The Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China. The formation of the custom of Lantern Festival takes a long time, which is rooted in the ancient folk custom of turning on lights to pray for good fortune.On the 14th night of the first lunar month, people usually start to "try the lights". On the 15th night, people call the lanterns, also known as "sending lanterns", to pray for the gods.The introduction of the Eastern Han Dynasty Buddhist culture, for the formation of the Lantern Festival customs also has an important significance to promote, Emperor Yongping, Emperor Han Ming in order to carry forward the Buddha, ordered the fifteenth night of the first month in the palace and the temple "lamp table Buddha".Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and later the addition of Taoist culture gradually expanded in China.During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lantern Festival became a popular festival.Emperor Wudi of the Liang Dynasty was a believer in Buddhism, and his palace had 15 lanterns in the first month.In the Tang Dynasty, Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges are more close, Buddhism, officials and people generally in the fifteenth day of the first month of the "lamp for Buddha", Buddhist lights then spread across the folk.Since the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival has become a legal matter.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival.The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called night "Xiao", so the 15th day of the first month is called "Lantern Festival". With the changes of society and times, the customs of the Lantern Festival have already had great changes, but it is still a traditional Chinese folk festival.Yuanxiao in the early formation of the festival process, only said the fifteenth day, the first month or the moon, after Sui said Yuan Xi or Yuan Night.In the early Tang Dynasty, it was influenced by Taoism and was called Shangyuan. At the end of Tang Dynasty, it was called Yuanxiao.But since the Song Dynasty also called the Lantern Xi.In the Qing Dynasty, it was called the Lantern Festival.In foreign countries, The Lantern Festival is also known as The Lantern Festival.On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Chinese people have a series of traditional folk activities, such as appreciating lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, eating yuanxiao, guessing lantern riddles and setting off fireworks.