Happy Holidays, These Poems Tell You How Ancient People Spent Lantern Festival

The origin of the Lantern Festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty.

Legend has it that Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty celebrated Zhou Bo's suppression of the Zhulü's chaos on the 15th day of the first month by going out of the palace on this night to have fun with the people. In Taoist culture, this day is the birthday of the Heavenly Officer, who, according to legend, comes down to the earth and calibrates people's sins and blessings, so it is also known as the "Heavenly Officer's Blessing". Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would also worship "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace on this day, which was regarded as the precursor of the first fifteenth day of the first lunar month for the worship of heavenly deities. Ancient people often called the night "night", the first month is also known as the first month, so it is called "Lantern Festival", Sima Qian in the "early calendar" will be the Lantern Festival as one of the folk festivals.

Originally from the Han Dynasty, the rise of the Sui Dynasty. By the Sui Dynasty, the Lantern Festival had become a major festival. In the "Sui book - music" in this record: When the first month, all countries to the court, stay until the 15th in the Duanmen Jianguo Gate, stretching eight miles, the play for the theater, to participate in the songs and dances up to tens of thousands of people, from the dusk to the end of the day, to the obscurity of the end.

The Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was unprecedented. Wu Zetian period chancellor Su flavor in the "15th night of the first month," wrote the full Tang Lantern Festival moving weather: "fire tree silver flowers, star bridge iron locks open. Dark dust follows the horses, and the bright moon follows the people. All the playgirls are flora and fauna, and all the traveling songs are plums. Jingo can't stop the night, and the jade hourglasses don't rush each other."

The city usually has a curfew, officials and soldiers patrol around the clock, and those who walk at night without authorization are subject to heavy fines. But during the Lantern Festival, the government will order the license to open the door of the square, relax the ban on three nights, let people party all night long. Su flavor period did not yet have fireworks, the poem "fire trees and silver flowers" refers to the brilliant lights, suave young people have to parade the streets, bringing up the dust with the horse, singers and dancers as beautiful as peaches and plums, walking and singing.

Tang Zhongzong Li Xian also traveled with the Empress and the courtesans in microdress, moonlight, and let "thousands of courtesans, clothes Luoqi, trailing brocade, dazzling beads and emeralds, Shi powder," under the wheel of the lights, singing and dancing. Ming Huang Miscellany" recorded that, in addition to the lights outing, there are mountain cars and dry boats, find the rope, pills and swords, horse fighting, cockfighting, tug-of-war (hooks) and other acrobatic performances on the street. Literati are offered to step on the lyrics, poetry, adding elegance.

The other Lantern Festival large-scale lanterns, but also with the prevalence of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism has just been introduced to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty period, Han Mingdi will be in the Lantern Festival in the court, the temple, "light table Buddha", folk also advocate the hanging of lights, and then a bit of lanterns to commemorate the Buddha's rituals.

After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the wind of lights prevailed, and inherited in later generations. So the Lantern Festival is also known as the "Festival of Lights". In the Song Dynasty appeared special lamp market, lamp market from fifteen lasted until nineteen, lamps are also a wide range of products, such as the "Tokyo Dreaming Records" recorded Lantern Festival on the "look at the winding as double dragon flying away" dragon lanterns, but also hundreds of people carrying walking, up to a few feet high, "Aoshan lamp shed "There are also "Ao Shan Lantern Scaffolding" which is carried by hundreds of people and is as high as several zhang, on which all kinds of lanterns and colors are arranged, and ten thousand lamps are burned. Ming and Qing dynasties, Lantern Festival lantern style has also been renovated, in the Ming Dynasty painting "Ming Xianzong Palace in the music map" depicts the style of many palace lanterns and other customs of the scene.

It's not just the lantern festival that makes the Lantern Festival so appealing. It is also a day when young girls who are y secluded in their chambers can go out on the streets to play and meet handsome young men dressed in bright clothes in a beautiful and romantic atmosphere, which can be called the Valentine's Day of China. In Song Dynasty Ouyang Xiu's "Shengcha Zi - Yuanxi", "Last year on New Year's Eve, the lights in the flower market were as bright as day. The moon is on the top of the willow, after dusk," and the classic line from Xin Qiji's "The Case of the Green Jade" (青玉案-元夕)"", "The moths and snowy willows are in golden strands, and their laughter is filled with a dark scent. The classic lines of Xin Qiji's "The Case of the Blue Jade" are all descriptive of the ambiguous atmosphere of young men and women's adoration on the night of the Lantern Festival.

With the development of civil society in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of revelry is more prevalent in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in addition to lantern riddles and a hundred opera songs and dances, and the addition of the content of the opera performance. Each place also incorporated different customs, stilt walkers, riddles, dragon lanterns, lion dances and so on. In the novel "Mirror Flower Edge", it is recorded that Duo Jiugong guessed a riddle in Zhijia Kingdom, which was derived from "Mencius", and the riddle was "All countries are peaceful", and the riddle was "All people in the world are at peace", so it can be seen that there is also a symbolic meaning of praying for the prosperity of the country and the people at peace in the Lantern Festival. In folklore, there are also sending lanterns to seek children, walk away from the hundred diseases and other customs with the nature of the blessing appeared.