Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, xiaozhengyue, Yuanxi or Lantern Festival, is the 15th day of the first lunar month every year, which is one of the traditional Chinese festivals. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called "night" as "night".
The 15th day of the first month is the first full night of the year. Therefore, the 15th day of the first month is called "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "three yuan", the 15th day of the first month is also called "Shangyuan Festival". Since ancient times, Lantern Festival has been dominated by the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns.
Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China, Chinese culture circle and overseas Chinese. The lantern festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities such as enjoying lanterns, eating Tangyuan, guessing riddles and setting off fireworks.
In addition, many local Lantern Festival also added traditional folk performances such as dragon lantern, lion, stilts, roller boat, yangko dance and Pinggu. In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China. The formation of the custom of the Lantern Festival has a long process. According to the general information and folklore, the 15th day of the first month has been paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's "shangxinye" activity of sacrificing "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace on the first month is regarded as the foreword of sacrificing gods on the 15th day of the first month.
The 15th day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Lantern Festival and Lantern Festival. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called the night "Xiao", so they called the 15th day of the first month "Lantern Festival".
With the changes of society and times, the customs of Lantern Festival have changed a lot, but it is still a traditional Chinese folk festival. In the early days of festival formation, the Lantern Festival was only called the 15th day of the first month, the half day of the first month or the moon, and after the Sui Dynasty, it was called the new year's Eve or the new year's Eve.
Yuanxiao is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing. And the Festival is named after the famous dumpling. It is very easy to cook - simply dump them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes - and eaten as a dessert.
Guessing lantern riddles is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.