Date of Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar.

The Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Xiaozhengmu, Yuanxi or Lantern Festival, takes place on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar every year. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, the ancients called "night" for "night", the first month of the fifteenth is the first full moon night of the year, so the first month of the fifteenth for the "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "three yuan", the first day of the first month is also known as the "Festival of the first yuan", the Lantern Festival customs since ancient times to the warm and festive custom of watching the lanterns.

The formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, rooted in the ancient folk custom of turning on the lights to pray for blessings. According to general information and folklore, the 15th day of the first lunar month has been emphasized in the Western Han Dynasty, but the 15th day of the first lunar month Lantern Festival is really as a national folk festival after the Han Wei Dynasty. The rise of the custom of lighting on the 15th day of the first lunar month is also related to the spread of Buddhism to the east, the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism flourished, civil servants and people generally in the 15th day of the first lunar month, "light for Buddha", the Buddhist lamps and lanterns were spread all over the people from the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival that became a legal thing.

The festival period and festival customs

The Lantern Festival festival period and festival activities, is with the development of history and extend, expand. In terms of the length of the festival, the Han Dynasty is only one day, to the Tang Dynasty has been three days, the Song Dynasty is up to five days, the Ming Dynasty is since the eighth light, until the night of the first month of the seventeenth before the lights, is the longest in Chinese history, and the Spring Festival of the Festival of Lights. Day for the city, bustling, night lights, spectacular. Especially the elaborate and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival.

To the Qing Dynasty, and increased the dragon dance, lion dance, running boats, stilt walkers, rice-planting songs and other "hundred plays" content, but the festival was shortened to four to five days. In ancient China, the Lantern Festival was a festival full of romantic colors. Women who usually stayed at home could go out to enjoy the lanterns on this day, which also provided opportunities for young men and women to meet each other. The Lantern Festival creates a good opportunity for people to express their love, and it is also the "Valentine's Day" in ancient China.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Lantern Festival