Chaoshan folk activities in the first month: hanging happy lanterns?

In the traditional worship ceremony in China, lights have always been a symbol of light and joy. Festivals and celebrations with lights as the theme are also very common among the people, most often around the Lantern Festival in the first month of the lunar calendar. Then today's folk festival will introduce the folk activities related to Lantern Festival in the first month in Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province: hanging festive lanterns.

Every year from the eleventh to the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, every household in Chaoshan has the custom of playing lanterns and hanging chandeliers. Because "Deng" and "Ding" are homophonic in Chaozhou dialect, lighting and Jiading are close sounds, so the influx of people think that lighting is a good omen for Jiading. On the Lantern Festival, people carry lanterns, prepare paper and silver incense, light them at temple fairs in rural areas, and come back to hang them in shrines and bedside at home, which is called "hanging happy lanterns".

In addition, if someone gave birth to a boy after the Lantern Festival last year, then from the 13th day of the first month of this year, a pair of red lanterns will be poked at home, and their names will be written on the red paper under the lamp screen, and they will be happily hung on the lamp stand of the ancestral temple of the clan in the countryside as a symbol of adding to the family. After that, every night, the family will take their children to the ancestral hall, light candles in lanterns to make them red, and accept congratulations from the surrounding villagers.

As for the origin of the lucky lantern, it is said that during the Yongping period of Emperor Hanming (AD 58-75), because Ming Taizu advocated Buddhism, it coincided with Cai Cheng's return from India to seek Buddha, saying that it was the 15th day of the first month of Mohato in India, and monks gathered to pay tribute to the relics, which was an auspicious day to participate in Buddhism.

In order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Hanming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in palaces and temples on the fifteenth night of the first month. Since then, the custom of putting lights on the Lantern Festival has spread from being held only in the court to the people. On the fifteenth day of the first month, both the gentry and the people hung up their lights, and the urban and rural areas were brightly lit all night.

The custom of setting off lanterns during the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty. Chang 'an, the capital at that time, was already the largest city with a population of one million in the world, and its society was rich. Under the personal initiative of the emperor, the Lantern Festival became more and more luxurious. After the middle Tang Dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival.

In the prosperous period of the Tang Xuanzong Kaiyuan (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 50,000 lanterns and all kinds of lanterns. The emperor ordered 20 giant lantern buildings with a height of 150 feet, resplendent and magnificent. This is the "happy lantern" that continues to this day.

The Lantern Festival in Song Dynasty is superior to that in Tang Dynasty in terms of scale and dreamy lighting, with more folk activities and stronger national characteristics. Since then, the Lantern Festival has continued to develop and the time of the Lantern Festival has become longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in Tang Dynasty is "the day before and after Shangyuan". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the sixteenth, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was extended from the eighth day to the eighteenth day to ten days.

The Manchu occupied the Central Plains in the Qing Dynasty, and the court no longer held the Lantern Festival, but the China folk lantern festival was still spectacular, and the date was shortened to five days, which has continued to this day.

In the old Chaoshan area, the folk activities of hanging happy lanterns in China have always had the items of offering sacrifices to the gods, ancestors and visiting the gods, which have both sacrificial colors and festive and entertaining atmosphere, and become an indispensable custom for Chaoshan people. It can also be said that hanging happy lanterns is the most solemn and lively traditional festival of Chaoshan people and an important part of Chaoshan folk culture.

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