The origin and legend of lanterns.

The origin and legend of lanterns, also known as colored lanterns and lanterns, are the cultural products of the traditional Chinese agricultural era, with both life functions and artistic characteristics. Lantern is an important entertainment culture of Han nationality for thousands of years. Let's share the origin and legend of lanterns.

The origin and legend of Lantern Festival 1 Lantern Festival legend;

The custom of Lantern Festival was recorded in writing before Sui Dynasty. "History as a Mirror" Volume 175: Liu "In modern customs, every night on the fifteenth day of the first month, lighting games, please ban it. Yue: I secretly look at Beijing, Henan and other provinces. In the first month, I watch the night. The streets are full of strangers, playing with friends, singing drums and beating the sky. The torch shines on the earth. No money to go bankrupt, fight for this moment. Do your best, don't ask the nobles, mix men and women, and you don't care. "

On the fifteenth night of the first month of every year, people revel in the street, drums are loud and flames are shining. People do not hesitate to spend money on the scale and exquisiteness of competition lighting. Moreover, all the people in the family, regardless of master and servant, regardless of honor and inferiority, all the boundaries have been broken, all the barriers have disappeared, and the rest are just singing and laughing.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, the custom of lanterns rose in the Northern Memorial Day from 550 to 580 AD. Judging from the time, region and content of this custom, it may be related to the spread of Buddhism. According to the Nirvana Sutra, Tathagata was cremated after his death, and the relics were put in exquisite jars and placed on golden beds. Buddhist disciples played music while spreading flowers, and lit a lamp every step around the city to express their condolences to the Tathagata, but it was not clearly recorded that it was the fifteenth day of the first month. The custom of "Monks and Folks * * * observing the relics and taking care of the western regions" is clearly defined as "the fifteenth day of the first month".

The development of these two customs gradually formed the folk custom of putting lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month. From the point of view of location, this folk custom began to be popular in Luoyang and surrounding counties in the north. This is related to the advocacy of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the famous Zen masters Dharma and Hui Ke gave lectures in Shaolin Temple in Songshan successively, because when Zen began to rise, it was very popular among the people. Judging from the content of customs, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month breaks all boundaries, which embodies the view that all people are equal and all people are Buddha-like. This custom of removing all shackles and breaking all boundaries is still lingering. The folk saying that "there is no size on the fifteenth day of the first month" is the echo of the ancient style.

Although the custom of putting out lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month originated from Buddhism and Buddhist activities. However, after the formation of this custom, its religious color gradually faded and became a carnival festival for the people.

The Origin and Customs of Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in China. The first month is January, and the ancients called the night "Xiao". The fifteenth day is the first full moon night in a year, so the fifteenth day of the first month is called the Lantern Festival. Also known as "Shangyuan Festival". According to the folk tradition in China, the moon is high in the sky and there are 10,000 lanterns on the ground on the festival night of Spring Festival, so people can watch lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns, eat Yuanxiao and have family reunion.

Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty, and it is said that it was set to commemorate Pinglu when Emperor Wen was in power. After the death of Emperor Liu Ying of the Han Dynasty, Lv Hou usurped power, and the Lushi family dominated the state affairs. After Lv Hou's death, Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others eliminated the influence of Lv Hou and established Liu Heng as the emperor of China. Because the day to calm Zhu Lu is the fifteenth day of the first month, after that, every year on the fifteenth night of the first month, Wendi will go out of the palace in disguise and have fun with the people as a souvenir. The fifteenth day of the first month is designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were held on the 15th day of the first month. Sima Qian listed the Lantern Festival as the main festival in taichu calendar.

There is a folk custom of eating Yuanxiao on the Lantern Festival in China. According to folklore, Yuanxiao originated from King Zhao of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first month, King Chu Zhao crossed the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweets with white outside and red inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius, and Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is also a sign of the resurrection of the Lord." Yuanxiao is a kind of holiday food, just like rice cakes in the Spring Festival and zongzi in the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating Yuanxiao, like a full moon, symbolizes family reunion and entrusts people with good wishes for their future life. Yuanxiao is called "Tangyuan", "Zi Yuan", "Floating Zi Yuan" and "Shui Yuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, solid or stuffed. Filled with bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, etc., boiled, fried, steamed and fried.

The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated from the "ternary theory" of Taoism. The fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are "heaven", "earth" and "man" respectively. The celestial official is happy and lights should be lit on the Lantern Festival. Burning lanterns and setting fire to the Lantern Festival has been a custom since the Han Dynasty, and it was paid more attention to in the Tang Dynasty. It has become a custom to light lanterns on the Lantern Festival. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of lighting the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying: "After the stars fell in the Han Dynasty, the balcony seemed to hang on the moon." The custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival has been passed down from generation to generation, and there are more and more kinds of lanterns, such as mirror lanterns, phoenix lanterns, glass lanterns and so on. Besides burning lanterns, there will be fireworks on the Lantern Festival.

"Lantern riddle", also known as "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of communication.

Besides celebrating the Lantern Festival, there are also religious activities. That is to say, most of the participants in "taking all kinds of diseases", also known as "baking all kinds of diseases" and "spreading all kinds of diseases" are women. They walk together or against the wall, or cross the bridge through the suburbs, in order to drive away the disease and eliminate the disaster.

As time goes by, there are more and more activities for the Lantern Festival. In many places, activities such as playing dragon lanterns, playing lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums were also added during the festival.

The origin and legend of lanterns II. Legend of lanterns; A long time ago, there were many poisonous snakes and wild animals that harmed people and animals everywhere, so people organized themselves and went up the mountain with bows and sticks to kill pests. There is a god bird, which is the pet of the Emperor of Heaven. It stayed bored in the sky, flew around the world, and was mistaken for a beast by hunters and shot.

The Emperor of Heaven was very angry, and immediately ordered the heavenly soldiers of the Ministry of Fire to send down the sky fire on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all the people, houses, livestock and property. Their words were heard by the little daughter of the Emperor of Heaven. The goddess is kind-hearted and can't bear to see innocent people suffer. At the risk of being punished by her father, she sneaked into the world of Xiangyun.

Taking advantage of the night, the goddess separated many incarnations and whispered a riddle in everyone's ear: "The fifteenth day of the first month is a disaster. It is better to destroy it than to light lanterns; Heaven and earth are inseparable, and it is booming to the fifth watch. "At dawn, people were surprised to find that they had the same dream. But what does this mean?

Guess east and guess west, and finally an old man guessed the secret: "The fairy in the sky taught us to light lanterns and have a good night, so that God would think that there was a fire on earth and there would be no disaster!" " Oh, I see. So every household got busy quickly. On the fifteenth day of the first month, they hung lanterns, set off fireworks, beat gongs and drums, and made a scene.

The heavenly soldiers who came down to earth to prevent fire were also enthusiastically pulled into their homes by the people, and everyone got a round and sweet glutinous rice dumpling. It is delicious. They completely forgot about fire prevention.

The custom of the origin of lanterns began in the Han Dynasty. During the Shun Di period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling founded Taoism and designated the 15th day of the first month as the "Shangyuan Festival". On this day, people light lanterns to offer sacrifices to "Taiyi God". This custom has been followed from generation to generation. In the Sui Dynasty, a grand Lantern Festival was held every year to entertain envoys from various countries.

The origin and legend of lanterns. The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night of the New Year. The brightest and roundest image of the full moon always reminds people of family reunion and all the best. The fifteenth day of the first month is also an important traditional festival in China, which is called "Lantern Festival". This day is also the brightest day of the year. Celebrating Lantern Festival has become a custom since the Western Han Dynasty. People will prepare lanterns on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, and all kinds of lanterns light up half the sky in the street.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, there were many interesting legends among the people: a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts that hurt people everywhere, so people organized to fight. A god bird landed on the earth because it got lost and was accidentally shot by an unsuspecting hunter. When the Emperor of Heaven knew this, he was very angry, so he issued an imperial edict, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the ground on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all people, animals and property. The daughter of the Emperor of Heaven is kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to let the people suffer innocently, so she risked her life and secretly drove Xiangyun to the world and told people about it. Hearing this, everyone was scared and didn't know what to do. At this time, an old man came up with an idea: "On the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, red lights are hung in front of every house, and firecrackers and fireworks are set off. God will think that people have been burned to death. " Everyone nodded and said yes, so they prepared themselves. On the fifteenth night of the first month, the heavenly soldiers looked into the mortal world and found that there was a fire on earth. They thought the fire was burning, so they told the emperor that there was no need to set fire to the ground. Hearing this, the emperor was very happy. In this way, people saved their lives and property. In order to thank the God's daughter for her kindness, and to commemorate this event, from now on, every household will set off fireworks and firecrackers to commemorate this day on the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month every year.

Deng Hua modeling

Before the Qing Dynasty, the lanterns displayed in the Lantern Festival in Qingxu area were mainly made of sorghum stalks and bamboo, and various papers were pasted on the lampshade. The shapes of lights are generally dragon lights, fish lights, crane lights, lotus lights, hydrangea lights, boat lights and other styles. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants gradually flourished, and the banks were all over the Great Wall and the north and south of the river. The development of commercial culture has promoted the prosperity of lamp culture. Palace lanterns, southern gauze lanterns and wire lanterns outside the Great Wall spread to the local area, which greatly developed and improved the local lighting technology and lighting varieties.