Chaozhou townships over the Lantern Festival characteristics of customs urgently!

Customs around the Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first month, commonly known as the Festival of Lights, but many places are not only the 15th day of the open lights, but also as early as the beginning of the day on the twelfth day, to the sixteenth day of the day before the lights and the rise of the end of the day.

On and on the lights

Thirteen days, Tongzhou, Jiangsu Province, called "on the lights"; Dinghai, Zhejiang Province, is also the day to start on the lights until the eighteenth day of the fall of the lights; Luoyuan, Fujian Province, also from thirteen, the front of the house set up lights to the gaudy each other competitions; Hebei, Tianjin, even more from this day onwards, the door of the wall of the house above, must be hung with a square plate! Glass lamps, lamps painted with the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin characters in the novel; Yixing, Jiangsu Province, also in the two days before the day, set up wooden scaffolding, hanging lanterns, the first to try the lamp.

Guangdong Haifeng in the thirteenth day, the temple and the word of the clan, are hanging a lot of flower lanterns, where the children play gongs and drums, very lively, which is called "open light". Ordinary people should also prepare a lot of tea and invite their relatives and neighbors to drink it. Even if the host did not invite you to drink tea, if you are happy, you can go in, and the host will not be unwelcome.

Dongguan, Guangdong has "lamp head birthday, go home to receive the child" of the customary line, that is, the 13th day of the first month lamp head birthday, where the bride, must return to the husband's family, said to the mother's family "to receive the child" back to the husband's family, last year gave birth to a boy's home, this year must be in the Before the gods and ancestors, light a paper lantern; and in the second to thirteenth day of the first month, choose an auspicious day, in the Zongyi and the hall of God in the middle of hanging a very large octagonal paper lanterns on both sides and the main entrance, are hanging a pair of lotus lamps. In front of the landlords, Zaojun, Jingjun, Bedouma and the land gods in the streets and lanes, a small paper lantern with chiseled patterns is placed. Specially when the tide rises, the gods are worshipped. After the sacrifice, the parents take a knife and scrape off a petal on the lamp. Called "open lamp".

Guangdong Wengyuan to hold a "celebration of light", the day is pre-selected, but also in the thirteenth or fourteenth. On this day, all the families who gave birth to a boy last year must first prepare lanterns. This lamp is made of bamboo as a skeleton, colored paper paste, decorated with palace figures. Paper lanterns in the center of an oil lamp, hanging it with a red rope to the beam of the Zongyi. At the same time, beating gongs and drums, firecrackers, meaning "lights" more lively and "Ding" more prosperous. In addition, you have to buy a lot of lights, a kind of called "drum lamp", must be given to the temple; a kind of called "lotus lamp", must be given to the Goddess of Mercy. On this day, everyone has to eat and drink a lot, and the oil banquet is prepared by the family or clan that gave birth to the child. When they start to raise their glasses, everyone should say auspicious chants: "Congratulations, have more precious children! A newborn! The baby is born!"

Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, the "light" date, even earlier to the morning of the first ten days of the first month of the search day. Where the last year gave birth to a boy's family, we must purchase paper lanterns, hanging in the ancestral temple or temple, some people are afraid of their babies born difficult to raise, they have to hang paper lanterns in the same time on the tree or at the intersection. The family hosted a banquet, called "please lamp wine", the guests were invited to the table, to send silver ornaments to the newborn child, but also send sugar, persimmon cakes to congratulate.

Dragon lanterns and lion lanterns

The above is from the thirteenth day of the door lamps, hanging lamps on the wall, hanging lamps on the tree or by the intersection. Also, from the 13th, dragon lanterns and lion lanterns are commonly seen at the same time.

Wuchang, Hubei, "to get the dragon", from thirteen to fifteen, three days in a row. The length of the dragon lanterns ranges from more than ten to dozens of sections, with each section measuring from three to four to five or six feet in length. In the past, the two villages of the dragon to feast with each other, that is, the dragon of village A to village B to go to the feast, that the village of men, women and children to follow, often a day even ate more than a dozen tables, which is called "dragon for wine.

Changsha, Hunan Province, the "Lantern Festival" and "play dragon", more playful. Lantern Festival was held from eleven to fifteen, there are five days long; play dragon to eleven days in a row, from the fifth to fifteenth. The Lantern Festival is a parade of hundreds of people carrying various kinds of lanterns in the countryside or the city. Play dragon is the first to take "beads" of people to lead the dragon to the open space, dance dance, the dragon into the "Zhao" shape and other auspicious characters.

Chengdu, Sichuan dragon lanterns, lion lights out of the lamp period, as early as the first nine days of the first month. Dragon lanterns have pendulum dragon, double dragon, fire dragon and so on three kinds of pendulum dragon, double dragon mostly in the daytime play, in front of a red silk tie Yuanbao to lead. Fire Dragon in the night to meet, in front of a meteor fireball to open the way, lion lamps are also the night to meet, but also out during the day, there are laughing head monk, Sun Monkey and other jump together.

Sichuan Wanxian also from the sixth until the sixteenth stop, held the "Lantern Festival", the rich merchants race all kinds of lights.

Fourteen test lanterns

There are also many local lantern festivals, from the fourteenth day of the first month, for example: Shanxi, a number of areas Zhang Lantern is since the fourteenth "test lanterns" until the sixteenth day.

Suiyuan Guisui, since the fourteenth to sixteen, it will be cage fire, open lanterns.

Gansu Lintao, Shandong Zichuan, Huimin and Chahar Huai Lai, before and after the first yuan, open lights three nights.

Henan, limited to fourteen, fifteen, sixteen three days, known as the festival of lights.

Ki County, Henan, these three days, everywhere erected pagodas, Ao Shan, light shed, or set off fireworks, or play rice-planting theater.

Hebei Xinhe, from fourteen onwards, colorful lights, Xiao drums and noisy, the road is also lit fire tree.

Baoding, Hebei Province, the streets are also full of lights, and there are more people playing with lions, competing with each other to win.

Hebei Liangxiang and Wuqiao literati, fourteen to tour the Temple of Literature, walk on the Yangqiao, set off firecrackers.

Shouchun in Anhui Province, the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth three days, called the "light of the evening", the door burning lanterns and colorful, the court gongs and drums, making a big fuss "light of the evening", that is, without this fuss, may be subjected to the scourge of fire.

Fifteen Lanterns

"Lanterns" is the main day of the festival. Beijing Changping said the fifteenth day for the "main light" day. Yongping, Hebei, also said that hope on the first day of the year, through the streets open lamps, called the "main lamp".

Jiangsu Jintan, the Lantern Festival Lanterns, firecrackers, and play the "Lantern Festival Drums".

Jinmen, Fujian, on the New Year's Eve to worship God. Children cut bamboo paper lamps, stick figures on the birds and flowers, late at night to burn the lamps to see the color of the fire is red or black, to divine the year's rain and shine.

Changshan, Zhejiang Province, the countryside are hanging out all kinds of lights, or out to welcome the dragon lantern.

Huangpi, Hubei, villages are out of lanterns, lanterns on the book "wind and rain", "national prosperity and people's peace", "five winds and ten rain" and " ten thousand purple and red" and so on. The Lantern Festival is held in Jiangsu Province.

Suining, Jiangsu Province, the Lantern Festival of Shangyuan, villages sounding gongs and drums, cutting colors for lions, one person's head, one person's tail, dancing and leaping everywhere. There are even dragons with red candles burning in them, and dozens of people hold poles to welcome the dragons, parading through the cities and towns, with the lights shining as if it were daytime.

Shanghai play more wonderful, alone a dragon lantern, there are 18 sections long, 36 handsome young men, colorful pants and brocade clothes, dressed in expensive, each stick with the foot of the lamp, in the sound of the gongs and drums, dance a lot of tricks.

Guiyang's long dragon, eyes bigger than a bowl, beard three feet long, spitting out the dragon's tongue. Dragon in front of someone holding a "treasure", dancing up and down, called "dragon grab treasure", the dragon lamp passes by, burning "mud table flowers", which is called "catching the dragon! "

Zhejiang, China.

Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, in addition to haunted lights, dusk burning firecrackers. There are "rising three levels", "gold basin moon", "through the sky rat" and so on.

Taiwan around the Lantern Festival, but also quite lively, in addition to "get the dragon", "get the lion", there is "through the foot of the lamp" of the customary line. On this night, women go to worship the "midwife", wishing to give birth to a phosphorus child. There is a proverb that says, "If you pass through the lanterns, you will give birth to a child; if you pass through the lanterns, you will give birth to a child." So they hung lanterns under the eaves of their houses, and they carried the lanterns and walked under the hanging lanterns, saying that they could have a boy that year. This year, you can have a boy.

The girl door to see the man of their choice, the night of the Lantern Festival to go to his home to enjoy the onions or wild vegetables. Men should sleep very late on the night of the Lantern Festival, saying that the later the longer life. Old men and women also have "listen to the incense" of the popular belief, they first burn incense in front of the god worship, and then throw mussels, according to its direction to hold the cup and mussel to line, eavesdropping on passers-by, or standing outside the walls of the house. When they heard the first words, they brought them back to the god and threw the mussel to divine the year's fortune. Literary people gathered under the lamp, everyone shoot Wenhu, which is called "lamp guessing".

Northern Taiwan, the night of the Lantern Festival, everyone has to go out to meet the Fire God, they put the Fire God statue in a topless sedan chair, carried by two bare-legged young people running, passing through the place, the family put the paper firecrackers to welcome.

Golden Dragon and Silver Dipper Lantern Festival

Whenever the Spring Festival or Lantern Festival, in the famous overseas Chinese hometowns in Guangdong and Taiwan's ancestral home of Fengshun County in the southwest border of the Puzai District, there has been a "Golden Dragon", "Silver Dipper" haunted the New Year's folk activities.

Puzhai District, Fengshun County, burned "Golden Dragon", "silver bucket" activities began in the Qing Dynasty Qianlong six years (A.D. 1741). Legend has it that in ancient times, the 21st grandson of the Dragon King of the East China Sea, called Turbulent Dragon, was sent by his grandfather to the Lotus Mountain Range in Southern Guangdong Province to govern Chiling (which is said to be the present Puzhai District). After assuming office, this dragon acted arbitrarily and made a mess of the area by preying on the people. The people couldn't stand it anymore and sued the old Dragon King. The Dragon King ordered his youngest daughter, Qingfeng, to wear a sword to drive Gua Nan Yue. One day, while the turbid dragon was drunk, he killed it and chopped it into four parts: the head, neck, body and tail. Qingfeng brought the decapitated dragon head back to the Dragon Palace to report to his father, leaving the remaining three segments, which became the dragon body in the present-day Puzhai District of Fengshun County. The Dragon's Neck (i.e. the present Dragon's Neck Reservoir) at the border of Jieyang, Jiexi and Fengshun counties, and the Dragon's Tail in Jieyang County. Later, the people of Puzhai District, this moving folklore, skillfully passed down through the burning of the "golden dragon", "silver bucket" form.

First of all, the burning of the "silver bucket". The square on the spread, the night, only to hear the deafening milling gun sounded, in the sound of gongs and drums, hundreds of young men waving torches, braving the cold, bare shoulders along the field to fly around. By the local elders, celebrities or overseas Chinese leaders, overseas Chinese sages ignited the fire, only to see countless small rockets shot at the "silver bucket" head. "Silver bucket" abruptly changed, showing "peacock open screen" new posture, but see in the fireworks show colorful, dazzling. At this time, the "silver bucket" in the leisurely floating down the eye-catching "couplets", which reads "to celebrate the New Year (Lantern Festival) good gas, I wish you all the best" and other words and phrases. "Silver bucket" burned to the highest layer, will show the hanging baskets, which each layer of rockets at this time also all arrows, fire snakes, silver flowers, gold beads come from the sky, it is really like being in the special flowers and flowers, dazzled.

Burning "silver bucket" program came to an end, in the darkness of the night, "Golden Dragon" appeared. In the hydrangea lead the way, more than 20 stout youths Prime Dragon fire, holding 5 meters high, body length of more than 30 meters of the fire dragon, as if out of the reddish-red fog in the haze. In the sound of a happy cannon, followed by 50 or 60 young people, hand-held "small dragon", "golden carp", "lobster", "ao fish "and so on, forming a magnificent procession. Suddenly, the golden dragon from the mouth spit out colorful gold beads, at once the dragon body around the launch of colorful, radiant change pearl, suddenly, the golden dragon and turn to vomit contending Yanqi, gesture and posture change of red, orange, yellow, green, green, blue, purple color is different from the same chrysanthemums building empty. This is a beautiful scene on earth, as if the audience are brought into the fairyland to go.

Customs of the Lantern Festival in Chaoshan

The Chaoshan area, such as the year of the boy's family, since the eleventh day of the Lunar Calendar, one after another to the township in the large Zongxitang hanging lights. Rich people's lamp screen four to five layers, ordinary people one to two layers. The content of the light screen is mostly myths and legends and historical stories, such as "Immortal concubine sends her son", "Guo Ziyi celebrates his birthday", "Providing peach will be", "Fengyi Pavilion" and so on. All kinds of characters on the screen are made of clay and various colors of fabrics, with different and lifelike shapes. The name of the family is written on the red paper pasted under each lantern screen for people to view and compare. From the day the lanterns were hung on the 11th day, it was called "starting the lanterns", but in fact it was "starting the ding". Meaning that the newborn boy (male) into the ceremony, but also contains the wish for a bright future meaning, all the lights of the family, since the date of the lights, every night to the ancestral hall to light the lights, until the 18th.

On the Lantern Festival, red lanterns are hung in front of every house to welcome good luck. The township organized a lantern tournament, to participate in the tournament lanterns of various types, different shapes, refined and beautiful. Such as lotus lamps, plum blossom lamps, carp lamps, horse lanterns, landscape painting lamps and a variety of styles of palace lanterns, converging into a fire dragon, brilliant as day. As Ouyang Xiu, a writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, depicted the Lantern Festival at that time, "Last year's Lantern Festival, the lights of the flower market were like daytime". Together with the costumed "Jing Jing" stilt walkers, the Chaozhou gongs and drums are a lively and unusual Lantern Festival.

The night of the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, Chaoshan, there is also the so-called "bride down the ancestral hall" custom; where the countryside in the year of the newlywed bride, it is the night to the ancestral hall to see the lights. The bride beforehand powder dress, wearing a red coat, under the long skirt, wearing a phoenix crown, Zhu Lian hanging face. Ordinary people are wearing a "civilized hat" (with dyed feathers and color velvet tied into a half-moon shape), and then more than two zhang long, in the middle of a large flower tied to a ball of red silk, tied to wear in the "civilized hat", red silk belt from the temples down to the feet, wearing a red flower long shirt, fair and graceful, just like a fairy! Then the bridesmaids (one or two) will be present. Then escorted by the bridesmaids (one to two people) to the ancestral hall to watch the lights.

Inside the ancestral shrine, the lights and candles brilliant, people bustling, crowded to watch the lights to see the bride, the bride came to the ancestral shrine, the first bridesmaids lit three candles of incense, so that the bride top incense kneeling ancestors, praying for a son next year. After worshiping the ancestors, the bridesmaids and the bride around the hall, screen by screen to see the lights. Afterwards, the bride stepped out of the ancestral hall, Tingli ancestral steps to watch the opera (Chaozhou opera), so that people can watch. At this time, people flocked to watch, especially male youth, you push me to squeeze, eager to squeeze to the bride in front of a feast for the eyes. Bride to watch the opera is just a form, for a short period of time, then escorted by the bridesmaids bride home. This custom, known as the "bride fell Tong Tong".

The next day, hanging lights of the family, a feast, wide clear friends and relatives to celebrate the joy, commonly known as "eat Ding wine".

The eighteenth day of the end of the ceremony to hang the lamp, the lamp from the ancestral home to bring the lamp home, in order to get a son next year, known as "thank you lamp".

Chopping stone lanterns

Night of the Lantern Festival, the ancient town of Calamite has always been a lantern, the night of the street people drums and music, scullery under the window, lights and colors, a colorful welcome to the light of the team embraced the street. In the drums and bamboos in the sound of singing and dancing slowly marching, watching the lights of the people from all directions flocked to the town of Calamity Stone surrounded by water, is really one of the most influential local folklore activities.

The Chakashi Lantern Festival is rumored to have begun in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, with a history of more than 1,200 years. It is characterized by a combination of static (lights and colors) and dynamic (welcoming lights, tour lights), and the city of all generations of lanterns will be both similar and different. According to "Shaanxi Chuan Tu Zhi" and other local books since the first month of the summer calendar on the 13th day of the bamboo shed in the light of the pass through to the 18th party rest. Lights period began three days after adding two days to five clear nights for the omen of grain harvest. Welcome the light team first to the fire shooting star to open the bottom followed by pop-up torch, colorful flags, hard cards, pipes and strings, and then landscape and flower lights, birds and animals lights, insects and fish, bees and butterflies lights, pavilions and pavilions lights, bead curtains umbrella lamps and so on until the last to the fire shooting star hall. It is really "human tree silver flower full of street dance, Xiao drum pleasant smell daybreak". Another feature of the Chopping Stone Lantern Festival is that it carries out colorful mass activities on the same night as the display of the lanterns. Some set off fireworks, called "race moonlight"; and made gold fall to the ground, known as "drop gold" to entertain the guests. Some of the flame nitrate iron chips mixed production of orchids, plums, chrysanthemums, magnolias, daffodils of the shape of the flickering like life, the formation of a spectacle, the relative angle is called "Sai Hua". The famous poet Zhu Shuzhen in the Song Dynasty wrote this poem "Last year's New Year's Eve flower market lights like day. Last year, the flower market was lit up like daytime on New Year's Eve, and the sun rose above the willow tresses. On this year's New Year's Eve, the moon and the lanterns are still the same. I don't see last year's people, my sleeves are wet with tears." Write a woman to pursue the freedom of love can not get the mood. Extremely poignant and touching. This shows the long history of the lantern festival. The third and main feature of the Chopping Stone Lantern Festival is that the lanterns on display are famous for their needlepoint patterns. Its unique artistic style is to use the needle in the lamp carefully pricked out a variety of patterns, or landscape flowers, or birds and animals, insects and fish and characters, or widely circulated in the folk "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" and other stories, and then light candles in the lamp, or install electric lights, light through the needle point to reveal a beautiful and realistic three-dimensional paintings, magnificent and unusual. No wonder the former to use "fire amplitude of God's work to pass the wonderful state, if more than the Danqing Jue more beautiful" poem to praise it.

Which to tie the skeleton and needle work is the most important, especially wrist kung fu is very deep, as long as there is a count of irregularity will be abandoned. A more complex lantern crafts often take a year and a half, or even a few years to complete.

B殃石灯彩的品种繁多，题材丰富。 Character lamps Zhong Kui catching ghosts, Liu Hai play wax and so on. Pavilion and pavilion lights have West Lake Terrace, Ling Mei Pei and other famous; there are also 18 large images composed of bead curtain umbrella lamps, such as thousands of flowers and flowers, not only the reputation of the whole country. And world-renowned.

Two lions playing ball

Quanzhou lanterns

Fujian Quanzhou lanterns have a long history and unique local color. According to "Quanzhou Fu Zhi" records, the ancient Quanzhou lanterns have a very high level of craftsmanship, some around the edge of the lights to practice, decorated with tassels, drums ringing inside, the bell should be outside; some of the lights of the three layers, the fragrance of miles; can be described as the sound, shape, color, aroma are ready, marvelous.

In Quanzhou lanterns in the most peculiar is the incense lamp. This lamp is octagonal palace lamp. Not only is it draped, prongs, tassels, etc., all with incense beads on all sides, inlaid with incense soil molded into the Eight Immortals, the upper and lower set of two large incense plate, after lighting, the fragrance burst, really ancient color. It is rumored that this kind of incense lamp was originally worshiped in the temple in southern Fujian, and then passed to the folk development into a unique lantern in Quanzhou. Paper move lotus lamp is the old traditional lamps in Quanzhou, petals with color paper into. Quanzhou custom of the Lantern Festival, the bride's family must give the newly married daughter, son-in-law a letter of lotus lamps, which a red and a white, mixed in the bed of the newcomer. Nowadays, although people in southern Fujian do not believe in this kind of divination, but the custom of sending lotus lamps on the Lantern Festival is still preserved, and the lanterns are made more chic and exquisite. Material silk lanterns are also traditional lanterns in Quanzhou was lost. After the founding of New China, it was discovered by Li Yaobao, a famous paper-carving artist. The lanterns are made of transparent glass filaments and covered with a variety of ancient paper-carving patterns. The light through the folding of the glass wire forms a neon-like light, which sets off a paper-carving pattern as if it were a bas-relief sculpture, which is marvelous to see. Rich in local festive colors of the eight-knot lantern is also a favorite lantern of the people of Quanzhou. Minnan folk festive customs with a red rope tied back into eight knots, symbolizing good luck, eight-knot lamps modeled after this shape. On the basis of the traditional eight-knot lantern, now the people of Quanzhou have created a big red eight-knot lantern. It is a very novel idea, in each of the eight knots embedded in a delicate small round lamp called unity lamp.

Lantern riddles and eating Lantern Festival

The so-called "Lantern Guessing" is "Lantern Riddles".

Hongdong, Shanxi Province, the literati traveled to see the lanterns to stick poems and hide riddles, called "playing lanterns". Jiangsu Jiading to hide the first verse and gifts, hanging on the wall, to be guessed to take. This "lamp riddle", also known as "play wall". Jiangsu Gaoyou, a variety of riddles out of the lantern society, we guess, known as the "tiger". Yizheng, Jiangsu Province, there are hidden poetic lines, anyone guess, the winner of the gift of ink and paper fan, known as the "lamp society". Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, also will be hidden head verses for people to guess, called "guessing lamp". All over Guangdong, made into riddles rewarded for guessing called "light letter". Shandong Dengzhou lanterns in the street, the literati gathered to guess, said "playing the one-legged tiger". The same is a lantern riddle everywhere has a different name. Lantern folk have specific food: Jiangsu Wujin routinely eat "sugar round". Thirsty Ning, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, the area, eat powder round, known as "lamp round". Jiangxi Yongfeng, rice flour made into pills, called "on the yuan round". Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, called "Tangyuan". Wuxi and Jingjiang, Jiangsu Province, called "reunion". In Huating, Jiangsu Province, everyone eats oil-hammered pearl dumplings at the banquet that night. In Dingzhou, Hebei Province, people ate oil-hammered powder rounds. Xianning in Shaanxi Province calls it "Eating Lantern Festival Round". In Shenyang, Liaoning Province, and Quzhou, Hebei Province, the soup dumplings eaten on that day are called "Yuanxiao". In Huayang, Sichuan Province, broken rice is made into rounds. Also known as "sugar rounds". The fifteenth day of the first month. This day to eat "Lantern Festival round", can be said to be the traditional food customs in all parts of China.

It is said that more than two thousand years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, Zhou Bo, Chen Hu Kanping "Zhulu's Chaos", Han Wendi ascended to the throne on the day of the 15th day of the first month. After that, every year on the night of this day, he had to go out of the palace to play, "with the people with the music", in order to show the celebration. Because the "night" in the ancient language is also called "night", the first month is also known as the first month, Han Wendi will be the first month of the fifteenth day as the "Lantern Festival". Every night on this day. Up and down the country to celebrate the Lantern Festival. Song Dynasty, the folk that is a popular food, with a variety of fruit bait for filling, outside wrapped in wimpy rice flour rolled into balls, cooked, eat sweet and savory, flavorful. Poet Zhu Shuzhen in the "rice balls" poem praised: "light back absolutely better than chicken meat, slippery prefer crab eye soup, this glutinous rice balls in the spoon when floating and sinking, as Zhou Bidai in the "Pingyuan renewed draft" in the depiction of the "star in the clouds, beads floating in the turbid water," so the earliest called So it was first called "Floating Yuanzi", but later it was renamed "Lantern Festival Round". Quanzhou and Jinjiang Emperor, "Lantern Festival round" production method is generally the first filling pinched into round particles, and then wet, placed in the glutinous rice flour in the constant rolling, repeated several times, until rolled into the appropriate size until the mixing of its filling to fried and mashed peanuts as the main, together with sugar, sesame seeds, mixing the winter claw sugar and a small amount of fresh orange peel silk, sweet but not greasy, is particularly popular. It is especially popular. In the early years of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai usurped the fruits of the revolution and became the president. He wanted to be the "emperor", but was afraid of the people's opposition, so he was always on edge all day long. Because "yuan" and "yuen", and "night" and "eliminate" have the same sound, "yuan yuen" has the same sound as "yuan yuen". Lantern" has the suspicion of "Yuan Shikai being disappeared". He was so vain that he ordered to change the name of "Yuanxiao Yuan" to "Tangyuan" on the Lantern Festival in 1913. After the fall of Yuan Shikai, the name "Yuanxiao Yuan" was restored in most areas.

Celebration of a good year

Farmers hope for a good year's harvest at the Lantern Festival. Therefore, the custom of "burning silkworms in the field" was popular in the area of Linghu, Wuxing, Zhejiang Province. That night, we took the delicate and dexterous paper lanterns, to the Shangyuan Bridge to concentrate, some fireworks, some read the hymns, praying for this year's bumper crop and silkworms to benefit. Jiangsu Jiading farmers that night to raise a high torch, shining all over the field, said "shine field silkworms". Jiangsu Wujin's field, with a bald broom, old hemp crafty, bamboo branches and reeds made into a ten-foot-long torch, burning in the field, which is called "shine field wealth". Chishui, Guizhou farmers, this night, to be held in addition to locusts and rats of the customary line, the way is lit by the children and incense sticks, inserted in the field mouth and sing and sing later, back home, thrown out of the wood inside the door, close the door. Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, people with bamboo poles from the kitchen rushed to the bedroom, and from the bedroom rushed to the door, said "drive snake hiking", said that in this way, you can make snakes, insects, rats, etc. no longer appear.

Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to be held on the Yuan to use wood to build a high shelf, above the cross hanging many papier-maché white fruit lamps. It is said that this lamp will avoid all plagues.

Welcome the purple nun

The day of the Lantern Festival, the girls have to welcome the purple nun's customary behavior. Hubei Jianli, Hunan Guiyang also called "welcome purple nun", is to divine the next year's silkworms or other things. Yongding, Hebei Province, said "invite the toilet girl". Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, said "pick up the pit girl", men are not allowed to participate. Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, called "sacrifice to carry the day Niangniang". Xiamen, Fujian, said "sacrifice Niangniang", which by the 5 to 16-year-old girls, prepared peanuts, cypress orange, vegetables and rice and chicken to the toilet to sacrifice her, each person to do a very small cloth shoes after the sacrifice to the shoe incineration, will be wrapped up with the ash of the shoe vegetables, and then thrown to the toilet for the application of the Niangniang. Yunnan Shiping said "seven girls", please read her words. Henan Taoyuan please 6 girl is in front of the pile of feces. Zhejiang shaoxing said please "gray ji girl", this is a small girl to the stove sudden gray between the civil amphitheater covered with a woman with a cap on behalf of her, to invite her to the front of the hall. A chopstick is inserted right in front of the amaori, and two girls hook the amaori with their fingers in the air, while another girl kneels down to ask for a divination.

Fallen lanterns and walk a hundred diseases

Beijing Changping said the sixteen is "residual lanterns" day. On this day, all over the world have "walk a hundred diseases" of the customary behavior. Anhui Shouchun, Shaanxi Lin Yu, Shanxi Datong, Hebei level, Jiangsu Jiangning, Chengdu, Sichuan, Chahar Weizhou, men and women are away from home to travel, called the "walking disease". Yunnan Zhenghuang young and old harmonize out of the bottom also have to insert incense on the side of the road. Jilin folk women's group step flat sand, or rolling one after another, said can "get rid of bad luck". Jiangsu Wujin, women traveling at night, in the street to walk across three bridges. Tongzhou, Jiangsu Province, until the sixteenth day of the first month to be considered "down lights". Yizheng, Jiangsu, Tai County, "falling lights" to eat noodles, there are proverbs, "on the lights of the round son of falling lights face". Wuchang, Hubei, this day will be the whole township of dragon lanterns in the temple, the head and tail will be burned, the dragon body retained until next year. Guangdong Yangjiang paper lanterns incinerated. And all the New Year's embellishments collected. So this Lantern Festival is completely over.

Beijing's Lantern Festival now and then

The Lantern Festival, commonly known as the Festival of Lights, is an ancient traditional festival in China, where every family eats "Lantern Festival" and watches lanterns. Beijing's lanterns have a long history. Since the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty to the "June 7th Incident" before the more than two hundred and seventy years, can be divided into three phases; one for the Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong three dynasties of the "Great Pro-lighting period"; the second for the Jiaqing to the Guangxu "free to put the lights of the period! "; three for" electricity instead of candle period ".

Da Ling light period, couple called "Palace lights". "Big Dancing", according to the "Records of the Grand Historian" cloud: "the world's joy of drinking also", that is, the emperor's special order to order the people of the world *** with the gathering of drinking. Celebrate the festival. The big pro-light can be divided into two kinds of lights, outside the lights. According to "medicine township superfluous pen" records: kangxi twenty-two years dibutyl sebacate in the first month, the court issued barren main one thousand two. In the back of the door (that is, today's Diamen) set up a high platform, the Pear Orchid act "Meilian Legend" plays, first Jiangning, Suzhou and Zhejiang, three weaving warehouse system offer python robes and jade belts, beads and phoenix crowns, fish scale armor, all in gold, silver for it. Colorful lights and flowers, day and night, this is what is known in ancient times as the "big pro". According to the above put lights, theater place is now outside the north wall of Jingshan Shouhuang Temple, Jingshan Street. At that time, the street around the wild goose wing building (long since dismantled by the Ministry of the Interior set up here "official lookout", the emperor himself on the stage to the poor people to throw money Shi lanterns. Firecrackers around the clock, visible at the time of the pomp and circumstance. This is the inner light is also in the inner city lights. According to the "qing taolu class notes" is contained: "kangxi yichou yuan long sheng favoritism order in the south China sea sub big release lights. So that the subjects to look at, imitation drunkenness." Nanhaizi is now Nanyuan. At that time, the first in the South Park outside the line of officials about miles Xu square circle, Zhou planted swab wood (diagonally buried in the ground stakes tone complex to red gnarled, and then built four large shed in which hanging fire box, and in the flat ground tree up eight poles, hanging on the flag stupidity, officials and civilians young and old men and women are allowed to go in to watch. To be withdrawn from the Palace of the war Zhang lights at the bottom of the Palace of five people: from the inside out, all red clothes, were to be colorful, the person stretched two lamps, each perched on the orientation, high and low plate Jennifer, if the Ken Mangche no beads light lying to form a spectacle.

Free release period, since the end of the Qianlong, the ascension of the day will be released from the official lights into the free release of commercial and private lights. The Qing dynasty on the Yuan lanterns held in the Yuanmingyuan mountain, sometimes in the palace or North Chun Park, will be held in the Kangxi dynasty, the old palace lights and people with the people, changed to the Royal Court in the palace alone to watch the lights, the general merchants are also due to the life of the rich, their own free to put the lights. Free light can be divided into four kinds, Yamen lights, field fire, temple lights, store lights. Nga where the Qing court belongs to the Yamen mouth put lights. This kind of light originally in the Kangxi time there, and the Qing government allocated special funds. Since the early years of the Jiaqing to the people by earmarked for donations, and then by the Yamen slightly subsidized. Every festival, there will be a Yamen with a donation book to the merchants, rich donations.

Field fire, commonly known as "fireworks will be donated", is a powerful street and good show merchants, collusion with some gangsters, door-to-door to ask for money, called "put the box of money", with the money to buy a large number of fireworks. Burning in the neighborhood square. Since the twelfth night of the first month to the sixteenth night of the first month, in this five-day all-night fireworks free discharge. At this time, a sea of people, ten thousand heads, some lost children, some lost embroidered shoes, and even crowded down trampled to death, there are also hooligans take the opportunity to molest women. At that time, the West Side of Taiping Lake, two corridor temple, Garden Palace, after the pit and the northeast of the city's empty site, there are such a fire will be. Temple lights, is then the lights hanging from the temples, such as the West Side of the City God Temple, all land temple. East City of Lvgong Hall, Erlang Temple; Daxing County of the City God Temple, North City of the Fire God Temple, Guandi Temple and other places are very famous. Guangxu Geng Gan Incident before due to rising prices, the high cost of living, the people are overburdened, the temple income is very small, was successively suspended.

Pave where the stores in the festival hanging lanterns and fireworks flower boxes. This kind of lights in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China is the most flourishing, is Beijing's famous lights. Such as the ginger store to ice lamp and malt dragon lamp famous; lamp fan store and specializing in the sale of gauze lamp store, all kinds of official lamps, gui lamp, character lamps and other styles complete. Although the major stores are also known as yarn lamps, but the red horn bubble hanging in front of the row of lamps, unique to this industry; satin shop of yarn lamps, in the painting is very fine, there is a whole set of "Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Dream of the Red Chamber" drawings, quite similar to today's "Little People's Books". The period of using electricity instead of candles was from the Xuantong period of the Qing Dynasty to before the "July 7 Incident". During this period, only "temple lights" and "store lights" every year. Temple lights or Wanping City God Temple, Baiyunguan and Donghuamen three. These three lights are still the same. Store lamps are mostly replaced by electric lamps instead of candles, especially in the early years of the Republic of China's "New World" and "South of the city amusement park" as well as the front gate of the Dajie Banner, the two belts are completely with electric lamps with the main body of the lamps painted with a variety of flowers, made of characters. Republic of five years (AD 1916) and increase the flower box, was a sensation. After the "July 7 Incident" due to the people's livelihood, lanterns gradually declined.

Now, due to the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the traditional Lantern Festival has not only been restored, but also has a new development.

Tal Temple Lantern Festival

Tal Temple, also known as the "Tal Temple", the Tibetan language called "Gongben", meaning 100,000 statues of Buddha. It is the Tibetan Plateau Lamaism Gelugpa famous six temples, is located in the town of Rushaer, Qinghai Province, the ancient city of Xining, only 20, 30 kilometers away. According to Tibetan and Chinese historical documents. This is the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, the founder of Lamaism Gelugpa. Tsongkhapa was born in 1357 AD, and his real name was Lobsang Zaiba. ZongKaBa is his disciples and believers to his name, meaning the waterfront people, according to Tibet Buddhism (i.e., lamaism) historical records and local legends, ZongKaBa was born in the place where later in the above grew a bodhi tree, his birth mother built a small tower next to the tree. 1424 years and someone built a larger tower. 1419 years ZongKaBa in Lhasa after the death of his disciples and believers in order to commemorate him, in the Ming jiajing thirty-ninth year (1419 years). In Ming Jiajing thirty-nine years (A.D. 1561) in this place began to build the temple, after hundreds of years of operation, only to develop into today's halls, pagodas, monasteries and other buildings in more than one building of the ancient complex, covering an area of more than six hundred hectares. The entire monastery building in the forested hillside, according to the mountain heights of the staggered, with a high combination of Tibetan and Chinese architectural art. Into the hall, facing the stand as high as 12.5 meters of silver tower, wrapped with a white hatha, the temple enshrined ZongKaBa God seat, about one zhang high, the Department of pure gold casting, is a piece of rare treasures. 1961 the State Council promulgated the temple for the national key cultural relics protection unit.

Tal Temple has been known as "ghee lamps". Some call this ghee lamps for the "Thar Temple lights", some called called the "Chad ghee flowers". Thar Temple Lantern Festival is held every year on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. This day is also China's traditional Lantern Festival. This night, from Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai to thousands of farmers and herdsmen in the thousands of lights under the famous ghee flowers. Ghee flowers, also known as "pick", but also the Tal Temple's "three best" (painting embroidery, woodcutting and oil sculpture) one. Ghee use crystal white. Soft and delicate ghee with a variety of pigments, molded into a variety of rare flowers. Characters or other images are supported by wooden frames and displayed in front of the Lecture Hall. Oil sculpture not only has a high level of art and unique artistic style, and large-scale, colorful content. There are exotic flowers and plants, there are thousands of rare birds and animals, there are vivid and realistic patterns of mountains and rivers, there are small and exquisite pavilions, there are taken from the story of the sutra of the historical figures and so on. These colorful ghee flower sculpture, in the light of the lamps and the brilliant surrounding halls reflect each other. The former poem: "the Lantern Festival Dharma, the cold moon is