When is the Spring Lantern Festival and what is its origin?

When is the Spring Lantern Festival and what is its origin?
The Lantern Festival is a kind of folk culture with a long history in our country. It is said that the oldest primitive lantern festival to date can be traced back to the "lighting lanterns and offering sacrifices" during the reign of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the following thousands of years, unique lantern festivals or lantern festival activities have been formed in various parts of the country. So when is the Spring Lantern Festival? So if you want to know more about the 2018 Spring Festival, then continue to wander in the 2018 Spring Festival special topic on the Fortune Teller website! The Spring Lantern Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival, is an important traditional festival in our country. During the festival, every household sets off firecrackers to worship their ancestors. The city is brightly lit, with fire trees set off at the four city gates. The fire trees are 3 to 4 meters high. There are also fruit lanterns, Aoshan lantern sheds, etc. for tourists to enjoy. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month of 2018 is March 2, 2018 in the Gregorian calendar. This day is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Spring Lantern Festival. Since the custom of hanging lanterns during the Lantern Festival was formed, all dynasties have regarded hanging lanterns and watching lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as a major event. Emperor Jianwen of Liang once wrote an article "Ode to Lanterns": "In the south, the oil is all full; in the west, the lacquer is burning. The Su army rests in peace; the wax comes out of Longchuan. The slanting sunlight shines on each other; the reflections are clear and bright." It depicts the grand occasion of hanging lanterns in the palace during the Lantern Festival at that time.
During the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, a grand party was held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year to entertain guests and envoys from all over the world. According to the "Book of Sui·Music Records", the Lantern Festival celebration was very grand, with lights and decorations everywhere, singing and dancing, and music day and night. There were more than 30,000 performers and more than 18,000 musicians. The stage was eight miles long, and countless people came to enjoy the lanterns. They enjoyed themselves all night long, and it was very lively.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Spring Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern fair. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, it developed into a carnival for the entire nation. During the Kaiyuan Period (685-762 AD) of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Lantern Festival in Chang'an was very grand, 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. There was a curfew in the Tang Dynasty. Once the curfew drum sounded at night, people were prohibited from going out and those who violated the curfew would be punished. Only during the Lantern Festival would the emperor allow the ban to be lifted for three days, which was called "letting people go out at night."
During the Song Dynasty, the lighting of lanterns was extended from three nights to five nights. In addition to the lanterns, fireworks were set off and various acrobatics were performed, making the scene even more lively. It is recorded in "Dongjing Menghualu": ​​During every Lantern Festival, thousands of colorful lanterns are piled up into a mountain of lights on the Imperial Street in Kaifeng, with lanterns and fireworks, golden and jade shining, and brocade and embroidery shining. Kyoto girls sang and danced, and the crowds watched: "Tourists gathered under the two corridors of the Imperial Street, performing magic tricks, singing and dancing, and the sound of music was heard for more than ten miles." In the streets and alleys, teahouses and wine shops all lit candles, gongs and drums sounded, firecrackers blasted, and lights were bright for a hundred miles. “
In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Nanjing, in order to make the capital prosperous and lively, he stipulated that lanterns should be lit on the eighth day of the first lunar month and turned off on the seventeenth day. This lasted for ten nights. Every household hung colorful lanterns with various figures dancing, birds flying and flowers blooming depicted on the lanterns. Dragons soar and fish leap, lanterns and fireworks illuminate the night. Drumming fun. It is noisy until dawn, and this is the longest Lantern Festival in our country. 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.

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