The origin of Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival originated from the fifteenth day of the first month of Buddhism, when monks watched the Buddhist relics and lit lamps to worship the Buddha. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Ming Di advocated Buddhism. According to legend, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the monks watched the relics and lit lamps to worship Buddha, so they ordered the lanterns to be lit in palaces and temples that night, so that all the gentry and ordinary people could hang lanterns, thus forming the Lantern Festival. Later, this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. This festival has experienced the development process from the court to the people, and from the Central Plains to the whole country.

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is a traditional festival in China. This day not only means family reunion, but also means that the Lunar New Year is really over.

According to data and folklore, the Lantern Festival began in the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. In the Western Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to, but it was only called the fifteenth day of the first month, the first half of the first month or the full moon, and it was called Yuanxi or Yuanye after Sui Dynasty. Influenced by Taoism in the early Tang Dynasty, it was also called Shangyuan, and it was only 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 also called the Lantern Festival.