What are the customs of the 15th day of the first lunar month? What are the traditional customs of the Lantern Festival?

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, Spring Lantern Festival, Little New Year's Day, and Yuanxiao Festival. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first important festival after the Spring Festival. Do you know what customs and activities are there on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month? What are the customs on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month?

What are the customs on the 15th day of the first lunar month?

1. Decorate with lights and colors

Since the custom of hanging lanterns during the Lantern Festival was formed, all dynasties have regarded hanging lanterns and watching lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month as a major event. Emperor Jianwen of Liang once wrote an article "Ode to Lanterns": "In the south, oil is all full; in the west, lacquer competes to burn. The Su army rests in peace; wax comes out of Longchuan. The slanting sunlight shines on each other; the reflections are clear and bright." It depicts the grand occasion of hanging lanterns in the palace during the Lantern Festival at that time. During the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, a grand party was held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year to entertain guests and envoys from all over the world. According to the "Book of Sui·Music Records", the Lantern Festival celebration was very grand, with lights and decorations everywhere, singing and dancing, and music day and night. There were more than 30,000 performers and more than 18,000 musicians. The stage was eight miles long, and countless people came to enjoy the lanterns. They enjoyed themselves all night long, and it was very lively. In the Tang Dynasty, it developed into an unprecedented lantern fair. After the middle Tang Dynasty, it developed into a carnival for the whole nation. During the Kaiyuan Period (685-762 AD) of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival in Chang'an was very grand, with 50,000 lanterns lit and a wide variety of lanterns. The emperor ordered people to build a giant lantern tower, which was 20 rooms wide and 150 feet high. It was dazzling with golden light and extremely spectacular. There was a curfew in the Tang Dynasty. Once the curfew drum sounded at night, people were prohibited from going out and those who violated the curfew would be punished. Only during the Lantern Festival would the emperor allow three days of lifting the curfew, which was called "releasing the night". During the Song Dynasty, the lighting of lanterns was extended from three nights to five nights. In addition to the lanterns, fireworks were set off and various acrobatics were performed, making the scene even more lively. It is recorded in "Dongjing Menghualu": ​​During every Lantern Festival, thousands of colorful lanterns are piled up into a mountain of lights on the Imperial Street in Kaifeng, with lanterns and fireworks, golden and jade shining, and brocade and embroidery shining. Kyoto girls sang and danced, and the crowds watched. "Tourists gathered under the two corridors of the Imperial Street, performing magic tricks, singing and dancing, and the noise of music spread for more than ten miles. "In the streets and alleys, teahouses and wine shops all had lights on, gongs and drums sounded, firecrackers blasted, and lights were on for hundreds of miles. In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Nanjing, in order to make the capital prosperous and lively, he stipulated that lanterns should be lit on the eighth day of the first lunar month and turned off on the seventeenth day. This lasted for ten nights. Every household hung colorful lanterns with various figures dancing, birds flying and flowers blooming depicted on the lanterns. Dragons soar and fish leap, lanterns and fireworks illuminate the night. Drumming fun. This is China's longest Lantern Festival, bustling until dawn. During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus ruled the Central Plains and the palace no longer held lantern festivals, but the folk lantern festivals were still spectacular. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day.

2. Guess lantern riddles

"Guessing lantern riddles" is also called "playing lantern riddles". It 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, admonition, humor and jokes. The practice of hanging riddles on lanterns for people to guess began in the Southern Song Dynasty. "Old Stories of Wulin: Lanterns" records: "Poems were written on silk lanterns, sometimes with irony, figures, hidden meanings, and old Beijing jokes, to tease passers-by." During the Lantern Festival, the imperial city never sleeps, and people gather to enjoy the lanterns in the spring night. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected by candles, and displayed in the streets for everyone to guess, so they are called "lantern riddles." Nowadays, every Lantern Festival, riddles are posted in various places, hoping for joy and peace. Because riddles can enlighten the mind and are interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life during the process of circulation. During the Tang and Song dynasties, various acrobatic performances began to appear in lantern fairs. In addition to lantern riddles and various kinds of singing and dancing, the lantern fairs in the Ming and Qing dynasties also added opera performances. In addition to visiting the lantern market, people in the past also have customs such as welcoming Zi Gu and worshiping the toilet god, crossing the bridge and touching the nails to get rid of all diseases, and playing games such as beating Taiping drums, yangge, stilts, dragon dances, and lion dances.

3. Dragon lantern show

Also known as dragon lantern dance or dragon dance. Its origin can be traced back to ancient times. Legend has it that as early as the Yellow Emperor period, in a large-scale song and dance called "Qingjiao", there appeared an image of a human playing a dragon head with a bird body. Later, a dance scene of six dragons interweaving with each other was choreographed. The first recorded dragon dance was in the "Fu of Western Capital" by Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty. The author gave a vivid description of the dragon dance in the narration of a hundred plays. According to the "Book of Sui·Music Records", during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, the "Yellow Dragon Change" performance, which was similar to the dragon dance in various acrobatics, was also very exciting and dragon dance became popular in many places in China. The Chinese nation worships the dragon and regards it as a symbol of good luck.

4. Walking on stilts

Stilt walking is a popular mass performance among the people. Stilt walking is a type of acrobatics in ancient China and appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. The earliest introduction of stilts in China is in the chapter "Shuo Fu" of Liezi: "In Song there was a man named Lan Zi, who used his skills to compete with Song Yuan. Song Yuan summoned him and showed him his skills.

5. Lion Dance

Lion dancing is an excellent Chinese folk art. During the Lantern Festival or gatherings and celebrations, people perform lion dancing to add to the fun. This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms period, became popular during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and has a history of more than a thousand years. "Lion dance" originated in the Wei and Jin Dynasties and flourished in the Tang Dynasty. It is also known as "Lion Dance" and "Taiping Music". It is usually performed by three people. Two of them dress up as lions, one acts as the lion's head, one acts as the lion's body and hind legs, and the other acts as the lion's leader. There are two types of dance: civil and martial. The civil dance shows the lion's tameness, with movements such as shaking hair and rolling. The martial lion dance shows the lion's ferocity, with movements such as leaping, kicking high, and rolling colorful balls.

6. Land boat

According to folklore, rowing the land boat is to commemorate Dayu, who made great contributions to flood control. Land boat rowing is also called land boat running, which is to imitate the movement of a boat on land. Most of the people who perform land boat running are girls. The land boat is not a real boat. It is made of two thin boards, sawn into a boat shape, tied with bamboo and wood, and covered with colorful cloth. It is tied around the girl's waist. It is like sitting in a boat. She holds oars in her hands and makes rowing gestures while running, singing local tunes and dancing at the same time. This is land boat rowing. Sometimes there is another man dressed as a passenger on the boat, and his partner in the performance is mostly dressed as a clown, using all kinds of funny actions to amuse the audience. Land boat rowing is popular in many areas of China.

7. Eat Yuanxiao

"Yuanxiao" as a food has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel food for the Lantern Festival became popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Fuyuanzi" and later called "Yuanxiao". Businessmen also gave it a nice name "Yuanbao". In ancient times, "Yuanxiao" was relatively expensive. There is a poem that says: "The distinguished guest draws the curtain to look at the Imperial Street, and all the treasures in the market come at once. There is no way to walk past the flower stand in front of the curtain, and you cannot go back without money." Yuanxiao is "rolled" in the north, and glutinous rice balls are "wrapped" in the south. These are two foods with different methods and tastes. Yuanxiao, also known as "tangyuan", is filled with sugar, rose, sesame, bean paste, osmanthus, walnut kernels, nuts, jujube paste, etc. It is wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape. It can be meat or vegetarian, with different flavors. It can be cooked in soup, fried, or steamed, symbolizing reunion and happiness. The glutinous rice balls in Shaanxi are not wrapped but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour and then boiled or fried. They are hot and round.

8. Offering sacrifices to the door and the household

There were "seven sacrifices" in ancient times, and these are two of them. The method of sacrifice is to insert a willow branch above the door, insert a pair of chopsticks into a bowl of bean porridge, or directly place wine and meat in front of the door.

9. Rat chase

This activity is mainly aimed at those who raise silkworms. Because mice often eat large numbers of silkworms at night, people heard that if you feed mice with rice porridge on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they will stop eating silkworms. Therefore, these families would cook a big pot of sticky porridge on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Some would even cover it with a layer of meat. They would put the porridge in bowls and place them on the ceilings and corners where mice were active. They would mutter something while putting the porridge in their mouths, cursing the mice that they would not have a good death if they ate silkworms again. "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" said that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a god came down to a family surnamed Chen and said to them: If you can offer sacrifice to me, you will have a good harvest of silkworms. Later it became a custom.

10. Give a lantern to your child

It is abbreviated as "sending lanterns" or "sending flower lanterns", which means that before the Lantern Festival, the daughter's parents send flower lanterns to the family of the newly married daughter, or relatives and friends send lanterns to the family of a newly married couple without children, in order to pray for a good omen of having children, because "lantern" and "ding" are homophones. This custom exists in many places. In Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, lanterns are sent between the 8th and 15th day of the first lunar month. In the previous year, a pair of large palace lanterns and a pair of painted glass lanterns are sent, hoping that the daughter will be blessed with good fortune after marriage and give birth to a son soon. If the daughter is pregnant, in addition to the large palace lanterns, one or two pairs of small lanterns are also sent, wishing the daughter a safe pregnancy.

11. Welcoming Zigu

Zi Gu is also called Qi Gu, and in the north it is often called Toilet Gu or Keng San Gu. According to ancient folk customs, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people would welcome the toilet goddess Zi Gu and offer sacrifices to her, and predict silkworms and other matters. Legend has it that Zi Gu was originally a concubine of a family. She was envied by the eldest wife and was killed in the toilet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. She became the toilet god. On the night of the Zigu Festival, people would make a life-size portrait of Zigu out of straw and cloth, and worship her in the pigpen between toilets at night. It truly reflects the thoughts and feelings of the working people, who are kind, loyal, and sympathetic to the weak. This custom is popular in all parts of the north and south, and was recorded as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

12. Get rid of all diseases

"Walking away all diseases", also known as touring all diseases, dispersing all diseases, roasting all diseases, walking on a bridge, etc., is an activity to eliminate disasters and pray for health. On the night of the Lantern Festival, women make appointments to go out together. They walk together and cross every bridge they see, believing that this can cure diseases and prolong life. Walking away all diseases has been a custom in the north since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Some people do it on the 15th day, but most of them do it on the 16th day. On this day, women dressed in festive attire, went out of their homes in groups, walked across dangerous bridges, climbed up city walls, and touched nails to pray for children, and did not return until midnight.

13. A man and a woman fall in love

China's Valentine's Day, the Lantern Festival, is also a romantic festival. In the feudal traditional society, the Lantern Festival also provided an opportunity for unmarried men and women to get to know each other. Young girls in traditional society were not allowed to go out freely, but they could go out to play in groups during the festival. Viewing the lanterns on the Lantern Festival was a good opportunity for socializing, and unmarried men and women could also use the opportunity to look for partners for themselves. During the Lantern Festival, it is an opportunity for young men and women to meet their lovers. In Taiwan, there is a traditional custom that unmarried women who steal onions or vegetables on the night of the Lantern Festival will marry a good husband. The custom is commonly known as "steal onions and marry a good husband" or "steal vegetables and marry a good son-in-law." Girls who hope to have a happy marriage must steal onions or vegetables from the vegetable garden on the night of the Lantern Festival, looking forward to a happy family in the future.