What are the customs of Lantern Festival?

The ancients called night "night", the first month is January of the lunar calendar, and the first full moon night of the first month is fifteenth, so the fifteenth day of the first month is our traditional festival "Lantern Festival". Then, do you know what customs there are in the Lantern Festival? Come and have a look with me ~

1, solve the riddle on the lantern

Besides lanterns, the most popular activity of Lantern Festival is solve riddles on the lanterns. Lantern riddle is to stick a riddle on a lamp so that people can guess the riddle while enjoying the lamp.

The answer focuses on the meaning of words, such as a word, a poem, an object or a name. Because riddles are difficult to guess, just as tigers are difficult to be shot, they are also called light tigers (also called Hu Wen).

Lantern riddles are China's original folk art. It is composed of cryptic sentences in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was only called a riddle in the Han and Wei Dynasties (Dong Fangshuo was good at cryptic words in the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and once said cryptic words with Guo Sheren, who was favored by Emperor Wu, and won the trust of Emperor Wu).

After the Southern Song Dynasty, people wrote riddles on lanterns. On the Lantern Festival, people guess spring riddles. Some people quote the so-called shooting method of riddles, which is called shooting riddles. Since then, every Lantern Festival, solve riddles on the lanterns has been visited all over the country.

Step 2 send lanterns

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival, and lanterns are homophonic with lanterns. Therefore, greeting lanterns have the meaning of asking children to add more flowers. Spring Festival ballads include: 14 lanterns, 15 lanterns and 16 lanterns, which shows that playing lanterns has become an indispensable activity in the Lantern Festival.

After the Tang Dynasty, lanterns were not only varied and ever-changing, but also became a popular activity. Song Dynasty is the heyday of lanterns, which are shaped like glass balls and also made of five-color wax paper, bodhi leaves, sheepskin and tortoise shells. They are gorgeous and exquisite.

Step 3 eat yuanxiao

Eating Yuanxiao is an important festival custom of Lantern Festival. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month became a fashion. After the ninth day of the Ming Dynasty, the capital began to eat Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice flour, round and filled with walnut kernel, sesame or sweet-scented osmanthus sugar. Jiangnan is called "Tang Tuan". Suzhou calls it Mariko, and Hangzhou calls it "Lantern Mariko". After ancestor worship, family members and fellow villagers eat jiaozi together to get the meaning of reunion. In contemporary China, it is a fashion to eat Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, regardless of the north or the south. The bright moon in the sky and the Lantern Festival in the bowl symbolize reunion and good luck. Eating Yuanxiao expresses people's enjoyment of family reunion.

In many places, it is popular to shake Yuanxiao in the streets and lanes. The stuffing is shaken on the dry powder in the big basket, covered with powder, sprinkled with water, shaken again, rolled bigger and bigger, and finally shaped. The process of shaking the Lantern Festival is also a process of folk custom display, which adds a festive atmosphere to the Lantern Festival.

4. Dragon dance

As early as the Han Dynasty (205 BC-AD 2 19), there were miscellaneous notes that recorded such a spectacular scene: in order to pray for rain, people wore colorful clothes and danced colorful dragons. Gradually, dancing "dragon" has become a necessary form for people to express their good wishes and pray for a happy birthday, especially in festive festivals, people dance "dragon" with their hands to vent their cheerful emotions.

Dragon dance, also known as playing dragon lantern, has a history of more than 2000 years. We in China have been advocating dragons since ancient times and regard them as auspicious symbols. In the eyes of the ancients, dragons have the ability to call the wind and call the rain, which is of great significance to the good weather, production and life, so the festival custom of dancing dragons in the Lantern Festival has gradually formed.

5, lion dance

The Lantern Festival needs lion dancing, because lion dancing is an excellent folk art in China. Whenever the Lantern Festival or assembly is celebrated, people always come to the lion dance for entertainment. This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms period and was popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It has a history of 1000 years. At the same time, the lion dance on the Lantern Festival also symbolizes happiness.

6. Stay away from all diseases

"Walk through all the diseases" is also called swimming through all the diseases, dispelling all the diseases, baking all the diseases, crossing the bridge and so on. It is an activity to eliminate disasters and pray for blessings. On the Lantern Festival night, women meet and go out together. When they see the bridge, they will cross it, thinking that this can cure diseases and prolong life. Walking away from all diseases has been a custom in the north since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some of which were carried out in the fifteenth, but most of them were carried out in the sixteenth. On this day, women dressed in festive costumes went out of their homes in droves, crossed the bridge for danger, went into the city, and knelt down to beg for their children until midnight.

7. Eiko Valley

Zigu is also called Gucci, and in the north she is called toilet aunt and pit aunt. The ancient folk custom is to offer sacrifices to Ce Shen Zigu on the 15th day of the first month, and to offer sacrifices to silkworm and mulberry, which shows many things. Legend has it that Zi Guyuan was a concubine and was envied by her eldest daughter. On the fifteenth day of the first month, he was killed in the toilet and turned into Ce Shen. On the night of welcoming the daughter-in-law, people tie the portrait of the daughter-in-law with straw and cloth, and greet her in the toilet with pigsty at night. This custom is popular in the north and south, and it was recorded as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In a word, China has a vast territory and a long history, so the customs of Lantern Festival are different all over the country, among which eating Yuanxiao, watching lanterns and dancing dragons and lions are several important folk customs. Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, so it is celebrated all over the country. The customs in most areas are similar, but each area still has its own characteristics.