Cultural Connotation of Lantern Festival

For a long time, Zhongxin Lantern has inherited the essence of lantern art in the Central Plains. Through the practical creation of old artists in past dynasties, Zhongxin Lantern has a unique style. Loyal lanterns contain the essence of Chinese culture, full of strong folk customs in mountainous areas, and are a rare traditional cultural wealth of the Han nationality. Loyal lanterns contain rich humanistic spirit. Zhongxin Lantern has a square lampshade with four corners, eight corners and twelve corners above the lower circle, which means extending in all directions. A round lamp body means round and round. The design of Zhongxin Lantern has traditional themes, such as "Flowers and Birds in Mountains and Rivers", "More than a year", "Lucky Dragon and Phoenix", "Golden Rooster Announces Good News", "Magpie Boasts Plum Flowers", "Kirin Delivers Children" and "Bamboo Announces Peace", which embodies the good wishes and prayers of the Han people and looks forward to a peaceful and prosperous life.

The custom of loyal lanterns contains the connotation of human reproduction and fully embodies the humanistic value of loyal lanterns. It is homophonic with Deng and Ding in Hakka dialect, meaning "Tian Zitian Ding". Professor Kang Baocheng of Sun Yat-sen University said in an interview: "Although the faithful custom of lighting lamps is superstitious to some extent, it is the belief of the people, and these issues should be treated rationally and tolerably." The faithful custom of putting lanterns is held exclusively for men, and women have no chance to intervene, which embodies the idea that men are superior to women in Confucian culture. In the old days, the custom of lighting lanterns excluded women and vaguely revealed some ideology in the bones of loyal Hakkas.

The idea that men are superior to women is deeply rooted in China feudal society, and the idea of men being superior to women appeared as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. Confucian culture advocates male-dominated family and authority, and traditional culture seriously affects people's concept of fertility. At the end of the Warring States period, Han Fei even developed son preference from an ideology to the point of "congratulations on giving birth to a boy, and killing a girl". In the process of migration, the living environment of Hakka ancestors was very bad, and men were considered the most important; Therefore, I long for the power of God to protect them, so I put this ideology on lanterns. In recent years, with the development of society, people's concept of hereditary inheritance has gradually changed, following the centuries-old custom to break the stereotype that only men can light lamps, so that newborn women have also received grand blessings. However, in some surrounding rural areas of China and Singapore, this "son preference" idea is still serious. Only by adding innovative content can we protect this loyal and ancient lighting custom more effectively and make it last forever. However, as the predecessors said in the article, there are grand chandelier ceremonies for weddings, moving to new houses, further studies, employment, joining the army, birthdays and opening businesses. , a little flooding, distorting the meaning of putting lanterns. Loyalty is a ceremony to protect life.

In the new era, we urgently need to get rid of the old ideas in traditional customs. The first thing to do is to delete the idea that men are superior to women in Confucian culture and re-inject fresh culture. Only by injecting the profound ancestor worship and filial piety culture in Chinese culture into the custom of loyalty and filial piety can the Han folk custom in this area last forever. Because this culture is the pillar of the harmonious and stable development of China society for thousands of years, it helps to establish a harmonious intergenerational relationship between the ancients and the present, between predecessors and future generations, thus promoting the harmonious relationship between people and between people and nature, which is also a folk foundation with strong vitality for a festival. As a cultural product and a folk activity, Lantern Festival also needs a certain material foundation, although most lanterns and lantern displays do not enter the circulation field. Therefore, the Lutheran government adopts the way of "building a stage with culture and singing opera in economy and trade" to increase financial, material and human resources, ensure that the annual Lantern Festival will be held as scheduled, and continuously improve the quantity and quality of lanterns.

Although Hakka lanterns are only an auxiliary function of Hakka economic development, lantern cultural activities create a festive atmosphere in Hakka areas, provide space for Hakka social and economic life, and also bring festive economic effects, from which people can feel the simple and harmonious evolution of Hakka culture and economy in the state of agricultural civilization. In 2007, the seventh People's Letter Lantern Festival was of extraordinary momentum. Li Anping county government and CCTV held a large-scale song concert "Passion Square", and CCTV broadcast three sets of live activities. Taking this brand activity as the carrier, it has improved the popularity and reputation of Zhongxin, promoted the development of investment attraction and tourism, and promoted the all-round development of Zhongxin's social economy.