Why do we light lanterns during the Lantern Festival?
The Lantern Festival is another traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival. Its long history can be traced back to ancient China, thus giving rise to a variety of customs. So why do we light lanterns on the Lantern Festival? If you want to know more about the first month of the lunar calendar in 2018, please pay attention to our fortune teller website!Why do we light lanterns during the Lantern Festival?During the Yongping period of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming promoted Buddhism. Coincidentally, Cai Yin returned from India after seeking Buddhism. He said that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the Indian kingdom of Magadha, monks gathered to pay homage to the Buddha's relics. It was an auspicious day to visit the Buddha. In order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Ming of Han ordered that lights be lit in the palace and temples to honor Buddha on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month. From then on, the custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival spread from being only held in the palace to the common people. That is, every fifteenth day of the first lunar month, both nobles and common people would hang lanterns, and cities and towns would be brightly lit all night long.The custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern fair in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the capital Chang'an was already the largest city in the world with a population of one million and a prosperous society. Under the emperor's personal advocacy, the Lantern Festival became more and more luxurious. After the middle Tang Dynasty, it has developed into a carnival for the whole nation. During the Kaiyuan Period (685-762 AD) of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Lantern Festival in Chang'an was grand in scale, with 50,000 lanterns lit and a wide variety of lanterns. The emperor ordered people to build a giant lantern tower, which was 20 rooms wide and 150 feet high. It was dazzling with golden light and extremely spectacular. In the Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival surpassed that of the Tang Dynasty in terms of scale and the fantasy and exquisiteness of the lanterns. The activities were more folk-oriented and had stronger national characteristics. In the following generations, the Lantern Festival continued to develop and the duration of the festival became longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty was "one day before and after the Lantern Festival". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the 16th. In the Ming Dynasty, it was extended to a full ten days from the 8th to the 18th. In the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus took control of the Central Plains and the palace no longer held lantern festivals, but folk lantern festivals were still spectacular. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day. In Taiwan, lanterns represent brightness and the birth of a new child. Lighting a lantern means illuminating the future. In Taiwanese, the homophones of "lantern" and "ding" represent the birth of a boy. Therefore, women in the past would deliberately walk under the lanterns during the Lantern Festival, hoping to "drill under the foot of the lantern to give birth to an egg". |
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