What is the origin of the Lantern Festival?

What is the origin of the Lantern Festival?
Introduction: We all know that the Lantern Festival is a very grand traditional festival in our country and also a day of reunion. So, where does the Lantern Festival come from? What is the origin of the Lantern Festival? Now, let’s follow the editor to learn more about it. The first month of the lunar calendar is about to begin with various festivals. Let us count the important traditional festivals and customs of this month. A good year starts with spring.

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 (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.

Where did the Lantern Festival originate?

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that dates back to the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. According to historical records and folk legends, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was already taken seriously in the Western Han Dynasty. The activity of Emperor Wu of Han offering sacrifices to "Taiyi" (Taiyi: the god who dominates everything in the universe) in Ganquan Palace on the first night of the first lunar month was regarded by later generations as a precursor to the worship of gods in heaven on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Yuanxiao originally meant "the night of the Lantern Festival". Because the main activity of the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is eating glutinous rice balls and admiring the moon at night, the name of the festival later evolved into "Lantern Festival". On the night of the Lantern Festival, the streets and alleys are decorated with lights, people admire the lanterns, guess lantern riddles, and eat Lantern Festival rice dumplings, bringing the celebrations that began on New Year's Eve to another climax and becoming a custom passed down from generation to generation. When the Lantern Festival was in its early stages of being a festival, it was only called the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the middle of the first lunar month, or the full moon. After the Sui Dynasty, it was called Yuan Xi or Yuan Ye. Influenced by Taoism in the early Tang Dynasty, it was also called Shangyuan, and it was occasionally called Yuanxiao in the late Tang Dynasty. But since the Song Dynasty, it has also been called Dengxi. In the Qing Dynasty, it was called the Lantern Festival. Abroad, the Lantern Festival is also known as The Lantern Festiva.
Summary: Through the above article, we know the origin of the Lantern Festival. I hope you will like the above content. I wish you all a prosperous new year and good fortune!

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!

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