Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month
Happy New Year, the Year of the Tiger has arrived at the moment when the clock rings at midnight on February 1, 2022, and immediately after the Spring Festival, we will usher in another major festival - the Lantern Festival. After this festival, our lively New Year flavor slowly faded. So about this festival, in addition to eating lanterns (also called tangyuan), there are also activities such as guessing lantern riddles, flower lanterns, lion dances, etc., how much do you really know?
First, the source of the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Small New Moon, the New Year's Eve or the Lantern Festival, is the last important festival in the Chinese New Year customs.
There are three well-known theories about its origin: the origin of the Taiyin god sacrifice, the Taoist festival origin, and the Buddhist festival origin.
According to the theory of the origin of the Taiyi God Sacrifice, the Lantern Festival originated from the custom of worshipping the Taiyi God in the Han Dynasty. Tai Yi, also known as "Tai Yi", is an ancient god of heaven, ranked in the Xianban, he rules the nine dragons, and has the ability to control the blessings and disasters of the world, including droughts and floods, famine and plague. In ancient Times, as a large agricultural country, for the sake of national peace and security, China naturally believed in The One God. Legend has it that since Qin Shi Huang, a grand ceremony has been held every year to pray to the god Taiyi for smooth wind and rain, health and longevity. Especially during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (104 BC), he designated the Lantern Festival as one of the most important celebrations. According to the Book of Records of History, "The Han family often used to go to the Xin Ancestral Temple Taiyi Ganquan on the first lunar month, and to worship at dusk and night, and to the end of the dawn." It can be seen how much people attached importance to this festival at that time, so that they celebrated all night, and it should be known that the work and rest of the ancients could be different from that of modern people, generally "working at sunrise and resting at sunset".
Emperor Wu of han Liu Che
The Origin of Taoist Festivals theory believes that the Lantern Festival is related to the Taoist "Shangyuan". Volume 10 of the "Chronicle of the Ages" quotes Lü Yuanming's "Miscellaneous Records of the Years" as follows: "Taoists often take the fifteenth day of the first month as the upper yuan. "It happens to be the same day as our Lantern Festival. According to the "Instructions of Emperor Liang Yuan", "Shangyuan is the blessing of the Heavenly Officials." "The Celestial Officials mentioned here, that is, the messengers arranged by the Heavenly Court, visit and bless the netherworld. In order to greet the celestial officials, every household will light a lamp on that day to guide the gods, and since then it has become a custom. At the same time, the ritual of worshipping the god Taiyi in the palace was also carried out. Because of this connection, the Day of the Lantern Festival has become a day of universal celebration, but perhaps for various reasons, with the change of time, we slowly only remember the "Lantern Festival".
The origin of Buddhist festivals is believed to be related to the Buddhist illumination of the Buddha. Volume 10 of the Chronicle of the Years quotes the "Biography of the Monk ShiLuo Hanfa Ben" Yun: "The 30th day of December in the Western Regions is the hope of the first month of China, which is called the Great God Andong Changing The Moon." Emperor Hanming ordered the burning of lamps to show the Dharma Daming. "During the Ming Dynasty of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced to China. As a foreign religion, it was not easy to attract people in the face of a strong local culture, so Buddhism did not have a great influence at that time. However, the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty admired Buddhism, and after hearing that there was a custom in Buddhism to commemorate the dead Buddha Shakyamuni at the fifteenth o'clock of the first month, he issued a decree ordering the palace and temples to light the lights on this night to worship the Buddha, and then the people of the shi clan also followed the lamp. Although this does not sound related to the origin of the Lantern Festival, but because the lamp worship of the Buddha happens to be on the fifteenth day of the first month, and the custom of opening the lantern is left for the Lantern Festival, which increases the meaning of the Lantern Festival, it is also considered to be one of the origins of the Lantern Festival.
Second, the authenticity of the origin legend
The theory of the origin of the monotheistic sacrifice is largely untenable, because the day of sacrifice should not be on the fifteenth day of the first month. The strongest evidence is the "Xin Day on the First Moon" recorded in the Book of History and Music, which is not the fifteenth day of the first month. According to the Chinese dry branch chronology, this day is an auspicious day in the first half of the first month, which is scattered in different years from the first to the tenth day of the first month, but it is by no means the fifteenth day of the first month. The reason why the Lantern Festival is celebrated as a festival is more because the moon on this day is the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, which embodies people's beautiful expectations. From the perspective of worshiping the monotheistic god, it is mainly dominated by the royal family and has little to do with ordinary people. Until the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was still held on the "First Day of the First Month", and its sacrifice content was very different from the current Lantern Festival.
Tai B
The Taoist theory of the origin of festivals is also difficult to believe, and this statement is mostly that in Taoism, in order to promote Taoism and attract believers, it deliberately exaggerates the relationship between Dao daojiao and the Lantern Festival. The above-mentioned "Chronicle of the Ages" is a folk chronicle that includes the information on the festivals of the previous years of the Southern Song Dynasty, according to which it can be seen that this book must be later than the "Will of the Liang Yuan Emperor" written during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it is difficult not to doubt the intention of Taoism to establish the special day of "Shangyuan". There is also evidence that Taoism does have a tendency to take advantage of this behavior.
The origin of Buddhist festivals is equally questionable, with the intention of exaggerating the influence of buddhism. The Biography of the Monk Shiluo Hanfa records: "The 30th day of December in the Western Regions is the hope of the first lunar month in China, which is called the great god nongyue. Emperor Hanming ordered the burning of lamps to show the Dharma Daming. This is thought to be indirect evidence that the Lantern Festival originated in Buddhism. But if you dig closely, you can also find many loopholes. The first is that the author of the "Biography of the Monk Shiluo Hanfa" is the Song Dynasty monk Zanning, whose real identity is a Buddhist person, which greatly reduces the credibility of the historical data. The second is that the "Internal Biography of the Han Fa Ben" is mostly regarded as a forgery book in academic circles, and it also lacks credibility. From these two points, the origin of Buddhist festivals is not convincing.
Although there are problems with the above three statements, it also provides a space for speculation to examine the origin of the Lantern Festival, allowing us to explore traditional Chinese culture more enthusiastically and perceive the beautiful hopes of the ancient people for the Lantern Festival.
3. Customs of the Lantern Festival
The customs of the Lantern Festival, in addition to eating the Lantern Festival and the above-mentioned lights, there are several very characteristic customs.
One is "Ying Zi Gu", I believe many people have not heard of this custom, but in ancient times this custom was quite popular. This custom originated from a legend, and Zigu is the protagonist of this legend. She was a concubine of a large family before she died, and in ancient times she always followed the ethical creed of "respect and inferiority", so the housewife of the large family did not treat her well, often abused her, and in the long run, she could not bear the abuse, and died of anger on the fifteenth day of the first month. When the people heard about this, they were indignant and held an event on her death day. Since then, people have begun to tie a life-size portrait of Zigu from straw, cloth strips, etc., and place them on the table to pay tribute to her. The women were even more full of admiration for her, and every time on this day of remembrance, they stood in front of the statue of Zigu and spoke to her portrait like their own sisters, or comforted her, or confided in her grievances.
The second is "chasing rats", which is indeed less common, because it is mainly aimed at silkworm farmers to expel rats on the fifteenth day of the first month, and it is mainly prevalent in the vast areas of ancient southern silkworms.
The third is "sacrifice door, sacrifice household", this custom is also not common, compared to the grand sacrifice activities we are familiar with, the method of sacrifice of "sacrifice door, sacrifice door" sacrifice is actually very simple, only need to insert the branches of the poplar tree above the portal, and then fill an empty bowl with bean porridge, and then insert a pair of chopsticks in the bowl, so that the preparation of the sacrifice is done, or directly place the wine and meat in front of the door, to sacrifice the door god, pray for peace.
Wen Shijun said
Perhaps the lantern festival flavor is not as strong as before, and with our growth has become less expected, but no matter how it changes, we should keep in mind that the existence of each festival has its special significance, the Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, conveying the beautiful hope of Chinese children for life, understanding its origin, customs, and helping to better preserve the fire of Chinese culture, so we should learn to enrich the festival in our own way and pass it on.
bibliography
Han Mei, "A New Theory on the Origin of the Lantern Festival", Journal of Zhejiang University, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2010.
Jim Harbert, Azure, "The Origin and Customs of the Lantern Festival," International Talent Exchange, No. 3, 2015
Yingying: "What Are the Customs of the Lantern Festival", China Social Work, No. 5, 2017.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Shuwu)
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