The Spring Festival just passed, Chinese mainland is still full of the happy atmosphere of new year everywhere and people’s mood to enjoy is still strong. In the evening of the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar, a bright full moon rises up in the sky and the Chinese ground is as brightly lit as in daylight. Although there is a chill in the air in early spring, the ground that recovers gradually warmer has been covered by a sweet atmosphere. In Chinese culture , 元宵节(yuán xiāo jié) has a lot of interesting activity .Any places in urban and rural are all decorating with lanterns and streamers, singing and dancing, making rice dumplings, and exploding fireworks. Strong festival spirit is in everywhere. People cherish the good time very much. It is what we say, “ Night hours in spring are extremely precious.”
Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar
Lantern Festival is one of the grandest folk festivals. It has a very long history in China. It welcomes the coming of spring together with people and is a traditional festival that embodies most the customs of Chinese festivals. Lantern Festival can date from Han Dynasty of more than 2000 years ago. It is said that, after the Emperor Liu Bang died, his wife Queen Lu usurped the throne. When Zhou Bo and Chen Ping got rid of Queen Lu’s power after Queen Lu’s death, the Emperor Liu Heng ascended the throne. Because the day of wiping out Queen Lu’s power is on the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar, every year in the same day Emperor Liu Heng will dress like a common people and go out of his palace and visit and play in the downtown streets, which is called “having fun with the public”, to memorize that day. In the ancient China, the meaning of evening or night was the same with “宵(xiāo)” and January lunar calendar was also called “元月(yuán yuè)”, so Emperor Liu Heng decided to make the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar as “元宵节(yuán xiāo jié)”, which is the so-called Lantern Festival in English, and this evening is called “元宵(yuán xiāo)”, also called元夜(yuán yè) or 元夕(yuán xī). Whether this story is right or wrong hasn’t been curtained. But considering this day as a good time of making sacrificing to gods and praying for good fortune is truly started from Han Dynasty.
Lantern Festival is also called “上元节(shànɡ yuán jié)”. “Shang Yuan” means the first full moon in a new year. According to a very old book, Sui Shi Za Ji, “Shang Yuan Jie” comes from the traditional rule of Taoism. Taoism used to call the fifteenth day of January lunar calendar as “Shang Yuan Jie” ; the 15th day of July lunar calendar as “中元节(zhōnɡ yuán jié)”; the 15th day of October lunar calendar as “下元节(xià yuán jié)” and these three days together are called “三元(sān yuán)”.