Historically, Jin 'an Bridge (called "Leyou Bridge" in the Song Dynasty) was named after a large number of women from the East Gate went to town hand in hand to watch the dragon lantern dance. In the eighteenth year of Qianlong (1753), the bridge was also engraved with the four characters "Leyou Historic Site".
"Jade does not cut, abrasive. Iron gates and golden locks were open all night. Who can sit up when you see the moon? Where can I smell the lights? " The most prosperous year of Fuzhou Lantern Festival is Song Renzong Tiansheng five years (1027). At that time, Cai (Cai Xiang) was guarding Fuzhou and ordered every household to light seven lanterns. There is a poet named Chen Lie in Langguan Lane, who angrily boarded the Drum Tower and waved a lantern: "A rich man's lamp is a drop in the bucket; A poor family is a lamp, and father and son cry. I don't know what I know, but I still hate not having a wonderful song to sing? " Expressed the anger of the poor.
Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, also left us an interesting story about the Lantern Festival in Notes on Wuxue Temple: at that time, a state official named Tian Deng avoided the homonym of "light" and "Deng" and only called it "fire", and posted a notice to change "lighting" to "setting fire". Therefore, the proverb "only state officials can set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps" has been passed down to this day.
In the old society of Fuzhou, besides "burning lanterns", "putting lanterns" and "watching lanterns", the most common and popular folk custom was "sending lanterns", so many old people can still recite the nursery rhyme of "in-laws and uncles sending lanterns" today. "Ding" and "Deng" in Fuzhou dialect are homophonic. In the first year of the girl's marriage, it was given by her brother (you can have a sister without a brother, and hire a sister without a brother). They hung lanterns on both ends of two sugarcane. In the first year, they gave Guanyin a lantern. In the second year, a child sat in a basin lamp. In the third year, they gave him a champion to ride a lamp. The reason is probably to congratulate Tianding on his good luck.
Historically, Fuzhou Dragon Lantern is outstanding in the whole country. Wang Qingjin read the dragon lantern and wrote: "Zheng Xuan Street is connected with Lion Building, and the moon is like autumn on Dahang Bridge; Whoever reported the arrival of the dragon lantern provoked Xiang Lian to take the bait. " Zheng Xuan Street in the poem is now in front of the Drum Tower, Lion Building is in the north of Dongjiekou Scenic Resort Scenic Area, and Dahang Bridge is between Hu Jie Road and Xiannan Road. According to legend, Fuzhou Dragon Dance Lantern was originally only for dignitaries to watch in the yamen. Later, in order to express "having fun with the people", the king of Min mobilized folk dragon dances at the Lantern Festival. There is a folk saying that "the high lake dragon lantern has light." The reason why Gaohu Dragon Lantern is famous far and near is because of its many routines and high dancing skills. Dragon lanterns can be divided into "positional dance" and "street dance". On the night of Lantern Festival, the dragon lantern passes by your door. As long as you light a string of firecrackers, they will dance in front of your door. "Dragon catching pearls" is considered a very auspicious sign.
In addition, Fuzhou also has the custom of hosting a banquet to receive the "Yanwu". According to Three Mountains, Wu and Yan are Wang's right-hand men, who are responsible for patrolling the city. But they are very greedy. Because of excessive drinking, Fujian Wang was ordered to give up drinking in a rage and was only allowed to drink alcohol on the night of the Lantern Festival. Therefore, this custom is objectively a warning to Wang, reflecting that he has been in charge of Fujian for 39 years, with strict military discipline and good governance.