Listen to the entertainment discipline
Editor丨Listen to the entertainment discipline
Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the land of China is lit up by thousands of lights.
People go out of their homes to enjoy the lanterns, guess the lantern riddles, and immerse themselves in the joy of the Lantern Festival.
But in addition to the joy, I can't help but wonder: the Lantern Festival has a history of thousands of years, how did everyone spend the Lantern Festival in ancient times?
The origin of the Lantern Festival
In the eyes of many people, the Lantern Festival is nothing more than a festival that symbolizes reunion and happiness.
But what everyone doesn't know is that behind the Lantern Festival, there is also a long history and rich cultural connotation of the mainland.
The origin of the Lantern Festival is not as simple as we are familiar with, and different regions have different opinions on it.
In some places, it is believed that the origin of the Lantern Festival is related to the Torch Festival.
Since the Han Dynasty, common people have lit torches in the fields to drive away insects, birds and beasts. At the same time, it is also borrowed in the hope that the crops will have a good harvest in the new year.
At that time, the scene of the Lantern Festival with torches was spectacular, and tens of thousands of people participated in the event, and they were able to enjoy from the evening until the next day.
With the development of science and technology, people no longer need to use this method to drive away insect pests, but this ancient tradition is still passed down from generation to generation in parts of southwest China.
On the day of the Lantern Festival, the common people will take homemade torches and sing and dance together in the open places of the fields, so unhappy.
Regarding the origin of the Lantern Festival, there are also theories related to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Emperor Wudi of Han liked to worship the "Taiyi God" in the middle of the night of the first month, and would light lamps inside the palace at this time, and his perennial Xi was also subtly influencing the common people.
Gradually, it developed into the Xi custom of lighting lamps on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and on this day, everyone lit lamps and sacrificed to the gods. Pray that you can be protected by the gods in the new year.
It is also said that during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, he was more advocating Buddhism. Therefore, events are often held by lighting lamps in palaces and temples.
In order to show greater respect for the Buddha, he even asked the whole country to light lamps.
This seemingly rude request has played a role in promoting the formation of the Lantern Festival. Invisibly, it also allowed the spread of Buddhist rituals.
There are many theories about where the Lantern Festival came from, but a closer look reveals that no matter what it is, in the final analysis, there is a sacrifice to the gods and the pursuit of hope.
For the complex and diverse Xi customs of the Lantern Festival, it is also ever-changing.
Lantern Festival Xi customs in various eras
Whenever the Lantern Festival is mentioned, the Xi customs of "viewing lanterns" and "guessing lantern riddles" will blurt out, but what most people don't know is that these Xi customs did not exist from the beginning.
In the process of historical development, with the change of dynasties, the Xi customs of festivals at each historical node will change.
Take the length of the Lantern Festival as an example, the Lantern Festival during the Han Dynasty was only one day, but after the Tang Dynasty, it was extended to three days, and in the Song Dynasty, it became five days.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival could last for ten days. However, at that time, under the influence of some reasons, the Qing Dynasty returned to three days.
For some Xi unique to the Dragon Boat Festival, they did not emerge at the same time, but accumulated little by little in the process of historical development.
The Xi custom of appreciating the lanterns is actually related to the origin of the Lantern Festival mentioned earlier, because at that time, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty asked the people of the city to light the lanterns together in order to pray for blessings, and then this Xi custom gradually evolved into the Lantern Festival.
With the popularity of the Lantern Festival, everyone began to be not satisfied with lighting the lanterns, but to dress up the lights of each house in a unique way.
Over time, the concept of "lanterns" has emerged, and in order to let everyone appreciate their own lanterns and appreciate the works of others, everyone gathers together to have the Xi of viewing lanterns.
In order to make this activity more colorful, the common people began to unleash their imagination and incorporate dragon dances and acrobatic lantern activities.
We can see from the "Ming Xianzong Lantern Festival Pleasure Map" that the emperor did not want to go to the street in person in order to feel the atmosphere of the festival.
He directly called all kinds of vendors on the street to the palace, simulating the scene of ordinary people going out on the street.
During the Song Dynasty, there was a Xi of eating Lantern Festival, but this Lantern Festival was called "floating yuanzi" at that time, and the traditional Lantern Festival was not as simple as wrapping the filling with glutinous rice skin.
Instead, the prepared filling is balled or cut into pieces, dipped in water and rolled over and over again in the powder made of glutinous rice grinding.
Layer upon layer, until it rolls into a round ball, it is completed, and the Lantern Festival that comes out of this way is more complete.
At this time, the Lantern Festival also needs to be cooked with water, and in the process of cooking, the Lantern Festival sometimes floats and sometimes sinks to the bottom, which gives it the name "Floating Yuanzi".
Nowadays, some places call the Lantern Festival Tangyuan, according to legend, because after Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, because the pronunciation of the Lantern Festival is similar to "eliminate Yuan" is very taboo, so it was renamed Tangyuan.
For guessing lantern riddles, although it has been popular among the people as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, at that time, riddles were simply written on strips of cloth and hung under lamps for everyone to solve.
Later, because of the invention of "paper" in the Song Dynasty, the Xi of guessing lantern riddles was more convenient, and this Xi custom also developed to its peak.
"Writing poems with silk lanterns, sneering at the rich of the times, drawing people, hiding their heads, and teasing pedestrians with old Beijing proverbs. Lantern Festival, the imperial city never sleeps. The lantern viewing meeting of the Spring Festival is a hundred miscellaneous performances. The riddle book is in the lamp, reflected in the candle, listed in the thoroughfare, and let people guess the degree, so it is called the lantern riddle. ”
In the carefully written "Wulin Old Things, Lantern Products", there are relevant descriptions, and later there are many tricks about guessing lantern riddles, and even after guessing the lantern riddles, you can get the corresponding gifts.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Xi of "walking a hundred diseases" was added.
There will be differences in time in different regions, but there are only two days on the 15th and 16th. At this time, the women of the family, after carefully dressing up, gathered together to go out to "walk all kinds of diseases", and did not return home until the evening.
The places you pass along the way are all exquisite, going to the city is for the health of the family, and touching the door nail is to pray for a son in the coming year.
However, the doornail to be touched can not be casual, you must go to the temple to incense, and then go to the temple gate to touch the doornail to have an effect.
Of course, in addition to these prayers, there are also sky lanterns, but in ancient times, sky lanterns were not created because of the Lantern Festival.
The sky lantern was originally used to report safety to relatives and friends after hiding from robbers.
But once it happened to coincide with the Lantern Festival, after the news spread, everyone agreed that this might be able to reach the heavens directly, so that the heavenly people know their wishes, and the original meaning of the Lantern Festival is similar.
Gradually, everyone will put the sky lantern as a kind of prayer, hoping that on the day of the Lantern Festival, the lantern can fly higher and higher, and the sky can receive our expectations.
Later, everyone was even more eager to write their wishes on the sky lantern and make a wish to God.
There are so many Lantern Festival Xi customs, and there are also many records in the articles and verses of some ancient literati inkers.
The Lantern Festival in the eyes of the poet
Whenever we are immersed in the prosperous scene of the ancient Lantern Festival, we can't help but sigh at the romance of the ancient poets.
It is because of their records that we have the opportunity to experience the Lantern Festival thousands of years ago.
During the Song Dynasty, the various customs and Xi of the Lantern Festival were basically finalized, and everyone's enthusiasm for the Lantern Festival also reached a peak.
"Every year on this night, the lanterns are shining, and the moon is full. Northern Song Dynasty · Wang Xu's "The Full Moon and the First Night"
This sentence is the Northern Song Dynasty poet Wang Xu's use of a female perspective to describe the beauty of the lantern festival lanterns, and people are reunited like the moon, which is the case on this day every year.
"On New Year's Eve last year, the flower market was lit up like daylight. The willow tops on the moon, people about after dusk. On New Year's Eve this year, the moon and lights are still the same. I didn't see last year's people, and my tears wet the sleeves of my spring shirt. "Song · Ouyang Xiu's "Sheng Chazi · Yuan Xi
Some people are happy and some are worried, some people can be reunited on the day of the Lantern Festival, while some people are full of worries on this day.
The opposing emotions of these two poets undoubtedly make the Lantern Festival more three-dimensional.
Because of longing, we will pray for reunion, and because of the reunion, the Lantern Festival will be more satisfying.
In this way, the meaning of the Lantern Festival is not just about prayers and blessings, but also about reminding us of the roots of culture.
The Lantern Festival, like other traditional festivals, has survived and continues to be a reminder of the importance of respecting and protecting our cultural heritage at all times.