, and they thought that he should cross over the Dragon King, so people had the habit of playing dragon lanterns on the Lantern Festival. Dragon lanterns are generally made of bamboo, colored paper and cloth. And the number of knots is odd, up to dozens of feet. Those who can make candles are called "Dragon Lantern", and those who can't light candles are called "Bulong". The leader of the dance holds a faucet, and dozens of people hold wooden sticks tightly attached to the dragon body. Then, the whole dragon runs along the prescribed route and queue in the music. The dragon seems to be alive, and people use it to seek good weather and good harvest. Please accept it if you are satisfied, thank you ~