What do the red lanterns in ancient times represent

Red lanterns in ancient times symbolized family reunion, prosperous business, red-hot, happiness, brightness, vitality, completeness and wealth.

Lanterns, also known as lantern colors, are an ancient traditional Chinese craft. Originating more than 2,000 years ago during the Western Han Dynasty, red lanterns symbolizing reunion were hung around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar to create a festive atmosphere.

The lantern has since become a symbol of festivity for the Chinese. Through successive generations of lantern artists inheritance and development, the formation of colorful varieties and high level of craftsmanship. From the type: palace lanterns, gauze lamps, chandeliers and so on. From the modeling points, there are figures, landscapes, birds and flowers, dragons and phoenixes, fish and insects, and so on, in addition to the horse lanterns for people to enjoy.

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Lanterns are a kind of lamps and lanterns in ancient times. As early as the eighth century AD, the Tang Dynasty has recorded the use of lanterns from the beginning. China has lamps is after the Qin and Han Dynasty, there are paper lanterns and may be in the Western Han Dynasty after the invention of paper. Lanterns at the Lantern Festival custom originated in the early Han Dynasty, but there are also rumors that Emperor Ming Huang of the Tang Dynasty in the Lantern Festival in the Shangyang Palace, is to celebrate the country's prosperity and people's peace, before tying the lanterns, by flickering light, symbolizing the "colorful dragons omen good luck, the people of the country," lanterns of the wind is still widely popular today.

On the origin of lanterns there are many ways of saying, the more widely circulated one is: the Lantern Festival lanterns custom began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Zhuang advocate Buddhism, heard that the Buddhist monks on the 15th of the first month to see the Buddha's relics, lamps honoring the Buddha's practice, the night of the order in the palace and temples lamps honoring the Buddha, so that the scholarly common people have hung lamps.

Later this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. The festival has gone through the development process from the palace to the folk, from the Central Plains to the whole country. During the Tang Dynasty, in order to celebrate the prosperity of the country and the peace of the people, people tied lanterns, through the flickering light, symbolizing the "colorful dragon auspicious, the people of the country strong," lanterns have been widely popular since then.

On the origin of the lantern, there is an interesting folk saying. Legend has it that a long time ago, a lot of fierce birds and beasts, all around the harm people and livestock, people will organize to fight them, there is a god bird because of the lost and landed on earth, but was unknowingly hunters to shoot dead. The emperor was furious when he found out about it, and ordered the heavenly soldiers to come to earth on the 15th day of the first month to set fire to all the human and animal properties on earth.

The daughter of the emperor was kind-hearted and could not bear to see the people suffer, so she secretly came to the earth and told the people the news. A clever man came up with a method, he let everyone in the first month of the 15th, 16th and 17th of the 3 days are in the house to open lights, lighting firecrackers, fireworks, so that the emperor of the sky will think that the heavenly soldiers have already let go of the fire.

To the night of the 15th day of the first month, the emperor of heaven looked down and found a red light on earth, ringing in the sky for 3 consecutive nights, thinking that it was a big fire burning flames and stop. In order to commemorate this success, from then on every first month of the fifteenth, every family hangs lanterns to commemorate this day.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Lanterns