What festival is Shangyuan Festival?

Shangyuan Festival is the Lantern Festival, also known as Xiaoyuan, Yuanxiao or Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year.

"Shangyuan Festival" comes from the Taoist "Sanyuan" and is the general name of traditional festivals Shangyuan Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and Xiayuan Festival. Taoism believes that the three basic elements that produce everything in the world are heaven, earth and water, that is, the "three elements", which are called "officials", that is, fragments in the process of time and space flow.

Blessed by Wei Zi, the heavenly official, it was born on the 15th day of the first month, which is the so-called Shangyuan Festival, or Lantern Festival.

Emperor Qing Xu, a local official, pardoned his sins and was born on July 15, which is called the Mid-Yuan Festival, also known as "Ghost Festival" or "Orchid Club".

Shui Guan Dong Yin Di was born on October 15th, and it is called the Next Yuan Festival, which is the day when Shui Guan relieves depression and Gu Di relieves depression, commonly known as the Festival.

The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ancients called "night". The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, so it is called "Lantern Festival". Since ancient times, the custom of Lantern Festival has been based on the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns.

Cultural history The formation of Lantern Festival has a long process, which is rooted in the folk custom of turning on the lights to pray. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month really became a national folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties.

The rise of the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month is also related to the spread of Buddhism to the east. In the Tang dynasty, Buddhism flourished, and officials and ordinary people generally "lit lanterns for the Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, so Buddhist lanterns were spread all over the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, Lantern Festival lighting has become a legal thing. ?

Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China. Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. In addition, traditional folk performances such as Youlong lanterns, lion dancing, walking on stilts, boating, yangko and playing Taiping drums have been added to the Lantern Festival in many places.

In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.