What is the origin of Lantern Festival?

The origin of Lantern Festival The night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first full moon night of the year. The ancients called night "Xiao", because the first month is January, so it is called Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival. According to the folk tradition in China, on this bright moon night, people light 10,000 lanterns to celebrate, and go out to enjoy the moon and set off fireworks to celebrate solving riddles on lanterns. There are Lantern Festival, family reunion and festivals.

Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty, and it is said that it was set up by Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty to commemorate Pinglu. After Liu Ying's death, Lu usurped power, and the imperial clan of Lu was in charge of state affairs. After the death of Lv Hou,, and others eradicated the forces of the surname Lu and made him emperor. Because the day to calm Zhu Lu is the fifteenth day of the first month, from then on, on the fifteenth night of the first month every year, Emperor Wendi traveled incognito to celebrate with the people. 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 also held on the fifteenth day of the first month. Sima Qian listed the Lantern Festival as an important festival in taichu calendar law.

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns during the Lantern Festival also originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, lantern viewing was particularly prosperous. Lights are hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall lanterns, towers and trees are built. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the scene of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights": "The stars set in the Han Dynasty, like the moon hanging from the building." In the Song Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival, and the activities of enjoying lanterns were particularly lively, and the forms of lanterns were more abundant. The custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival has been passed down from generation to generation. There are more and more styles and colors of lanterns, such as mirror lamps, wind lanterns and glazed lanterns. Besides burning lanterns, fireworks will be set off to increase the fun of the Lantern Festival.

Legend has it that the Lantern Festival welcomes Purple Valley. Zigu is also called Gucci, and in the north she is called toilet aunt and pit aunt. It is said that Zi Gu, whose original name is He Mei and the word Li Qing, is a natural person. Because of her outstanding appearance, Shouyang secretariat Li Jing killed her husband and took her as a concubine, which made her particularly lucky. Li Jing's original wife was so jealous that she secretly killed her in the toilet on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month. God felt sorry for her, so he named her Ce Shen. There is also a legend that Zi Gu was a kind and poor girl who died of poverty. Ce Shen has the folk custom of welcoming Zi Gu on the night of Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, and its practice is mostly to tie a portrait of Zi Gu like a real person with straw and cloth on the night of the 15th day of the first month. Let the woman stand beside the toilet, pigsty and kitchen where Zigu often works to meet her; And burn incense to worship her, predict the abundance and regret of that year, and even predict many things.

Lantern. The custom of Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month is said to have originated from a myth and legend.

In ancient times, a swan flew into the world and was accidentally injured by a hunter. The Jade Emperor was very angry when he heard these words. On the fifteenth day of the first month, he ordered the heavenly soldiers to descend to earth and burn all the people and animals on the ground to avenge his beloved swan. Faced with the impending catastrophe, a fairy took great risks and came to the rescue before the heavenly soldiers came to earth. He came to the rescue and told people that as long as every household lit torches and lanterns on the fifteenth night of the first month, bad luck could be avoided. People did as the fairy suggested. Then, the immortal immediately reported to the Jade Emperor that it had burned the world, and there was no need to use the hand of the heavenly generals. When the Jade Emperor led the gods to the Southern Tianmen, he saw that the world was ablaze, so he believed his words and stopped chasing. In this way, mankind escaped a catastrophe. Since then, fifteen lanterns have been placed in the first month of each year to watch, which has become a custom and has been passed down to this day.

The custom of Lantern Festival is lovers' party. Lantern Festival is also Valentine's Day in China, because in feudal society, young girls are not allowed to go out freely, but they can go out to play together during the festival. Watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival is just a good opportunity for communication. Unmarried men and women also find themselves objects by the way, and many lovers meet.

Eat Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice, some are solid and some are stuffed. Filled with bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, various fruit materials and so on. You can cook, stir-fry, steam and fry when eating. At first, people called this kind of food "Floating jiaozi", and later it was called "Tangyuan". Eating glutinous rice balls symbolizes family reunion, harmony and happiness. People also use this to commemorate their parting relatives and express their good wishes for the future life.

The festivals and customs of Lantern Festival are 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. Connecting with the Spring Festival, Japan is the city, and it is very lively; It's spectacular to light the lights at night. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival.

Solve the riddle on the lantern. "Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is a unique form of entertainment with national style in China. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks. Later, some busybodies wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles can enlighten wisdom and cater to the festive atmosphere, many people respond. So solve riddles on the lanterns has gradually become an indispensable custom of the Lantern Festival.

Play with dragon lanterns. Playing with dragon lanterns originated from people's superstition about dragons and has a history of more than two thousand years.

Ancient China people created the image of dragons to express their good wishes. People use dragon dancing to pray for the dragon's blessing, so as to achieve good weather and abundant crops.

Playing dragon lanterns is also called "dragon dance" and "dragon lantern dance". It is a unique traditional folk entertainment activity in China. Playing with dragon lanterns has become quite common among people in the Han Dynasty in China. Playing with dragon lanterns has become a common performance form in the performances of "social fire" and "dance team" in Tang and Song Dynasties. There are two kinds of dragon lantern performances: "Single Dragon Playing Beads" and "Double Dragon Playing Beads". In terms of gameplay, local styles are different and each has its own characteristics.

Walking on stilts. Walking on stilts is a popular folk performance. Stilts originally belonged to one of the hundred ancient operas in China, which appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. Walking on stilts is skillful and lively. Because stilts are taller than ordinary people, they are easy to watch from far and near, and their mobility is no different from that of the activity stage, so they are deeply loved by the masses. Walking on stilts not only plays characters dressed in ancient costumes, full of makeup, singing and dancing, but also often dresses up opera passbook, such as Guanfu Song, Noisy Heaven, Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, Water and Golden Man Mountain, etc.

Lion dance. Lion dance is a traditional folk art in China. Whenever the Lantern Festival or the celebration of the General Assembly, people always come to the lion dance to entertain. This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms period and was popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It has a history of 1000 years.

Row a dry boat. Rowing a dry boat, folklore is to commemorate Dayu who has made great contributions to water control. Rowing a dry boat, also known as "running a dry boat", imitates the movements of ships on land, and the performers are mostly girls. Dry boat is not a real boat. It is made of two thin plates, sawed into a boat shape, bound with bamboo and wood, covered with colored cloth, and tied around the waist of a girl. A girl is like sitting on a boat, rowing with an oar in her hand. As she ran, she sang some local tunes and danced while singing. This is rowing a dry boat. Sometimes another person will dress up as a boatman and perform with him. Bay mostly dresses up as a clown and amuses the audience with various antics. Dry boats are very popular in many areas of our country.

Stay away from all diseases. In addition to celebrations, there are also religious activities, that is, "stay away from all diseases." Also known as "baking all diseases" and "dispersing all diseases", most of the participants are women, who walk together, or against the wall, or across the bridge to drive away disasters and diseases.