Why do lanterns in China hang on the door?

Lantern is a general term, which can be subdivided into many parts, such as dragon lantern, palace lantern, lantern, gauze lantern, basket lantern, dragon and phoenix lantern, corner lantern, tree lantern, fireworks lantern, mushroom lantern, etc. Its shapes are round, square, cylindrical and polygonal.

China's lanterns symbolize reunion and celebration. Later, with the changes of the times, lanterns have become symbols of beautiful things. Red lanterns are played, whether on New Year's Eve, the fifteenth day of the first month, or various traditional festivals in China, people will hang big red lanterns on their doors.

Extended information:

The origin of lanterns

There are many explanations about the origin of lanterns. One widely circulated explanation is that the custom of playing lanterns on the Lantern Festival began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Zhuang, Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, advocated Buddhism. He heard that there were Buddhist monks observing Buddhist relics and lighting lanterns to worship Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first month, so that all the gentry and ordinary people hung lanterns on that night.

In the future, this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually became a grand folk festival. This festival has experienced the development process from the court to the people and from the Central Plains to the whole country. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, in order to celebrate the country's prosperity and people's security, people tied lanterns, symbolizing "the colorful dragons are auspicious, the people are prosperous and the country is strong" by flickering lights, and the custom of lanterns has been widely popular since then.