Speaking of watching the lanterns in the first month, now that the children are older and we are old, we naturally can't get up with that interest. In the years when I was a child and I first learned photography, almost every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, I had to go to see the lanterns or shoot, and there was really a fresh energy at that time.
The most impressive thing is that on the fifteenth day of the first month of 1988, it was just in time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Jinan. On the northwest street of the Moat of the Liberation Pavilion, the city and the street office placed rows of long dragon lanterns more than 100 meters long. The lanterns were like a river, the audience was like a tide, I carried a camera and a tripod, squeezed in the crowd of people to show my hands and feet, so I left the sea of people and went to the Black Tiger Pavilion corridor across the river to take pictures.
Here the lights are dimmed, the distant flow of people is like a river, I take the moat boat and the bones on the budded poplar branches as the middle foreground, to the distant dragon's lantern street as the vista, took a few photos, and the title of the film is "East Wind Night Flowers and Thousand Trees". The film was also selected for the Jinan International Large-scale Photography Art Exhibition three years later (with participation from many countries).
(Photographed on the 15th day of the first month of 1988 in jinan liberation pavilion moat)
Later, when my son was young, every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, my wife and I took him to see the lanterns.
My son is getting older and stops playing with us. I photographed more and more flower lights, and I gradually lost interest in shooting. And the festival of lights in the moat, in the next thirty years, has not been held in that place.
There was almost no nightlife in that era, and it was throughout the year that people who had been busy for a year could see the brilliant scene of lights. In fact, it was also a very simple lantern festival back then.
(Window of Jinan Department Store in the 1980s. Simple items and furnishings)
In those days, if a pavilion or a building in a scenic spot hung a simple circle of small light bulbs around it, people could stop and watch for a long time. Later, the streets of various communities and major enterprises also held lantern festivals, and the places and types of lantern viewing were enriched.
Our lantern festival in Baotu Spring, Jinan, was first held in 1965. The park raised five thousand yuan, and pulled up a light line on the outline of the buildings in the park, and a lamp head was strung together, flickering and flashing, which was considered a lantern meeting. The Cultural Revolution was broken and never held again. In 1978, the park sent people to Beijing, Weifang, Yangzhou, suzhou to study, returned with lamp samples, and organized people to make a batch of lights on the first day of the New Year.
At that time, the entrance fee to the lantern festival was a dime, and the per capita salary at that time was only thirty or forty yuan. After the launch, the crowd surged and the newspaper at that time reported "unprecedented enthusiasm". To use an idiom to describe, that is, people are crowded, shoulder to shoulder, it is not exaggerated here, it is the true portrayal of that year. If anyone in the crowd is stepped on and has their shoes removed, they can't bend down to pick them up. According to the staff's recollection, "every night the shoe alone picks up several baskets", and the largest number of people watching the lights in one night exceeded 30,000 people.
(The above is the Baotu Spring Lantern Festival photographed by the author around 1985.) ）
Lantern Lantern Festival is a traditional folk activity on the mainland, as early as the Southern Dynasty period, the capital Jiankang (now Nanjing) began to appear Lantern Lantern Festival, Lantern Lantern Festival flourished in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and reached its peak during the Ming Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, lantern viewing activities were more prosperous, up to the court, down to the main street Lu Alley, the lights were colorful, and tall lamp wheels, lamp towers and lamp trees were also established; in addition to lighting lamps, fireworks were also set off in the Qing Dynasty.
In order to pray for smooth wind and rain, a happy family, and a peaceful world, the scenery of Zhang Lanterns began to move from the Forbidden Garden of the Deep Palace to the public. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties, Nanjing was the capital at that time, and many dignitaries and nobles and celebrities lived on the banks of the Qinhuai River, and every Lantern Festival, they also followed the example of the court and celebrated with zhang lanterns.
Ancient "lights full of city wells" "fire trees and silver flowers" The scenery is quite spectacular, the Tang Dynasty Lantern Festival lantern night, Luoyang Imperial City to large light lanterns, before and after three days, the night is not martial law, watching the lights is a sea of people. "Luoyang has no cars and horses day and night, and the red veil is full of trees." "The moonlight is full of imperial capitals, and the fragrant car BMW Pass is through the qu." That is, the portrayal of the time.
After the Ming Dynasty established the capital Nanjing, it extended the lantern festival to ten days every year, becoming the longest lantern festival in Chinese history. In the Qing Dynasty, the court no longer held lantern festivals, but the folk lantern festivals were still hot, and the date was shortened to three to five days, which lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
According to Chinese folk tradition, on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, people light up colorful lanterns to show celebration. Go out to admire the moon, light the lanterns and set off fireworks, guess the riddles, eat the Lantern Festival, reunite with the family, and celebrate the festival.
Retrospectively, the Lantern Festival lantern viewing originated from the "Torch Festival". Ancient people held torches in the country fields to drive away poisonous insects and beasts, hoping to alleviate the insect pests and praying for a good harvest a year.
"Guessing the Riddle of the Lanterns", also known as "Riddle of the Lanterns", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival and appeared in the Song Dynasty.
With the passage of time, the Lantern Festival has become more and more active, and many local festivals have added traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lanterns, lions, stilts, rowing dry boats, twisting rice songs, and playing Taiping drums. This traditional festival, which has been passed down for more than 2,000 years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also celebrates every year in the areas inhabited by overseas Chinese.
"When the moon is full, the lights are new, and the lights in the city are as white as silver."
"A thousand lights under the full moon, a round in the moon."
"Tonight in the moonlights, there are people watching the lights and admiring the moon."
"The fire tree and honeysuckle are red, and the spring breeze is blown by the sky"
"Whoever sees the moon can sit idly, and where the lights don't look."
"Look at the rich lights under the moon, and admire the spirit of the moon in front of the lights."
Those traditional marquee lamps, closing knife lamps, lotus lamps, jade rabbit lamps, dragon and phoenix lamps, palace flower lamps, peacock open screen lights, Jiang Ziya sealing god lamps, three battles Lü Bu lamps, big haunting Tiangong lamps and other colorful flower lamps seem to make people enter the mythical world; there are gourd lamps, watermelon lamps, cabbage lamps, pepper lamps, cat lamps, dog lamps, lamb lamps, doll lights, ceremonial flower lamps... It is more realistic, colorful, beautiful, dazzling, dazzling.
In 2008, the Lantern Club, which was jointly declared by many places in the country, was approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
With the popularity of television sets, the development of network computers and mobile phones, watching TV or watching mobile phones at home has tripped many people's legs. On the fifteenth day of the first month, I went to the scene to see the lanterns and guess the riddles, which was far from the rich interest of the past.
Note: The first film was taken on the 15th day of the first month of 1992 at the Hongjialou Lantern Festival. My wife held her three-year-old son and the crowd watching the lights. The end of the article was taken on the fifteenth day of the first month of 1999 in Jinju Lane, Jinan.
The old photographs in this article were taken by this author
About author:Wen Wei, born in Jinan in 1957. He has never left his homeland, and although he lived in Zhangqiu and Pingyin for several years during this period, he is now also classified as Jinan City. Since his publications in the 1980s, he has published only over a hundred works in newspapers and periodicals inside and outside the province. Poetry and prose have won more than 40 awards, and photography has won more than 70 awards.
One-dot reed