The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called "night" as "Xiao". The fifteenth day of the first month is the night of the first full moon of the year, so it is called "Lantern Festival".
The formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, which is rooted in the ancient custom of turning on lights and praying.
元宵节的形成有一个较长的过程,根源于民间开灯祈福古俗。
According to general information and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month has been paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month was really regarded as a national folk festival after the Han and Wei dynasties.
The rise of the custom of lighting lanterns on the 15th day of the first month is also related to the eastward spread of Buddhism. Buddhism flourished in the Tang Dynasty. Officials and people generally "light lanterns for Buddha" on the 15th day of the first month, and Buddhist lights spread all over the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, opening lanterns on the Lantern Festival has become a legal matter.
The lantern festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as appreciating lanterns, eating dumplings, guessing lantern riddles, setting off fireworks and so on.
Just as Halloween is for Americans, the “Hungry Ghost Festival” is for Chinese. Ghost Festival is one of Chinese traditional occasions, which is taken very seriously by the Chinese. This festival usually falls on the15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. The Ghost Festival, some places say the Hungry Ghost Festival, is also called Half July (Lunar), Ullambana, which is closely related to Buddhism, and zhongyuan jie which is the Taoism saying and Folk Belief.
The Zhongyuan Festival, also known as Ullambana Festival among Buddhists, falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, on Aug 17 this year.Since ancient times, the Chinese have believed that the gates of hell open on that day and so people hold all kinds of activities to honor the ghosts. Therefore, the festival is also called the Ghost Festival.