The Origin of Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Festival

There are different explanations about the origin of Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Festival in Shanxi. Some people say that it originated from offering sacrifices to Laozi, the originator of Taoism, and the Nine Songs are essentially the deformation of Taoist Taiji Diagram of Yin and Yang. Some people say it's a maze pattern in ancient wars. More specifically, Shang Zhouwang, the last monarch of Shang Dynasty, was cruel and heartless. At the invitation of Hou Wenzhi, the king of Xibe nationality, Jiang Ziya led an army to attack Zhou, and defeated the military forces of Shang and Zhou. In order to protect the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, a man surnamed Wen invited his friend Zhao Gongming to lead troops to resist, and Zhao Gongming was unfortunately killed. His sister "Three Clouds (Cloud, Xiao Qiong, Bixiao)" (Zhao Gongming three sisters) set up a nine-bend Yellow River array to break the Jiang Ziya array, and finally the "Three Clouds" array was destroyed. Later generations sacrificed their lives to commemorate Zhao Guangming and his "Three Xiao", and turned the Jiuqu Yellow River Array into an entertainment for people to watch.

Many interpretations of the Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Festival are the accumulation of social life and people's psychology in different historical periods, which endows this long-standing Han folk activity with richer cultural connotation. It shows the intelligence and ambition of the working people of the ancient Han nationality. The Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern Festival began to rise in the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, at that time, there was a Tailuo River (now Guanhe River) in the west of Pinglu County. It turned left and right, and it took nine turns to leave the country and flow into the Yellow River. Whenever there is heavy rain and flash floods, the river is like a slow wild horse, and mud and stones flow down with it, especially at the corner, livestock are flooded, houses are destroyed and Tian He is swallowed up. People are powerless in the face of natural disasters, so they have to beg for protection from the dragon god. Therefore, the rise of lighting sacrifices to the dragon god, I hope that people and animals will prosper year after year, and the grain will be abundant, commonly known as "lighting to keep peace." Because this kind of Han folk activity first arose in the village on the bank of Jiudaowan River, it is also called "Jiuqu Yellow River Lantern". Later, I don't know how many years later, due to crustal movement, the Tailuo River dried up and natural disasters decreased. The religious nine-song Yellow River Lantern Festival, which was originally aimed at seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, has evolved into an entertainment activity. After a year's efforts, people gathered here from all directions to celebrate the night festival and look forward to a long life, so that the ancient Yellow River was dressed up and rejuvenated.