The 15th day of the first month is China's Lantern Festival. Although the Spring Festival holiday has passed, the Lantern Festival has not arrived, and the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival will not dissipate. After the Lantern Festival is the real meaning of the new year. The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China. Many customs of the Lantern Festival have been handed down since ancient times. This article will tell you about the traditional customs of the Lantern Festival. Let's have a look.
Eat yuanxiao
Lantern Festival is eaten on the 15th day of the first month. As a food, Lantern Festival has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel food for the Lantern Festival was popular among the people. This kind of food was first called "fuyuanzi" and later called "Yuanxiao". Businessmen also called it "Yuanbao". The Lantern Festival is filled with white sugar, rose, sesame, bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernel, nut kernel and jujube paste. It is wrapped with glutinous rice powder into a circle. It can be meat or vegetable with different flavors. It can be boiled in soup, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion.
enjoy the Lantern Festival
During the reign of emperor Yongping of the Han and Ming Dynasties (A.D. 58-75), in order to carry forward the Buddha Dharma, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty ordered to "light a lamp to show the Buddha" in the palace and temple on the 15th night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of lighting lanterns on the 15th night of the first month has gradually expanded in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture.
The custom of putting lanterns on the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented light Market in the Tang Dynasty. After the Mid Tang Dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival. In the heyday of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 685-762), the lamp Market in Chang'an was very large, with 50000 lights and a wide variety of lanterns. The emperor ordered people to make a huge lamp building, with a width of 20 rooms and a height of 150 feet. It was golden and spectacular.
The Lantern Festival will continue to develop in the past dynasties, and the Lantern Festival will last longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty was "one day before and after the Shangyuan Dynasty". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the 16th, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was extended to a full ten days from the 8th day to the 18th day.
In the Qing Dynasty, when the Manchus came to dominate the Central Plains, the palace no longer held lantern fairs, but the Folk Lantern fairs were still spectacular, and the date was shortened to five days. " Guessing lantern riddles, also known as playing lantern riddles, is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many people guessing riddles during the Lantern Festival in the capital Lin'an. At the beginning, good people wrote riddles on paper and pasted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles can inspire wisdom and interest, they are welcomed by all levels of society in the process of spreading.
Chinese Valentine's Day
The Lantern Festival is also a romantic festival. In the feudal traditional society, the Lantern Festival also provides an opportunity for unmarried men and women to get to know each other. Young girls in the traditional society are not allowed to go out for free activities, but they can go out together for fun during the festival. The Lantern Festival is just an opportunity for friendship. Unmarried men and women can also find objects for themselves through the Lantern Festival. During the Lantern Festival, it is also an opportunity for young men and women to meet their lovers.
Go all wrong
In addition to celebrations, the Lantern Festival also has religious activities. That is, the participants of "walking all kinds of diseases", also known as "baking all kinds of diseases" and "dispersing all kinds of diseases", are mostly women. They walk together, either by the wall, or across the bridge in the suburbs, in order to drive away diseases and disasters.