The Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, small first month, Yuan Xi or Lantern Festival, is the first important festival after the Spring Festival. It is one of the traditional festivals of Chinese and overseas Chinese in China. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, the ancients called the night “night”, so the first full moon night of the year the fifteenth day of the first month called the Lantern Festival.

In ancient Chinese customs, the Upper Yuan Festival (Lantern Festival), the Middle Yuan Festival (Obon Festival), and the lower Yuan Festival (Shuiguan Festival) are collectively called three yuan. Lantern Festival began more than 2,000 years ago during the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ordered the 15th day of the first month to be the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the “Taiyi God” ceremony was held on the 15th day of the first lunar month (Taiyi: God who dominates the universe). When Sima Qian created the “Taichu Calendar”, the Lantern Festival was identified as a major festival.

Eat glutinous rice balls

Eating “Tangyuan” is an important custom of Lantern Festival. Tangyuan, also known as “Tangball”, “Yuanxiao”. The custom of eating dumplings began in the Song Dynasty, when the dumplings called “floating Yuan Zi”, also known as “soup Yuan Zi”, “lactose Yuan Zi”, “soup ball”, “dumplings”, businessmen are beautiful name day: “Yuan Bao”. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, tangyuan has become the festival food, so people also called it “Yuanxiao”.

Nowadays, the north is called Yuanxiao, and the south is called Tangyuan. Yuanxiao according to the stuffing theory, there are two kinds of stuffing and no stuffing, there are stuffing yuanxiao and salty, sweet, meat, vegetarian points; According to the production method, there are hand rolling, yuanxiao mechanism and bamboo plaque water rolling and so on; According to the difference of flour, there are glutinous rice noodles, sorghum rice noodles and so on.

Guess lantern riddles

Lantern riddles in the Lantern Festival is an ancient traditional folk custom. Guessing riddles, also known as riddles, this traditional folk culture since the Southern Song Dynasty began to popular, the Southern Song Dynasty, the capital of Lin ‘an every Lantern Festival, the perpetrators write riddles on a piece of paper, pasted in the colorful lights for people to guess. Because riddles can enlighten wisdom and be interesting, they are welcomed by all levels of society in the process of spreading. Lantern riddles add to the festive atmosphere and show the wisdom and longing for life of the working people of ancient China. The largest lantern riddle festival in China was the “Nine Cities Lantern Riddle Fair” held in Nanjing in 1979, which featured tens of thousands of lantern riddles and attracted more than 20,000 people in three days.

Enjoy watching lanterns

Ming Emperor Yongping years (AD 58-75), because Ming emperor to promote Buddhism, when CAI Yin from India to seek Buddhism return, said India Mo drink Tuo country every fifteenth month, monks gathered to worship Buddha, is the auspicious day of Buddha. In order to promote the Dharma, Emperor Ming of Han ordered the fifteenth night of the first month to “burn lanterns in the palace and temples to watch the Buddha.” Since then, the custom of Lantern Festival was originally only held in the court and spread to the people. That is, every fifteenth day of the first month, whether the intellectuals or the common people have to hang lights, urban and rural lights all night.