Why is the Lantern Festival called "Yuanxiao"?

Yuanxiao originally meant "the night of Shangyuan Festival". Because the main activity of Shangyuan Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month is to eat glutinous rice balls and enjoy the moon at night, the name of this festival later evolved into "Lantern Festival".

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ancients called "night". Lantern Festival refers to the first full moon night of the New Year.

It is also called Shangyuan Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival and the 15th day of the first month. It is not only an independent festival, but also an integral part of the Year of China.

There are a series of colorful custom activities in the Lantern Festival, such as watching lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns, setting off fireworks, lighting a social fire, eating Yuanxiao, walking away from all diseases, worshiping Zigu, grinding locusts, offering sacrifices to silkworm gods, listening to incense, sending lanterns and stealing vegetables.

Among them, the appreciation of lanterns began in the period of Emperor Han Ming in the East, and then "burning lanterns" became a grand folk festival, and it developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty.

That night, the emperor walked out of the palace and enjoyed himself with the people. After the middle Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival developed into a national carnival, and young men and women took it as a good opportunity to find a partner.