Lantern Festival

 

Lantern Festival: Know About This Special Day History

Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is a Chinese traditional jubilee celebrated on the full moon, the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese timetable. Generally falling in February or early March on the Gregorian timetable, it marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year feasts.

As beforehand as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 25 CE), had come a jubilee with great significance.

During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and breaking mysteries on the lanterns. In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, and only the emperor and lords had large ornate bones.

In ultramodern times, lanterns have been stretched with numerous complex designs. For illustration, lanterns are now frequently made in the shape of creatures. The lanterns can emblematize the people letting go of their once characters and getting new bones, which they will let go of in the coming time. The lanterns are nearly always red to emblematize good fortune.

The jubilee acts as an Uposatha day on the Chinese timetable. It shouldn’t be confused with the mid-Autumn Festival; which is occasionally also known as the”Lantern Festival” in locales similar to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Lantern Carnivals have also come popular in Western countries, similar to the Water Lantern Festival held in multiple locales in the United States. In London, the Magical Lantern Festival is held annually.

Official Website: Lantern_Festival

Origin of Lantern Festival

There are several beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. Still, its roots trace back further than times agone and are popularly linked to the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han dynasty at the time when Buddhism was growing in China.

Emperor Ming, an advocate of Buddhism, noticed that Buddhist monks would light lanterns in tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. As a result, he ordered all homes, tabernacles, and the Homeric palace to light lanterns that evening. From there it developed into a folk custom.

Another likely origin is the festivity of”the declining darkness of downtime” and the community’s capability to” move about at night with a mortal- made light,” videlicet, lanterns. During the Han dynasty, the jubilee was connected to Ti Yin, the deity of the North Star. Red lanterns, frequently seen during the fests in China Taiwan Lantern Festival

. There’s one legend that states that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that Taiyi controlled the fortune of the mortal world. He’d sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to induce failure, storms, shortage, or pest upon mortal beings.

Beginning with Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, all the emperors ordered splendid observances each time. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable rainfall and good health to him and his people.

Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BCE, he placarded it to be one of the most important fests and the form would last throughout the night.

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tiguan is the Taoist deity responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It’s said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment, so followers prepare colorful kinds of conditioning during which they supplicate for good fortune.

Another legend associated with the Lantern Festival with an ancient legionnaire named Lan Moon, who led a rebellion against the tyrannical king in ancient China. He was killed in the storming of the megacity and the successful revolutionists commemorated the jubilee in his name.

Yet another common legend dealing with the origins of the Lantern Festival speaks of a beautiful crane that flew down to earth from heaven. After it landed on earth it was hunted and killed by some townies. This infuriated the Jade Emperor in heaven because the crane was his fave.

So, he planned a storm of fire to destroy the vill on the fifteenth lunar day. The Jade Emperor’s son advised the occupants of her father’s plan to destroy their vill. The vill was in fermentation because nothing knew how they could escape their imminent destruction. Still, a wise man from another vill suggested that every family should hang red lanterns around their houses, set up backfires on the thoroughfares, and explode firecrackers on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth lunar days.

This would give the vill the appearance of being on fire to the Jade Emperor. On the fifteenth lunar day, colors transferred down from heaven whose charge was to destroy the vill saw that the vill was formerly ablaze, and returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. Satisfied, the Jade Emperor decided not to burn down the vill. From that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on the fifteenth lunar day every time by carrying lanterns on the thoroughfares and exploding firecrackers and fireworks.

Another legend about the origins of the Lantern Festival involves a maid named Yuan-Xiao. In the Han dynasty, Dongfang Shuo was the favorite counsel of the emperor. One downtime day, he went to the theater and heard a little girl crying and getting ready to jump into a well to commit self-murder. Shuo stopped her and asked why.

She said she was Yuan-Xiao, a maid in the emperor’s palace and that she noway had a chance to see her family since she started working there. However, she’d rather die, If she couldn’t have the chance to show her filial piety in this life. Shuo promised to find a way to reunite her with her family. Shuo left the palace and set up a fortune-telling cube on the road. Due to his character, numerous people asked for their fortunes to be told but everyone got the same vaticination-a calamitous fire on the fifteenth lunar day. The scuttlebutt spread snappily.

Everyone was upset about the future so they asked Dongfang Shuo for help. Dongfang Shuo said that on the thirteenth lunar day, the God of Fire would shoot a puck in red riding a black steed to burn down the megacity. When people saw the puck they should ask for her mercy. On that day, Yuan-Xiao pretended to be the red puck.

When people asked for her help, she said that she had a dupe of a decree from the God of Fire that should be taken to the emperor. After she left, people went to the palace to show the emperor the decree which stated that the capital megacity would burn down on the fifteenth. When the emperor asked Dongfang Shuo for advice, the ultimate said that the God of Fire liked to eat tangyuan (dumplings).

Yuan-Xiao should cook tangyuan on the fifteenth lunar day and the emperor should order every house to prepare tangyuan to worship the God of Fire at the same time. Also, every house in the megacity should hang red lanterns and explode firecrackers. Incipiently, everyone in the palace and people outside the megacity should carry their lanterns on the road to watch the lantern decorations and fireworks. The Jade Emperor would be deceived and everyone would avoid the disastrous fire.

The emperor happily followed the plan. Lanterns were everyplace in the capital megacity on the night of the fifteenth lunar day and people were walking on the road and there were noisy firecrackers. It looked as if the entire megacity was on fire. Yuan-Xiao’s parents went into the palace to watch the lantern decorations and were reunited with their son.

The emperor ordered that people should do the same thing every time. Since Yuan-Xiao cooked the stylish tangyuan, people called the day Yuan-XiaoFestival.For each Festival celebrated, a switch in the Chinese Wheel takes place. However, the coming will be the time of the barracuda, If this time is the time of the cow.

6th Century of Lantern Festival

Until the Sui dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yang invited envoys from other countries to China to see the various lighted lanterns and enjoy the fete performances.

By the morning of the Tang dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew, allowing the people to enjoy the gleeful lanterns day and night. It isn’t delicate to find Chinese runes which describe this happy scene.

In the Song dynasty, the jubilee was celebrated for five days and the conditioning began to spread to numerous of the big metropolises in China. Various glass and indeed wanton were used to make lanterns, with numbers from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

Still, the largest Lantern Festival festivity took place in the early part of the 15th century. The fests continued for ten days. The Yongle Emperor had the town area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Indeed moment, there’s a place in Beijing called Dengshikou.

In Chinese, Deng means lantern, and she is requesting. The area came to a request where lanterns were vented during the day. In the evening, the original people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Moment, the displaying of lanterns is still a major event on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month throughout China. Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, for illustration, holds a lantern fair each time in Culture Park. During the Lantern Festival, the demesne is a virtual ocean of lanterns. Numerous new designs attract large figures of callers. The most eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole.

This is a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon, twisting up a 38- cadence-high pole, spewing fireworks from its mouth. Metropolises similar to Hangzhou and Shanghai have espoused electric and neon lanterns, which can frequently be seen beside their traditional paper or rustic counterparts. Another popular exertion at this jubilee is guessing lantern mysteries.

These frequently contain dispatches of good fortune, family reunion, abundant crops, substance, and love. Just like the pumpkin sculpted into a jack-o’-lantern for Halloween in the western world, Asian parents eventually educate their children to sculpt empty the inner tubing of Oriental radish/ mooli/ daikon into a Cai-Tou-Lantern.

How To Celebrate Lantern Festival

From that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on the fifteenth lunar day every year by carrying lanterns on the streets and exploding firecrackers and fireworks. Another legend about the origins of the Lantern Festival involves a maid named Yuan-Xiao.

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Taiwan Lantern Festival

The Taiwan Lantern Festival is a periodic event hosted by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Dispatches in Taiwan to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

There are numerous conditioning each over Taiwan during Taiwan Lantern Festival. During the Taiwan Lantern Festival, thousands of sky lanterns light over Pingxi District (平溪) in Taiwan. In Yanshuei District, the firecrackers form of the Wumiao Temple is also one of the important conditioning. ( citation demanded).

The notoriously dangerous Tainan Yanshuei Fireworks Display also known as the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, (“beehive of fireworks”) was first celebrated to ward off wrong and complaints from the city. The Taipei Pingxi Sky Lanterns were released first to let others know that the city was safe. These lanterns are decorated with wishes and images relating to the proprietor. These two events are known together as”Fireworks in the South, Sky Lanterns in the North.

History of Taiwan Lantern Festival

Starting from 1990, the Tourism Bureau integrated mercenary and original governmental coffers to conduct the event to celebrate the Lantern Festival (the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar timetable) and the end of the Lunar New Year. The purpose of the jubilee is to spread the traditional myth. It’s also known as the Yuan Xiao Festival.

The firecrackers form of the Wumiao tabernacle in Yanshuei District was held by ancient people, in order to show respect for the exploits of Guan Yu. Fengpao is the form to start to burn thousands of soaring firecrackers hung on a five to twenty-five measures high rustic stage. This form starts from six o’clock in the autumn until five o’clock in the morning. Thousands of people and callers attend the form.

The jubilee is the most important periodic lantern jubilee in Taiwan. Prior to 2001, the event was held at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park in Taipei. Since 2001, the event has voyaged Taiwan.

The American Discovery Channel’s program” Fantastic Carnivals of the World” has stressed the Taiwan Lantern Festival as one of the most stylish carnivals in the world.

Lantern Festival FAQ:

Where is the Lantern Festival located?

Lantern Festival, also called Yuan Xiao Festival, vacation celebrated in China and other Asian countries that honor departed ancestors on the 15th day of the first month( Yuan) of the lunar timetable.

Which country has the best Lantern Festival?

Loy Krathong and Yi Peng, Thailand.
Rise Lantern Festival, Las Vegas.
Sky Lantern Festival and Water Lantern Festival, Utah.
Floating Lantern Festival, WashingtonD.C.
Hoi An Lantern Festival, Vietnam.
Pingxi Lantern Festival, Taiwan.
Spring Lantern Festival, China.

Where is the biggest Lantern Festival?

Diwali — generally known as the jubilee of lights is the biggest jubilee celebrated by Hindus around the world. generally celebrated in early fall, the jubilee takes place all over the globe, most especially in India. The jubilee falls on the 15th day of Kartik, the holiest month in the Hindu lunar timetable.

How do you celebrate the Lantern Festival?

Chinese Lantern Festival 2022 will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 15th, 2022. On the night of the Chinese Lantern Festival, thoroughfares are decorated with various lanterns, frequently with mysteries written on them. People eat sweet rice balls called tangyuan, watch dragon and captain balls, and set off fireworks.

About Events And Festivals on 15th Feb.

• Singles Awareness Day
• world hippo day
• annoy Squidward day
• national gumdrop day
• national cardiac rehabilitation week
• international flirting week
• random acts of kindness week
• national jell o week
• great American pizza bake
• national nest box week
• national condom week
• take your family to school week
• national kraut and frankfurter week
• freelance writers appreciation week
• children of alcoholics awareness week
• February 2022 is also…
• national black history month
• international vegan cuisine month
• North American inclusion month
• national cherry month
• national bake for a family fun month
• national bird feeding month
• national hot breakfast month
• National library lover’s month