What month is the Lantern Festival?

Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival, falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year.

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ancients called "night". The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, so it is called "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "Sanyuan Festival", the fifteenth day of the first month is also called "Shangyuan Festival". Since ancient times, the custom of Lantern Festival has been based on the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns. The formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, which is rooted in the folk custom of turning on lights and praying for blessings. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month really became a national folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties. The rise of the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month is also related to the spread of Buddhism to the east. In the Tang dynasty, Buddhism flourished, and officials and ordinary people generally "lit lanterns for the Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, so Buddhist lanterns were spread all over the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, Lantern Festival lighting has become a legal thing.

Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China. 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. In addition, traditional folk performances such as Youlong lanterns, lion dancing, walking on stilts, boating, yangko and playing Taiping drums have been added to the Lantern Festival in many places. In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.