What is the Lantern Festival? What is the origin of the Lantern Festival?

What is the Lantern Festival? What is the origin of the Lantern Festival?
Introduction: The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in our country, and there are many stories about the origins of the Lantern Festival. So what is the Lantern Festival? What is the origin of the Lantern Festival? Follow the editor to learn more about it! For more details about the 2018 Lunar New Year calendar, please visit the Fortune Teller website for consultation!

What is the Lantern Festival?

The Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Little New Year, the Yuanxiao Festival or the Lantern Festival, is the first important festival after the Spring Festival. It is one of the traditional festivals of China, the regions in the Chinese character cultural circle and overseas Chinese. The first month of the lunar calendar is the first month of the year. The ancients called the night "xiao", so the fifteenth day of the first full moon night of the year is called the Lantern Festival.
In ancient Chinese customs, the Shangyuan Festival (Tianguan Festival, Lantern Festival), the Zhongyuan Festival (Diguan Festival, Yulan Festival), and the Xiayuan Festival (Shuiguan Festival) are collectively known as the Three Yuans. The Lantern Festival began in the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty issued an order to designate the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the worship activities for "Taiyi God" were set on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Taiyi: the god who dominates everything in the universe). When Sima Qian created the "Taichu Calendar", he had already designated the Lantern Festival as a major festival.

What is the origin of the Lantern Festival?

Legend of the origin of Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival was established during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han to commemorate the "suppression of the Lü clan". According to legend, after Empress Lü's death, her followers were afraid that their power would fall into the hands of others, so they plotted a rebellion. Liu Nang, the Prince of Qi, and Zhou Bo, an old minister of the founding dynasty, together put down the "Rebellion of the Lü Clan." After the rebellion was quelled, the ministers supported Liu Bang's second son Liu Heng to ascend the throne and he was called Emperor Wen of Han. Emperor Wen felt that peace and prosperity were hard-won, so he designated the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the day when the "Lu Rebellion" was quelled, as a day to celebrate with the people. Every household in the capital decorated their homes with lanterns and streamers to celebrate. From then on, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month became a folk festival celebrated throughout the country - "Lantern Festival".
Legend of the origin of Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival, also known as the "Shangyuan Festival," is when people celebrate the first full moon night of the year. According to the Taoist "Three Yuan Theory", the 15th day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month is the Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower Yuan are the three officials of heaven, earth and man respectively. The official of heaven is happy, so lights must be lit on the Lantern Festival. The custom of lighting lanterns and setting off fireworks during the Lantern Festival comes from this saying.
Legend of the origin of Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival originated from the "Torch Festival". In the Han Dynasty, people in the countryside held torches to drive away insects and animals, hoping to reduce pests and pray for a good harvest. To this day, people in some southwestern China still make torches out of reeds or branches on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and dance in groups in fields or threshing grounds with torches held high. It flourished during the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties. There were tens of thousands of people participating in the singing and dancing, which lasted from dusk to dawn and ended at dusk. With the changes of society and times, the customs and habits of the Lantern Festival have undergone great changes, but it is still a traditional Chinese folk festival, and torches have gradually turned into colorful lanterns. Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival has developed into a national carnival in my country. Therefore, the Lantern Festival is the traditional festival that most thoroughly and typically embodies traditional festival customs.
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