Traditional folk activities of the Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival folk activities include stilt-walking, playing dragon lanterns, rowing dry boats, enjoying lanterns, and guessing lantern riddles.

One, stilt-walking

Stilt-walking is a popular mass skill performance program. Stilts have appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the performers tied the long wood on the legs walking, but also jumping and sword dance, the highest stilts up to more than a zhang high, they acted and sang, lively, laughter, such as walking on the ground.

Second,Juggling Dragon Lanterns

Juggling Dragon Lanterns, also known as the Dragon Dance, Dragon Lantern Dance, has a history of more than two thousand years. We Chinese have revered the dragon as a symbol of good luck since ancient times. In the minds of the ancients, the dragon has the ability to call the wind and rain, for the wind and rain, production and life has a very important significance, so gradually formed in the Lantern Festival Dragon Dance festive customs.

Three, rowing dry boat

Rowing dry boat, also known as running dry boat, is in the bamboo and wood tied into a colorful boat set in the body, on land to imitate the action of the boat, and then sing some local ditties, singing and dancing, is rowing dry boat. This custom, legend has it, is in honor of the Great Yu water.

Four, lanterns

In the Han Mingdi Yongping years, the Han Mingdi in order to promote Buddhism, ordered the 15th night of the first lunar month in the palace and the temple, "lanterns for the Buddha". Since then, the custom of releasing lanterns on the Lantern Festival has spread to the people. On the fifteenth day of the first month, both the scholars and the common people would put up lanterns, and the whole city would be illuminated all night long.

Fifth, guess the riddles

Guess the riddles, also known as riddles, is the Lantern Festival later derived from a word game. The earliest appeared in the Song Dynasty, good people to write riddles on paper strips, pasted on the colorful lanterns for people to guess. So it is called "guessing lantern riddles".