The Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Small First Moon, the New Year's Eve or the Lantern Festival, is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year, and is the last important festival in the Chinese Spring Festival.
1
Origin of shangyuan
The fifteenth night of the first month of the old calendar is the "Shangyuan Festival" of the mainland folk tradition, also known as the "Lantern Festival" and "Lantern Festival".
As early as more than two thousand years ago, Emperor Wen of Han was the emperor of Zhou Boping's "Rebellion of Zhulu", and the day of The Peace was the fifteenth day of the first month, so every night after that, Emperor Wen of Han would go out of the palace to play and "enjoy with the people". The first month is the first month, and "night" is also called "night" in the ancient language, so Emperor Wen of Han designated the fifteenth day of the first month as the "Lantern Festival". However, at that time, there was no custom of opening the lamp and watching the lamp.
In the 10th year of The Reign of emperor Yongping (67), Cai Yan sought Buddhism from India, and in order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered the lantern to be lit at the Lantern Festival to show respect for the Buddha. This is the origin of the Lantern Festival.
When Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty suggested that Emperor Wu of han revise the calendar and create the Taichu Calendar, he listed the Lantern Festival as a major festival.
It can be seen that as early as the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was already an unusual festival, and the "Book of History and Music" Yun: "The Han family often worships the Xinyi Ganquan on the first lunar month, and worships at dusk and night, and ends at dawn." Taiichi, also known as "Taiichi", is said to be an alias for the arctic god. The Book of Han also says: "The night walk is forbidden by Jin Wu, but the fifteenth day of the first month is allowed to relax the prohibition, which is called 'letting go of the night'." It can be seen that on the one hand, the imperial court worships the Arctic god on the fifteenth day of the first month, and on the other hand, the people do not stop walking at night and can go out for the festival at will.
However, the Lantern Festival of the Han Dynasty and the Later Generations was still different, and it was not until after the Tang Dynasty that it gradually evolved into today's Lantern Festival.
"Shangyuan Festival" is a Taoist reference, the Tang Dynasty advocated lao, Zhuang, and took Taoism as the state religion, and held various festivals to celebrate the birth of the Taoist "Shangyuan Blessing Heavenly Official Ziwei The Great" on the fifteenth day of the first month. Since then, the Lantern Festival has added Taoist colors and become a festival with the characteristics of Buddhism and Taoism. Its activities have also formed fixed forms such as lanterns, fireworks, and lantern eating.
The Lantern Festival at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic is still quite grand and lively. Together with the New Year Changdian Temple Fair and the Yanjiuhui Immortals of the Baiyun Temple, it is called "Shanglin Shengju".
"Customs of Old Beijing" is a common spring
2
Lights up and watching lights
The Lantern Festival is called the "Festival of Lights", and the visible lights are the characteristics of this festival, and the lanterns and lanterns are the main activities of this festival. Old Beijingers have two festivals of lantern play in a year, one is Shangyuan and the other is Zhongyuan. The above yuan is the most lively, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth day of the first month, a total of five days. The thirteenth day of the first month is "on the lamp", the fourteenth day is the "test lamp", the fifteenth day is the "positive lamp", and the seventeenth day is "strike the lamp".
Vulgar Cloud: "The fifteenth day of the first month is a flower lantern." "Flower lanterns have a long history in the mainland. At the beginning, only the imperial palace and the officials and nobles of the Capital Division hung a few lamps in front of their homes on the fifteenth night of the first month to show off the lintel. Later, the private rich households also followed suit, and the lamp market came into being. As a result, the folk Lantern Lantern, Race Lantern, and Viewing Lantern have gradually become common customs.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a so-called "lamp market", and at that time, the East City Lamp Market Entrance was a combination of lights and the city. On the night of the Lantern Festival, the streets are lined with markets, from jewelry and jade to daily necessities, and there are tea houses and liquor stores for tourists to drink and feast. All shops and vendors hang flower lanterns made of silk yarn, burnt beads, bright horns, wheat straw and grass for people to watch and attract customers. Such a "lamp market" is carried out for ten days from the eighth day of the first month of the first month. In order to make the hundred officials "enjoy with the people", the emperor also gave the courtiers a five-day leave and let them go to the lamp.
In the Qing Dynasty, the lamp was separated from the city (the city belonged to the Liuli Factory and the Lingyou Palace), and people still used to call it the lamp market, but this lamp market had no trade nature, only entertainment nature. So rather, it is the Lantern Society.
In the Qing Dynasty, when the "Shengping Dynasty" was in full swing, the Lantern Night Market was very particular about Zhang Lantern. At that time, the inner city was the most prosperous with the East Fourth Arch AndiLou and Di'anmen, followed by Dong'anmen, Xinjiekou and West Fourth Arch, and the outer city was Zhengyangmenwai Street. The shops in these places, mainly pastry shops, cloth shops, and silk satin villages, all compete to hang flower lanterns of different sizes, heights, and square circles, with differences in silk, glass, croissants, and the West. There are depicted characters on it, such as "The Nations", "Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Fengshen Shen", "Water Margin", "Liaozhai", etc.; there are paintings of flowers, such as orchids, chrysanthemums, plums, gui, Xuan, bamboo, peony, peony, peony; there are paintings of animals and animals, luans, phoenixes, dragons and tigers, and even horses, cattle, cats, dogs, insects, crabs, fish and shrimp, all of which are delicious in color, wonderful faxes, and there are many varieties, and the list goes on.
Some have ingenious ideas, casting ice lanterns and running ice lantern meetings. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ji'anmen Outer Street jusheng Gonggan Fruit Shop (Xiaomen Jiang Shop) and the ice cellar workers along the Yili River all skillfully froze into gods and Buddhas (such as Maitreya and the Eight Immortals), dramatic characters, utensils, internal lamps and candles, and planted wheat seedlings for dragon tiger fish birds, "flashy but not extravagant, simple and vulgar". At that time, the residents of the North City went to the Yuan every term, helped the old and the young, and watched it here, and spread it as a good story.
Since the "lights" on the thirteenth day of the first month, the market has begun to sell various forms of marquee lamps. The "Chronicle of the Yanjing Dynasty" says: "Those who walk the marquee, cut paper for the wheel, and boo it with candles, then the car gallops and the group is endless." When the candle goes out, it stops. "At that time, the marquee was shaped like a small niche, there was a vertical pillar, a paper umbrella on the upper end of the column, and under the umbrella was a thin wire to tie four dramatic characters, burning candles to his umbrella, and the umbrella turned to the characters, from the front of the lamp can be viewed, and the back of the white paper can be watched. In addition, there are paper lanterns such as lions, dogs, rabbits, and sheep that can shake the mind, as well as the big Longjing fish that symbolizes auspicious celebrations, and the "air death wind lamps" of various sizes of red paper paste. From this day on, children from house to family paraded around carrying lanterns and playing.
On the night of the Yuan Dynasty, whether it is officials and eunuchs or ordinary people, they all go to the streets to watch the lights, forming a trend of thousands of empty alleys. As it is said in the "Bamboo Branches of dumen": "The elbows and feet are not aware of each other, and the cloth dust stains the noble mink." "There are countless people who have lost their shoes and hats due to crowding. The Qing dynasty Lao Zhizhi said in the Shangyuan Miscellaneous Verses: "Twenty-eight who is a daughter of a family, covetous of falling sideburns." ”
The Lantern Festival is carnival for five nights, and every night there are dozens of red lights to guide the city to check, and it is strictly forbidden to drink and troublemakers. In order to avoid breeding right and wrong, the official office secretly instructed the husband to make a change, and the three more would hit five more, which was called "urging the lamp.". The "Chunming Cai Fengzhi" says: "Earlier, the infantry battalion hired beggars as servants, and the line was formed. The heart of the North New Bridge, the west of Northern Mongolia, the east belongs to the Han Army, five nights and two changes, three teams of dozens of husbands, met between the bridges. Each line up, shouting a trumpet, the group of poles sounded, the points were exchanged, such as the song of the card, the laughter was mixed, how far the sound was heard, the tourists rushed to, the four sides were severe, all looked at the poles and did not look at the lights. And the lights don't disperse. ”
3
Lantern Festival
The food that should be celebrated on the Yuan Festival is the Lantern Festival. "Yanjing Chronicle" Yun: "The city sells food, dry and fresh, and the Lantern Festival is the bulk." So it embellishes the knotted ears. ”
Some pastry shops in old Beijing sell Lantern Festivals, often borrowing lanterns or setting off fireworks as a means of attracting customers. Famous pastry shops, such as HefangLou on Dongsi South Street, Ruifangzhai on Dongsi North Avenue, Guiyingzhai and Guilanzhai on Di'anmenwai Street, zhengmingzhai on Zhengyangmenwai Street, etc., are almost all set up in advance, and the hanging lights are colorful and eye-catching. During the Lantern Festival, they will support the case in the shed, set up a large basket, shake the Lantern in public, and sell while doing it, and the business is very prosperous.
The Lantern Festival in Beijing is first made of stuffing (there is hawthorn white sugar, osmanthus white sugar, date paste, chengsha, cream), after the saccharification is done, mixed with fruit, waiting to solidify into lumps, cut into dice-shaped squares, one by one placed on the dry glutinous rice flour in the large basket, shake the basket to make the filling roll around and dip in glutinous rice flour, fish up the dipping water, and then roll the basket rock, the filling is wrapped in thick glutinous rice flour layer by layer, becoming the Lantern. The shop guys are shaking and dancing, as if they are dancing, the lantern people inevitably have to stop and watch, the more people, the more energetic the guys who shake the Lantern, and even some even improvise and sing small songs. People can't help but buy a few boxes to take home, so that they can sit around the table and eat a festive supper, in order to take the meaning of family reunion and harmony, so as to express the wish for happiness and well-being in the new year.