The origin and significance of the Zhongxin Lantern Festival in Lianping, Guangdong

The Lantern Festival is also called the Lantern Festival, and it is also called the Lantern Festival.

They are available in many places now

I have them here in Shanghai, but they are just used by children when they play, and adults don’t care. But Taizhou seems to be celebrating~

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. The first lunar month is the first lunar month, and the ancients called the night "Xiao", and the 15th is the first full-moon night of the year, so the 15th day of the first lunar month is called the Lantern Festival. Also known as "Shangyuan Festival". According to Chinese folk tradition, on the festival night when the first Yuan Dynasty returns and the earth returns to spring, the bright moon hangs high in the sky and thousands of colorful lanterns are lit on the ground. People watch the lanterns, guess lantern riddles, eat Lantern Festival and have family reunions, enjoying themselves happily.

The Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. It is said that it was established during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty to commemorate "Ping Lu". After the death of Han Hui Emperor Liu Ying, Empress Lu usurped power and the Lu family controlled the government. After the death of Empress Lu, Zhou Bo and Chen Pingping eliminated Empress Lu's influence and established Liu Heng as Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. Because the day when Zhu Lu was pacified was the 15th day of the first lunar month, every year thereafter on the night of the 15th day of the first lunar month, Emperor Hanwen would leave the palace incognito and have fun with the people to commemorate it. And the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was designated as the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities for "Taiyi God" were held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Sima Qian listed the Lantern Festival as a major festival in the "Taichu Calendar".

There is a folk custom in our country of eating Yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival. According to folk legend, the Lantern Festival originated from King Zhao Zhao of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, King Zhao of Chu passed by the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweet food that was white on the outside and red on the inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius for advice, and Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is a sign of revival for the person who gets it." Lantern Festival, like rice cakes during the Spring Festival and rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, are all festive foods. Eating Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion like the full moon, and expresses people's good wishes for future life. Yuanxiao is called "tangyuan", "yuanzi", "floating yuanzi" and "water yuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, either solid or with fillings. The fillings include bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, etc., and can be boiled, fried, steamed or fried.

The custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist "Three Yuan Theory"; the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is the Xiayuan Festival. Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are "heaven", "earth" and "human" respectively. The heavenly officials are happy, so lanterns must be lit on the Shangyuan Festival. Lighting lanterns and setting fires during the Lantern Festival has been a custom since the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival; lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival became a custom. Lu Zhaolin, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once described the grand occasion of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lanterns on the Fifteenth Night" as follows: "The stars of Han Dynasty are falling, and the moon is hanging from the building." The custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival has been passed down through the generations. There are more and more lamp styles, and the names and contents of lamps are also increasing, including mirror lamps, phoenix lamps, glass lamps and so on. In addition to lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival, fireworks are also set off to add to the fun.

"Guessing lantern riddles", also called "playing lantern riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival and appeared in the Song Dynasty. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin'an, the capital, made riddles during the Lantern Festival, and many people guessed riddles. In the beginning, some good people wrote riddles on slips of paper and pasted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles can enlighten wisdom and are interesting, they are very popular among all walks of life in the process of spreading.

In addition to celebrations, the Lantern Festival also has religious activities. That is "walking all diseases", also known as "roasting all diseases" and "dispersing all diseases". Most of the participants are women. They walk together or walk along walls, or cross bridges and walk in the suburbs, with the purpose of driving away diseases and disasters.

As time goes by, more and more activities are held during the Lantern Festival. Many local festivals include dragon lantern dancing, lion dancing, stilt walking, land boating, Yangko dancing, and peace drum playing. ----------------------------------Zhongxin Lantern Festival Zhongxin Lantern Festival Zhongxin Lantern Festival originated in Lianping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province Zhongxin Town is a unique folk plastic art in the traditional Lantern Festival lantern viewing custom. It integrates painting, paper-cutting, weaving, calligraphy, couplets, and poetry. It is a unique aesthetic carrier.

According to Zhongxin’s traditional customs, every year on the ninth day of the first lunar month, when a local family gives birth to a boy, they should hang up lanterns in the ancestral hall to celebrate, to inform their ancestors and fellow villagers.

The chandelier ceremony generally consists of six procedures: placing the lantern rope, selecting the lantern, welcoming the lantern, putting on the lantern, warming the lantern, and turning the lantern into a lantern. During this period, there are also lively scenes such as Hakka gongs and drums, dragon and lion dance, ancestor worship, and lantern wine drinking. Hanging a lantern is a grand occasion.

In addition, the government will hold a lantern festival every two or three years to let the lanterns out of the ancestral hall. In this process, appreciating the lanterns is a very important link. With the evolution of customs, Zhongxin lanterns have different connotations. They symbolize prosperity of all industries and abundant food and clothing. There are more than 10 lantern making sites in Zhongxin, among which the above-mentioned Liao Village is the most famous and is known as the "Flower Lantern Village".

Since the first Zhongxin Lantern Festival was held in Zhongxin in 1999, Zhongxin Lanterns has become a resounding brand. It can be said that the Zhongxin Lantern Festival has played a great role in inheriting and protecting the essence of Hakka excellent culture, cultivating civilized fashion, improving the taste of Zhongxin Lantern culture, promoting regional economic development, and expanding regional visibility. In May 2006, Zhongxin Lantern was included in the first batch of Guangdong Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage List as folk art; in June 2007, Zhongxin Chandelier custom was included in the second batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage list as folklore. And has applied for national-level projects.