"On the eve of the New Year's Eve of the fire tree and silver flowers, the colorful lights shine brightly." The Lantern Festival is approaching, and the happy ancient golden city has done enough wonderful articles, not only has a wealth of cultural and tourism activities to welcome the festival, but also a kind holiday to warm up the grass-roots people and create a strong festive atmosphere.
The Lantern Festival originates from the blessing of turning on the lights
The ancients called "night" "supper", and the fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night of the year, so the fifteenth day of the first month is called the "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "Three Yuan", the fifteenth day of the first month is also called the "Shangyuan Festival". Since ancient times, the lantern festival customs have been dominated by the warm and festive lantern viewing customs. The formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, originating from the folk custom of turning on the lanterns and praying for blessings.
According to general information and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month has been valued in the Western Han Dynasty, but the lantern festival of 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 burning lamps on the fifteenth day of the first month is also related to the eastern transmission of Buddhism, when Buddhism was flourishing in the Tang Dynasty, the people of Shiguan generally "lit the lamp for the Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, and the Buddhist lamp was spread throughout the people, and since the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Lantern has become a legal matter.
The Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China and the Chinese character cultural circle and overseas Chinese. The Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities such as viewing flower lanterns, eating tangyuan, guessing lantern riddles, and setting off fireworks. In addition, many local Lantern Festivals have also added traditional folk performances such as dragon lanterns, lion dances, stilt walking, rowing dry boats, twisting rice songs, and playing Taiping drums. In June 2008, the Lantern Festival was officially selected as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
"Old Lanzhou" four folk customs to celebrate the Lantern Festival
"The Lantern Festival in Lanzhou city has four folk customs items: one is to eat the Lantern Festival, the second is to watch the lanterns and guess the riddles, the third is to set off fireworks and firecrackers, and the fourth is to make a social fire and sing Taiping songs." Deng Ming, an expert in the history of our province and a librarian at the Gansu Provincial Museum of Culture and History, told reporters: "Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of making lantern festivals has prevailed. According to the "(Daoguang) Gaolan County Continuation Chronicle", when Qianlong Jiaqing Daoguang was in, the people of Lanzhou made powder and fed yuan dishes for four days before and after the Lantern Festival, night smoke lamps, pipes, color tents, Jinping, Yangge, Shehuo, PeiTong, Fan Drum, and extravagant Lijia yu Longyou. ’”
"At that time, the Lantern Festival sweet shops would also roll the Lantern for sale, and some residents would roll in their own homes, mostly filling with osmanthus flowers, rock sugar, and walnut kernels." He said: "The snow-white Lantern is lit with a red dot, known as Yuanhong. Relatives and friends exchanged Lantern Festivals and wished Pepsi a smooth and successful journey. Fifteen dinners, each person must taste the Lantern Festival, taking the meaning of family reunion and harmony, expressing the wish of happiness and happiness in the new year, sweet days, and the consummation of everything. ”
The reporter learned that at that time, Lanzhou City reached the twelfth and third day of the first month, and the streets and alleys of the whole city were illuminated, and the West Avenue (now the western section of Zhangye Road), the Wanshou Palace (now Tongwei Road), the Yuanmen East and West Gate (now the east and west sides of the Central Square), the Silk Street (the south of the Central Square to the intersection of Wudu Road), and some monasteries were all built with cloth curtains to form lamp sheds, hanging big red palace lamps, glass lamps, sheep horn lamps, as well as various flower and fruit animal modeling lamps and square yarn lamps, and various colored lanterns and square yarn lamps were also hung in various characters. The four-sided painted comic strip of the square yarn lamp is the story in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Legend of the Water Margin, the List of Fengshen Gods, the Journey to the West, and the Chronicle of the States of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Fifteen riddles are pasted on each side of the lamp for people to guess and shoot, and the prizes are lanterns, pen and ink, small hats, etc. On the night of the thirteenth day of the first month, the lamp is lit, which is called "test lamp", and the seventeenth day is called "residual lamp".
When you go to Xigu Lantern, you will feel the jacquard lantern, find the good people, and pray for the Year of Blessings
Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is a day full of poetry and love, and it provides a great opportunity for men and women who crave love. This year, Jincheng Park in Xigu District has prepared a surprise for citizens and friends, and many traditional cultural elements such as jacquard lanterns, good people, and blessing year will be presented in a concentrated manner, aiming to let tourists enjoy the festival with rich activities.
This time, the main exhibition area of the lantern fair is located in Park Road, Fuli East Road to Fuli West Road, Xigu District, Lanzhou City, cross of the Urban Construction Bureau and Jincheng Center.
Illumination time: February 15, February 16 (15th of the first month, 16th of the first month) 19:30 to 00:30 of the next day. Vehicles can arrive at the nearest designated parking spot from Lanzhou Xigu East-West Road, Fuli East-West Road, South Ring Expressway and other traffic trunk roads, go south from the intersection of Changye Building on Park Road, enter Jincheng Park along Park Road, and open the lantern viewing activity; after the end of the park, the park will return from the east side of the main entrance of the park.
Parking lots around the lantern: Jincheng Center underground parking lot, kangaroo swimming pool aboveground parking lot, Yintai Yi Cuiyuan west side aboveground parking lot, park east and west road south side can be one-way parking, Pioneer Road cross to Yuexing furniture cross can be double-sided same direction single row parking, Pioneer Road cross to archway road bridge under the cross can be double-sided same direction one-row parking, San surname Zhuang West Road to Xiaopingshan gas station cross west side can be one-way parking, Welfare West Road (Woniu Cross to Siergou cross) can be double-sided and one-way one-way parking.
In addition to the large-scale light groups in Jincheng Park, there are also flower lanterns everywhere on both sides of the road into Xigu District. The theme of the cross of Changye Building is "Centennial New Journey, Welcome to the Twenty Great" large-scale light group, the green belt of the Center of East Welfare Road is set with the theme of "Golden Jade Full Hall", "Every Year there is more than enough", "Seize the Opportunity, Continue to Write Brilliant", "Focus on Petrochemical" Light Group; The Theme of the Bull Head Cross is "New Year Greetings" Light Group; the Green Belt of The Green Belt of The West Welfare Road Center is set with the theme of "Undertaking the Mission, Standing Courageously at the Head of the Tide", "Don't Forget the Initial Heart, Remember the Mission" Light Group; the fountain in front of the district government sets the theme as "Industrial Integration Development, Revitalization of Petrochemical Glory" Light Group.
The streets and alleys are lit up with flower lanterns and fireworks are celebrated at the Lantern Festival
It is understood that this year, the Zhangye Road Pedestrian Street, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, the Dongfanghong Square, the North Exit of Tianshui Road, the Citizens' Park, and the Zhongshan Bridge in the jurisdiction of Chengguan District have all laid out light groups, and the roadside trees along the North and South Binhe Road have also been lit by point-shaped light groups. At the same time, Qixia Lake in Lanzhou New District has also prepared flower viewing activities, and in the evening, citizens and tourists can stroll through Qixia Lake, leisurely enjoy the flower lanterns, tree ornaments and street scenes with the theme of "Celebrating the New Year of the Tiger, Welcoming the New Year of the New District", and feel the strong taste of happiness.
This time, the Gaolan County Cultural Center will also hold the "Culture into Wanjia • Intangible Cultural Heritage Live Broadcast Hometown Year" and "Our Festival • Spring Festival" Lantern Exhibition Activities. 88 colorful Shichuan lanterns traditionally handmade by local non-hereditary inheritors will be lit up on the pedestrian street in front of the Gaolan County Cultural Center building. The illuminations on display are mainly palace lamps, yarn lamps, flower basket lamps and other types, which will last until February 17 (the 17th day of the first month).
In addition, from 19:00 to 21:00 on February 15, the Lanzhou Lantern Festival New Year Fireworks Festival will be staged at the Wanda City Exhibition Center located on North Binhe Road in Lanzhou City. In this fireworks event, there will be 1,000 jellyfish fireworks to ignite the night sky at the same time, at the same time, 100 citizens on the scene will jointly light a thousand Gatling to cheer for Chinese athletes, and there will be a live performance of the folk intangible cultural heritage "playing iron flower".
The activities in Dizhou City are also wonderful
The reporter learned that other prefectures and cities in our province have also prepared wonderful activities to welcome the Lantern Festival. Among them, the Linxia City Library's "Lantern Festival, Guess the Riddle of the Lantern" prize quiz activity was officially launched recently. In this activity, each person has a total of 2 opportunities to answer the questions, a total of 15 questions need to be answered, the questions are random, and the answer time for each question is 10 seconds. The event will be held from February 10 to 16, and after the event, the ranking will be based on the most correct answers and the shortest answer time, and the prizes include four masterpieces, the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes, and the portable bento bag.
Gongs and drums are noisy and play with the fire of the society, and the lantern is red and red. Recently, The Riverfront Cultural Square of Kangle County held the 2022 "Celebrating Chinese New Year Frolicking Lantern Festival" social fire performance in a joyful atmosphere. On the same day, 20 social fire teams from all over the county took turns to use special performances such as lion dances, dragon dances, twisting songs, and rowing dry boats to send New Year greetings and blessings to the people of the county, creating a happy, festive and peaceful festival atmosphere, highlighting the increasingly beautiful life of the masses.
Although the weather was cold, at the scene of the show, the members of the social fire performance team were full of energy and spirit. They appeared in festive costumes and to the cheerful drum beats. In particular, the traditional projects such as dragon dances, lion dances, rice songs, and dry boats that are popular with the masses are loved by the masses. One by one, the performance team shows the good spiritual outlook of the farmers in the new era and shows their love and yearning for a better life. The performance content is rich and colorful, the atmosphere is festive and warm, bringing everyone a red-hot cultural feast.
The pictures in this article are all profile pictures
Li Chao, chief reporter of Lanzhou Daily
This issue is edited by 丨 Bao Xuefeng
This issue of the audit 丨 Wang Xuan
Proofreading | in this issue Ma Hongli
The duty director 丨Han Tong
Duty Editor-in-Chief 丨 Wang Literature