The origin of guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival

Admiring lanterns and guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese culture. So, do you know when the Lantern Festival riddles originated? Next, let’s take a look at the origin of guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival.

The Origin of Lantern Riddles on the Lantern Festival

origin

Guessing lantern riddles, also known as playing lantern riddles, is an activity added after the Lantern Festival. Lantern riddles were first developed from riddles and originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is a literary game full of satire, humor and jokes. The practice of hanging riddles on lanterns for people to guess began in the Southern Song Dynasty. "Wulin Jiushi·Lanterns" records: "Poems were written on silk lanterns, sometimes with ridicule, figures, hidden meanings, and old Beijing jokes to tease passers-by."

Meaning

Guessing lantern riddles is a traditional form of entertainment in my country. Riddles are composed of three basic elements: the riddle, the question and the answer. It uses artistic techniques and the rules of Chinese characters, focuses on the changes in the meaning of words and phrases, and often uses a phrase or a poem to make riddles. Because riddles themselves can both enlighten the wisdom and are particularly interesting to achieve the purpose of entertainment, they are deeply loved by everyone.