Is the Lantern Festival a traditional Chinese festival or what?

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, Ancient people called the night "night", so the first month of the fifteenth for the Lantern Festival. The 15th day of the first month is the first full moon of the year, but also the beginning of the year, the night of the earth back to spring, people celebrate this, but also to celebrate the continuation of the New Year. The Lantern Festival is also known as the "Festival of the New Year".

The origin of the festival

Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival, the formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, according to general information and folklore legend, the first day of the 15th month in the Western Han Dynasty has been attached importance to the first month of Emperor Wu, "on the night of the first month of the Xin," in the Ganquan Palace rituals, "Taiyi". The activity of "Taiyi" was regarded as the precursor of the first day of the first month of the sacrifice to the gods ("Historical Records - Book of Music": "Han families often to the first month of the upper Xin shrine Taiyi Ganquan, to dusk night shrine, to the end of the Ming").

The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty was an important impetus to the formation of the Lantern Festival customs. In order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Mingdi of the Han Dynasty ordered that on the fifteenth night of the first month of the lunar calendar, "lamps should be lit to show the Buddha's face" in palaces and monasteries. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the 15th night of the first month of the lunar calendar gradually expanded in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the later addition of Taoist culture.

North and South Dynasties, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month became a trend. Emperor Wu of Liang believed in Buddhism, his palace on the 15th day of the first month of the big lights. Tang Dynasty, closer cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, Buddhism flourished, the people generally in the first month of the fifteenth day of the "light for Buddha", the Buddhist lamps and lanterns were spread throughout the people. From the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival has become a legal thing, and gradually become a folk custom.