Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it is the Lantern Festival, one of the traditional festivals. The Lantern Festival has a history of thousands of years in China, and has been valued in the Western Han Dynasty, and is also known as the Shangyuan Festival, the Little New Year, and the ......Lantern Festival
As the saying goes: less than fifteen is in the year. Once the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has passed, it marks the end of the traditional Chinese New Year. Because of this, the Lantern Festival is an extremely important traditional festival in China.
China is a vast country, so the customs and taboos about the Lantern Festival vary from country to country.
According to different cultures, when celebrating the Lantern Festival, we should keep in mind the seven traditional customs and four taboos (taboos are specific norms and constraints).
First of all, let's talk about the seven traditional customs of the Lantern Festival, the first is "eating Lantern Festival". Eating Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is a long-standing traditional custom of the Chinese nation, and it is called tangyuan in the south.
The practice and flavor of Lantern Festival and Tangyuan are almost the same, and they all represent the beautiful meaning of reunion, harmony and beauty. Therefore, most families will definitely have Lantern Festival (tangyuan) on the table on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
In addition to eating Lantern Festival, it is also a traditional custom to send lanterns and enjoy lanterns on the day of the Lantern Festival. The significance of sending lanterns is that the mother's family sends lanterns to the newly married daughter's family during the Lantern Festival, or ordinary relatives and friends give them to the newly married couple, wishing them an early birth of a precious son.
As for the lanterns, they are also called lanterns. There are many kinds of lantern lanterns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of our country, and even dragon lanterns made of fabric, dragon dance lanterns and dragon lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month are also spread in many places, which is a symbol of good luck.
The third traditional custom is to guess lantern riddles. There is a classic cross talk joke called "Playing Lantern Riddles", and many of the riddles in "Playing Lantern Riddles" are actually spread in the lantern riddles of the Lantern Festival.
During the Lantern Festival, lantern riddles will be played in various places, riddles can enlighten wisdom, and quite interested, people who answer the lantern riddles can get a good fortune in the new year. In the process of circulation, the lantern riddles are very popular with all levels of society.
And according to the research of historians, people in the early years of the Tang Dynasty began to have various juggling skills. To the Ming and Qing dynasties, the fifteenth day of the first month of the two generations, the ancients have launched lantern riddles and hundred opera songs and dances, as well as corresponding opera performances.
The fourth traditional custom is stilt walking. Some friends who live in the southern region should find that around the 15th day of the first lunar month, some "stilt performance teams" organized by the masses will appear on the streets.
They start from the first month.
Ten. On the first and twelfth days, the street performances began, and the stilt performance on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the most grand, and it did not end until the eighteenth day of the first lunar month.
The fifth traditional festival mostly appears in the north, called "Yingzigu". "Zigu" is also called "Aunt Qi", "Aunt Toilet", "Three Aunt Pits", on the fifteenth day of the first month, it is necessary to welcome the toilet god "Zigu" and sacrifice, and divinate all things.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people use straw and cloth to tie life-size Zigu statues, and place them in toilets and pig pens at night for worship.
Many people think that this custom seems quite funny, but it truly reflects the kind and loyal character of the working people, as well as the thoughts and feelings of looking forward to good weather.
The fifth traditional festival is commonly known as Walking Hundred Diseases, also known as Scattering Hundred Diseases, which is a typical disaster elimination and blessing activity.
On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the female comrades meet to travel, and they must cross the bridge when they see it, and in this way they can get rid of illness and prolong their lives. Today, it has become a way for young men and women to get to know each other.
The last traditional custom of the Lantern Festival is called "chasing rats". In the past, there were many families who raised silkworms, and those who raised silkworms at home would boil a big pot of sticky porridge on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and cover the surface of the porridge with a layer of meat.
The adults put the porridge in a bowl and put it in the corner infested by the rats, and there were words in their mouths, cursing the rats for stealing the silkworm babies and dying if they whimpered.
Legend has it that by doing so, the rats will not eat the newborn silkworm babies, and the silkworm breeders will be able to make more profits.
After talking about the seven traditional customs of the Lantern Festival, there are four norms and constraints, that is, the taboos that the elderly often say.
In fact, the taboo of the Lantern Festival runs through the entire New Year, and the general taboo is: don't say unlucky things; Prohibition of overwork; On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the elders in the southern region will warn the younger generations in the family: do not use knives, sweep the floor, and use needles and threads.
There is also a taboo, that is, lesbians must not go to welcome the dragon lantern. Of course, now that this taboo has changed, female compatriots can also go out on the streets to enjoy dragon lanterns and dragon lantern dances.
In addition to this, there are some different taboos for the Lantern Festival, such as avoiding borrowing money and avoiding haircuts. If these taboos are all counted, there will certainly not be only four, but this article only extracts some of the traditional realms with high recognition in the north and south.
All in all, the traditional customs and taboos of the Lantern Festival fully reflect the inner needs and desires of people throughout the ages. From the early years when women could not go to the dragon lantern, to now they can participate in this event in a bright and bright way, highlighting the improvement of women's status.
In terms of disaster relief and blessing, the Lantern Festival is an important turning point from leisure to labor, reflecting the expectations of working people for the four seasons of the year. Under the impetus of this belief and psychology, many festivals and customs with traditional Chinese national characteristics have been discovered.
With the strength of China's comprehensive national strength, more and more foreign people recognize Chinese culture, including the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, so that the traditional festivals can be continuously inherited and developed, and the great significance of the Lantern Festival can be reinterpreted.
References: 1] Hu Hangfang. A brief review of the Lantern Festival in the south of the Yangtze River[J].Journal of Jining Normal University,2012,34(01):75-79+86
2] Liu Zhengfei. Lantern Festival customs[J].Academy Creation (Grades 3-6 Reading), 2023(Z1):61
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