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Is the Lantern Festival a legal holiday? Is the 2018 Lantern Festival freeway free

4hw.com.cn: 2018 Lantern Festival is coming. It is the first major traditional festival after the Spring Festival. Do you know what day it is? Is 2018 Lantern Festival a legal holiday? Is the Lantern Festival express free? Let's take a look at it together with sihai.com.

What day is the Lantern Festival in 2018

Friday, March 2, 2018 (the 15th day of the first month of the year of 1898)

Lantern Festival is an important traditional festival in China, but it is not a legal holiday, so it is not a holiday, and the highway is not free. In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

The origin of Lantern Festival

The formation of the custom of Lantern Festival has a long process. According to the general information and folklore, the 15th day of the first month has been paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty worshipped "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace on the first day of the first month, which was regarded as the foreword of worshiping the God of heaven on the 15th day of the first month. However, the 15th day of the first month is really a folk festival after the Han and Wei dynasties. The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty is of great significance to the formation of the Lantern Festival custom.

In the Yongping period of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty (58-75 A.D.), because Emperor Ming advocated Buddhism, Cai Yu came back from India to seek Buddhism. He said that every 15th day of the first month in India, when monks gathered to pay homage to the Buddhist relics, it was a auspicious day to visit the Buddha. In order to carry forward the Buddhism, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty ordered to light a lamp to show the Buddha in the 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 real motive force of the Lantern Festival custom is that it is at a new time point, and people make full use of this special time stage to express their wishes for life.

Why do we watch lantern festival

On the night of the 15th day of the first month, every family will light their own lights, and the red lights are hung high in the streets and lanes, including palace lights, animal headlights, horse riding lights, flower lights, bird and bird lights, etc., which attract people to watch the lights.

It is said that the custom of making lanterns began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the trend of lights prevailed and passed down to later generations. On the 15th day of the first month, it is the annual climax of fireworks. Therefore, the Lantern Festival is also called "Lantern Festival". The custom of enjoying lantern festival began in Han Dynasty. In Sui and Tang Dynasties, it developed into a grand lamp market. By the song and Yuan Dynasties, Kyoto's lamp market often stretched for tens of miles. The duration of the Lantern Festival was limited to the 15th night of the first month in Han Dynasty, extended to three nights by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and lasted from the 8th day of the first month to the 17th day of the first month in Ming Dynasty. Acrobatics appeared in the Lantern Festival of Tang Dynasty, and riddles began to appear in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, opera performances were added.