What is the meaning of the lanterns during the Lantern Festival? The Origin of Lantern Festival Lanterns

What is the meaning of the lanterns during the Lantern Festival? The Origin of Lantern Festival Lanterns
Introduction: The annual Lantern Festival is slowly approaching us. The Lantern Festival occupies a certain place in our traditional customs. People in some places believe that the New Year truly ends after the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival has many customs, and the origins of different customs are different. So what is the origin of the Lantern Festival custom of lighting lanterns? Let’s follow the editor to find out. The first month of the lunar calendar is the beginning of spring, and there are beautiful festivals everywhere in this month. Mr. Shui Mo lists these traditional Chinese festivals and customs for you one by one.

The meaning and customs of 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 (Lantern Festival), the Zhongyuan Festival (Yulanpen 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.
Traditional customs include going out to admire the moon, lighting lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles, eating Yuanxiao together, pulling rabbit lanterns, etc. In addition, many places have added traditional folk performances such as dragon lantern and lion dances, stilt walking, land boat racing, yangko dance, and Taiping drum performances to the Lantern Festival.
In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

The Origin of Lighting Lanterns

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many ferocious birds and beasts that hurt people and livestock everywhere, so people organized to fight them. One day, a divine bird landed on the earth because it got lost, but was accidentally shot to death by an unwitting hunter.
When the Emperor of Heaven learned about it, he was very angry, and immediately issued an order to the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the human world on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and burn all the people, animals and property in the human world to death. The Emperor of Heaven's daughter was kind-hearted and could not bear to see innocent people suffer, so she risked her life and secretly came to the human world on a auspicious cloud to tell people the news. When everyone heard the news, it was like a loud bang on their heads. They were so frightened that they didn't know what to do.
After a long time, an old man finally came up with a solution. He said, "On the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of the first lunar month, every family should decorate their homes with lanterns, light firecrackers, and set off fireworks. This way, the Emperor of Heaven will think that people have been burned to death."
Everyone nodded in agreement and went to prepare separately. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Emperor of Heaven looked down and found that the world was full of red light and there was a deafening noise. This happened for three consecutive nights. He thought it was the flame of a big fire and was very happy. In this way, people saved their lives and property. To commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to commemorate this day.
Summary: Through the above article, we know the origin of the lanterns during the Lantern Festival. I hope you will like the above content. I wish you all good luck and smooth sailing in the new year!

After reading this article, there are more exciting contents in the special topic of the first month of the lunar calendar. Let’s take a look!

<<:  Why do we eat glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival? What is the origin of eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival?

>>:  Lantern Festival customs: Take you to experience the unique Lantern Festival customs in Jinhua

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