Discover the historical origins of the lantern festival that is celebrated during the Chinese New Year.
The lantern is one of the most prominent symbols of the Chinese New Year. In fact there is an entire festival known as the Chinese lantern festival celebrated at the time of New Year. In colloquial lingo the festival is known as Yuan Xiao. It gets its name from the first month of the year which is called Yuan where as the second half of the name is what the ancient people used to refer to as night.
Fifteen days after entering the New Year, when the first full moon night is observed, the lantern festival is celebrated that night. It is to celebrate the joyful environment when the first full moon of the New Year is seen shining brightly. Chinese people get together at the festival site and together they hold their lanterns up trying to constitute a beautifully lit up surrounding.
Chinese lanterns are made with great detailing. Often you would find riddles featuring on them that would get you rather involved in solving them and they are hardly, normal lanterns! The lantern festival is accompanied by eating rice balls which are shared with closed ones during this season.
The beginings of the lantern tradition
As is the case with many other traditional practices of China you will find a number of myths concerning the lantern New Year tradition. The most popular legend is related with the worship of a God known as Taiyi who was supposedly the ruler over the heavens in ancient times.
It was believed that Earth had its good fortune at stake in the hands of the god of heavens, Taiyi. He was attributed to have the power to punish the humans through natural disasters or epidemics. Quishihuang was the early Chinese ruler who started the ceremonies in order to acknowledge the lord and to satisfy him. This would prevent any risks of natural hazards and safeguard people's security.
The New Year ceremony became very popular during Han dynasty as they got a great support from the ruler. However, later, king Wudi made this ceremony even more special and prominent so much so that the celebrations were night long and huge.
However, the Taoists had something else to add to this legend and they believed that the tradition became popular under their influence. Apparently, the Taoist deity Tianguan had the responsibility of good fortune of the Chinese people and had a strong liking towards Chinese entertainment. In order to please him, they indulged in merry-making and celebrating on the streets and performing.
The origin of the day of lighting lanterns was apparently discovered by King Mingdi, as a different story says. This story states that he was under Buddhist influence and one dream had led to the extraordinary selection of the fifteenth day of the New Year as the day to celebrate the event of lighting lanterns.
The lantern festival is one of the special events held as a part of the Chinese New Year celebrations no matter which part of the legend is genuine. These lanterns are interestingly designed with unique Chinese motifs.
The lantern is one of the most prominent symbols of the Chinese New Year. In fact there is an entire festival known as the Chinese lantern festival celebrated at the time of New Year. In colloquial lingo the festival is known as Yuan Xiao. It gets its name from the first month of the year which is called Yuan where as the second half of the name is what the ancient people used to refer to as night.
Fifteen days after entering the New Year, when the first full moon night is observed, the lantern festival is celebrated that night. It is to celebrate the joyful environment when the first full moon of the New Year is seen shining brightly. Chinese people get together at the festival site and together they hold their lanterns up trying to constitute a beautifully lit up surrounding.
Chinese lanterns are made with great detailing. Often you would find riddles featuring on them that would get you rather involved in solving them and they are hardly, normal lanterns! The lantern festival is accompanied by eating rice balls which are shared with closed ones during this season.
The beginings of the lantern tradition
As is the case with many other traditional practices of China you will find a number of myths concerning the lantern New Year tradition. The most popular legend is related with the worship of a God known as Taiyi who was supposedly the ruler over the heavens in ancient times.
It was believed that Earth had its good fortune at stake in the hands of the god of heavens, Taiyi. He was attributed to have the power to punish the humans through natural disasters or epidemics. Quishihuang was the early Chinese ruler who started the ceremonies in order to acknowledge the lord and to satisfy him. This would prevent any risks of natural hazards and safeguard people's security.
The New Year ceremony became very popular during Han dynasty as they got a great support from the ruler. However, later, king Wudi made this ceremony even more special and prominent so much so that the celebrations were night long and huge.
However, the Taoists had something else to add to this legend and they believed that the tradition became popular under their influence. Apparently, the Taoist deity Tianguan had the responsibility of good fortune of the Chinese people and had a strong liking towards Chinese entertainment. In order to please him, they indulged in merry-making and celebrating on the streets and performing.
The origin of the day of lighting lanterns was apparently discovered by King Mingdi, as a different story says. This story states that he was under Buddhist influence and one dream had led to the extraordinary selection of the fifteenth day of the New Year as the day to celebrate the event of lighting lanterns.
The lantern festival is one of the special events held as a part of the Chinese New Year celebrations no matter which part of the legend is genuine. These lanterns are interestingly designed with unique Chinese motifs.
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Making Chinese new year lanterns can be a fun way of engaging kids in their heritage. For information about other aspects of the celebrations, including Chinese new year fireworks, please follow the links.
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