Reading the Lantern Festival |: Nine Customs, Nine Wishes

Every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, it is the Lantern Festival of Chinese.

In the lunar calendar, the fifteenth day of each month must be the moon (full moon).

The Lantern Festival is the first hope of the year, as the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, which holds countless beautiful expectations.

On this day, people go out to admire the moon, set off fireworks, guess lantern riddles, eat lanterns, and the street market is bustling.

01

Eat the Lantern

The south eats tangyuan, and the north eats the Lantern.

The Lantern is "rolling" and the tangyuan is "wrapped".

The moon is full in the sky, the reunion on earth, and the tangyuan in the bowl.

The Lantern is delicious to eat, and its shape is round, symbolizing reunion and happiness.

As the first full moon of the year, people eat round tangyuan and pray for a happy year.

02

Flower lights

In the past, because there were no electric lights, a "curfew" was imposed at night.

The streets were empty and everyone stayed at home.

But only the Lantern Festival is an exception.

Three or five days before and after the Lantern Festival, the emperor ordered that lamps be lit to light up the entire street.

People also go out one after another, enjoying the lights and playing, looking for good people.

Originally, the lamp was lit for the birthday of the Buddha this year.

So the flower lantern is a little bright, driving away the wish of troubles.

03

Guess the riddle

Guessing lantern riddles, also known as "playing lantern riddles", is an activity added later in the Lantern Festival.

People put written puzzles on colored lights for people to guess.

It can enlighten wisdom and is very interested, so it is popular with people from all walks of life in the process of circulation, and gradually becomes a unique cultural phenomenon.

04

Lion Dance

According to legend, the lion was the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva.

With the introduction of Buddhism to the mainland, lion dances also came.

Every Lantern Festival or rally celebration, folk come to the lion dance to help.

This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms and has a history of thousands of years.

The lion is the honor of a hundred beasts, and its image is majestic and brave.

The ancients regarded it as a symbol of strength, believing that it could drive away evil spirits and bless peace.

People dance lions during the Lantern Festival and other major events, hoping that life will be auspicious and all will be safe.

05

Mouse-by-mouse

In the past, people used to raise silkworms and reel silk and weave cloth to make clothes.

Silkworm babies are very important treasures, but rats often eat silkworms at night.

On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, people boiled a large pot of porridge, covered with a layer of meat, and placed it in a place where rats often appeared.

If the rats are fed, the rats will naturally not eat silkworms.

Later, the rat chasing gradually evolved into a sacrifice, pinning the hope of a good harvest on the farmers.

06

Send baby lights

Sending children to the lamp is called sending lights, also known as sending flower lamps.

Because "lamp" and "ding" are harmonious, sending a lamp means "sending a son".

The object of the gift is the newly married daughter, hoping that the daughter can give birth to a noble son early.

In ancient society, population was an important labor force for a family, so sending a child was equivalent to sending a blessing.

If the daughter is pregnant, in addition to sending the big palace lamp, you must also send one or two pairs of small lanterns to wish the daughter a safe pregnancy.

07

Ying Zi Gu

Legend has it that Zigu was a kind and poor girl who died of poverty on the fifteenth day of the first month.

In order to express their sympathy and remembrance of her, people sacrificed Zigu on this day.

On this night, people used straw, cloth heads, etc. to form life-size portraits of Zigu.

The women greeted her at the toilet, the pigsty and the kitchen, talking to her and comforting her.

This is the loyalty of the ancient Chinese, but also the sympathy and kindness to the weak.

08

Go a hundred sick

"Walking a hundred diseases", also known as baking a hundred diseases, scattering a hundred diseases.

On the fifteenth and sixteenth day of the first month, women go out in full dress, take bridges to cross dangers, enter the city, touch nails and ask for children, until midnight.

In ancient times, it was difficult for women to have the opportunity to go out, and the Lantern Festival was one of the few opportunities they could play.

They helped the old and the young, carrying flower lanterns, and walked on the riverside bridge, looking at it from a distance, which was spectacular.

09

Stealing vegetables

Gu Shiyun: "The moon is at the head of the willow, and the person is about after dusk."

The lantern festival in ancient times, or Valentine's Day.

On the day of the Lantern Festival, the girls flocked to steal other people's cabbage.

You can only steal the opposite sex from outside the house.

Stealing vegetables is not afraid of being discovered, and the families of those who are stolen do not blame.

The stolen vegetables are made into a cabbage feast, and it is said that whoever eats the most will be able to find Ruyi Langjun as soon as possible. (Author Ru Fengjun Source Ru Feng Everyone)