Northeast customs Lantern Festival Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is a custom in northeast China.

Sending lanterns is sending lanterns to the graves of ancestors.

It is said that the custom of lighting lanterns on the Lantern Festival has a long history and culture.

From the period of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the custom of lighting lamps on the fifteenth day of the first month was formed, which was originally a custom of worshipping Buddha and later developed into a celebration habit.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival was already a scene of fire and silver flowers, and the world was as prosperous as Xinghai.

Lighting a lamp is of great significance for the ancients to drive away darkness and bring security and warmth.

There is a saying in the Six Ancestors' Altar Scripture: One climb can eliminate the darkness of a thousand years, and one wisdom can destroy the stupidity of a thousand years.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, we send lanterns to our deceased ancestors and keep them on all night. Perhaps it is to light up the hell and make the ancestors feel warm.

When I was young, my father began to make lanterns with us on the 13th and 14th of the first month.

Lanterns for sending lanterns are simpler than those carried by children in the New Year village. Generally, sorghum stalks are tied into triangles, with white paper on the outside and white candles inside.

I remember we called candles "foreign wax". Due to family poverty, lack of living materials, and lack of electricity in rural areas during the Spring Festival, wax has become a necessity and a scarce product.

Because of scarcity, fifteen lanterns are generally reluctant to light all candles. Dad will cut the candle into two or three sections with scissors.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, when night fell, my father led our brothers to deliver the lights.

The cemetery is three or five miles away from Tunnan, and when you leave, you will also visit your neighbors, old relatives and few friends. "Go, send the lamp!"

"Go, send the lamp!"

Adults take care of their families while walking. Children are running in the snow with unlit lanterns.

When we arrived at the cemetery, which is what the rural people call the graveyard, some people called it "rotten dead hillock", and adults and children all stopped talking, as if they were respectful at once, perhaps for fear of disturbing ghosts and gods.

Dig a leeward hole in the snow with a shovel in front of the grave, light the candle in the paper lantern, and then put the lantern in the hole, chanting "great-grandfather, grandparents, mom and dad ..., send you a lamp". Usually several dead people have to say it again, for fear of missing someone to pick the reason.

Then burn paper in front of each grave, and as usual, you will say, "Grandpa is too milk, and grandparents ... have all collected money."

On the way back, the adults were still chatting and the children were still crazy. After the sacrificial ceremony, the ancestral houses lit up the hall, and everyone was very happy.

At that time, girls were not allowed to send lights to the cemetery, so my sister didn't have the experience of sending lights when she was a child. Every time I watched my father and brother send lights, I was very lost.

This loss changed after my sister got married. Especially after my father's death, my sister will go to the cemetery to pay homage to my father every year, and the Lantern Festival can also send lights to my ancestors.

Under normal circumstances, the lights are delivered only once on the fifteenth night of the first month. When there are newly deceased relatives at home, they sometimes send lanterns one day in advance and again on the night of the Lantern Festival.

After my father died in 2000, for three consecutive years, my brother and sister and I sent lanterns for three days, including the Lantern Festival and the day before and after.

In the past two or three decades, "foreign wax" has been no longer used for lighting, but various electronic lights. Not only are there many styles, but also the light lasts for a long time, sometimes for four or five days.

It seems easy to make lanterns without hand, but the sense of ritual of making lanterns a few days in advance is gone.

My mother died recently this year, and my sister sent a lamp to my parents' grave on the 14th day of the first month, which can make them feel more warm and make their memories more complete and long-lasting.

Today, when I rushed back to my hometown from the city, I called my second brother who also doesn't live in the old village and asked him when he would go back. He was already on his way by then.

Back in the old village, eldest brother and sister-in-law have made all the preparations for our return.

When I arrived at the cemetery, my second brother arrived at the same time.

The two brothers lit lanterns in front of the graves of three ancestors respectively, and the eldest brother lit lanterns prepared by the children for grandparents and ancestors.

There are three graves, and there are seven lanterns in front of each grave. We have four brothers and sisters and three seniors.

Yi Deng shines through a thousand years of darkness. Seven lanterns will definitely make our ancestors have a bright Lantern Festival.

This custom continues now, and I don't know when it will disappear.

In that case, will we still think of our ancestors during the Lantern Festival?