The Lantern Festival

the Lantern Festival 元宵节

It is currently the first month of the lunar year, during which we celebrate the new spring, especially during the Lantern Festival, the night of the 15th of the first lunar month. When we celebrate the Lantern Festival, we say that party Lantern Festival activities, we don’t just celebrate, obviously, it is very boisterous and lively.

In the past, and still income places in the south, people said: “Re Nao热闹” (lively/boisterous) as “Nao Re” (reverse character order闹热). That’s still how they say it in Fujian. Very “Nao Re” (非常闹热). There are many novels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties that have the order switched around like that. Partying on the Lantern Festival is an extremely boisterous, lively affair. It’s such a blast. We celebrate with a joyous atmosphere. That’s the tradition.

The Name of the Lantern Festival

On the night of the Lantern Festival, there is a culture of appreciating lanterns. So the English name is the Lantern Festival, while the Chinese name is not Lantern, but Yuan Xiao Festival ”元宵节”. (Yuan Xiao in Mandarin, a kind of sweet dumplings).

It seems that only the Lantern Festival is named after a type of food. For example, we eat moon cakes during the Mid-autumn Festival, but we don’t call it the “Moon Cake Festival”. And as for the Dragon Boat Festival, some people might call it “Rice Dumpling Festival”, but that’s few and far between. We eat rice dumplings, but we don’t call the festival that. We eat “cold” (uncooked) food during the Qingming Festival, but it is rarely called “Cold Food Festival”. Only the Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao Festival) is named after food in Mandarin.

seasonal - the Lantern Festival characteristic 1

The Lantern Festival's first characteristics are it's seasonal. “Yuan元” means the first of something, “Xiao宵” means the first night of a full moon on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. “Yuan Xiao元宵节” is an indication of the period during which it takes place.

We party on the Lantern Festival, on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. That’s what “Yuan Xiao” means. Later, it was because of this festival, since the moon was round, full moon, people should eat around things, and they came up with these round dumplings and called them “Yuan Xiao”. So, the “Yuan Xiao Festival” is actually a period of time. Chinese holidays are connected to natural, seasonal phenomena. So as an agrarian society, China, as an agrarian society whose economy relies on nature, relied on the will of nature, it is greatly related to nature.

There are many other festivals that are also related to time. From the Spring Festival, they have the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, and Mid-autumn Festival are all related to seasons. The Chinese New Year was the “Spring Festival”, the Dragon Boat Festival was the “Summer Festival”, the Mid-autumn Festival was the ‘Autumn Festival”, and Dongzhi was the “Winter Festival”.

a holiday for the people - the Lantern Festival characteristic 2

Another trait is that the Lantern Festival has always been a holiday for the people, a social event. During the Spring Festival, the most important thing is being with family, as everyone crosses vast distances to return home, but during the Lantern Festival, we interact with society.

Beginning with Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (BC 203 - 157), the Lantern Festival has been an event of social interaction that everyone celebrates together. There are lantern parties where you can see lanterns for the festival.

During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong (AD 685 - 762) was a distinguished emperor. He hung a lantern at the palace gates, it was 66 meters high. He held a big party at the gates for the night of the Lantern Festival. Later, prefectures, counties, and provincial capitals, or what we now refer to as cities followed suit. They decorated the gates of a government building, imitating the legendary giant turtle of the sea, Ao, hanging lanterns in that shape; and there were all sorts of lanterns. Thus, all of the officials at the various levels celebrated the Lantern Festival with the common people. It’s a joy shared by people across society. Before the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279), they didn’t have night markets. Commoners didn’t come out at night, they had a curfew.

In the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907), everyone in the neighborhood had to stay indoors at night. The only time there wasn’t a curfew was during the Lantern Festival. The imperial guards didn't enforce a curfew on this night, and everyone could celebrate. In the Tang Dynasty, they had three days of vacation, and three nights when everyone could go out. For the three or five days of the Lantern Festival, everybody was festival partying. It was a celebration for the common people, and so boisterous.

Until the Song Dynasty, night markets first started in the Song Dynasty, there was no curfew, and the night markets were very lively. The Lantern Festival was so lively during the Song Dynasty.

A famous poem with the Lantern Festival

Everyone is familiar with Xin Qiji (辛弃疾, a famous poet, AD 1140 - 1207), and his works “The First Full Moom” describes the Lantern Festival.

“The First Full Moom”

Easterly wind blow flowers of light, which flickers like shooting stars.

Horses and carriages fill the fragrant street and beauties murmur under the bright lunar light, on this night of dancing fish and dragons.

Bedecked in dazzling baubles, rich laughter escapes her lips.

Having grown exhausted in my search, I suddenly look back, and there my quarry is, standing in the shadow of the lanterns.

《元夕》

东风夜放花千树。更吹落、星如雨。

宝马雕车香满路。凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。

蛾儿雪柳黄金缕。笑语盈盈暗香去。

众里寻他千百度。蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。

“easterly winds blow flowers of light”, means that there is a wind blowing blooming flowers, but what does that mean? Are there actually flowers? No, they are lanterns, but it’s like the east wind blew the blooming flowers of a forest.

“Which flicker like shooting stars.” It’s like stars have come to earth. These lanterns are like falling stars, like shooting stars that have fallen to earth.

“Horses and carriages fill the fragrant street”, the women from the noble families have come out on horses and carriages to celebrate in the streets, and the streets are filled with the scent of those noblewomen. A road is full of incense.

“And beauties murmur under the bright lunar light, on this night of dancing fish and dragons.” What is “this night of dancing fish and dragons”? it means some lights are in the shape of fish, and some are in the shape of dragons. These lanterns in the shapes of fish and dragons boisterously “dance” in the street for the entire night.

A proverb comes from the Lantern Festival

That’s how a saying came about, which everyone knows: (只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯 Only the officials can light fireworks, and commoners can’t light lanterns.) That means, the people who have the power and the power to behave themselves, the common people are limited in their proper activities. Now, people often use this proverb to ask people, do you have the right to do something, and why I don't?

The officials would have these lanterns in front of the government building, and shoot off fireworks while hanging lanterns. On that day, since the officials were holding these big events, these firework displays, commoners weren’t supposed to light lanterns, they were supposed to go watch. That’s why only officials could light fireworks, and commoners couldn’t light lanterns.

Lantern Festival is China’s Carnival

We saying the Lantern Festival is China’s Carnival, it is indeed. The reason that the Lantern Festival became a time of revelry is that it was the conclusion of the Spring Festival celebrations. And of traditional Chinese holidays, the Lantern Festival is a lively one, a boisterous revelry, and it is the first and the most important holiday of its kind.

Since Chinese people tend to be more introverted, they would like to have a Carnival party? In the past, people have said that Chinese people are like thermoses. Warm on the inside, that’s also indeed, and that’s the reason why Chinese people have baijiu culture, drink culture, only drink much that they can say what do they want to say?

Actually, in a big city, isn’t as fun as in a small city, and a small city isn’t as fun as the countryside. Let’s go to Jinzhong 晋中.

Jinzhong, Shanxi to celebrate the Lantern Festival, there were some things which we had never seen before, like carrying an iron pole. They take a welded iron pole, and a strong man will carry it on his back, with a few kids on it dressed up as ancient Chinese people. Children are wrapped to this iron pole, and the most common was two children, but many of them carried three children, who were dressed up as ancient people. Three children are dressed up like ancient Chinese people and are being carried on someone’s back while sitting on this iron pole. And a man would carry this iron pole on his back while wearing stilts. They walk like this with a lot of skill, as if in a parade.

It gets even more festive at night. Aside from the lanterns hung up at night, there are also frames with lights in Jinzhong. There are three archways raised in a square, just like the archway at the Summer Palace. There were three archways, which were no normal archways, while they were hung with lanterns and fireworks.

And as the night approached, before everyone else’s lanterns are put up. They lit the fireworks and that archway is the “Archway of Lanterns and Silver Flowers”, and the entire archway goes up in flames, and since there is more than just firelight, but fireworks as well, there is a great deal of noise and all the fireworks go off.

Some of the fireworks shoot up into the sky, and some shoot out across the square, and some rain down like confetti, covering the entire square. They go out in different directions, with different lanterns and fireworks. The entire community is in joyous revelry.

Chinese people call this is “correspondence between man and nature.” Chinese believe that everything in the mortal world has a corresponding item in Heaven and the same goes for the Lantern Festival. It’s the first time of the year when the moon hangs so bright, and on Earth, it should also be bright.

They were like stars which had fallen to the earth, all of the stars had fallen to the earth, and there were fireworks, and lights all around. There was one moon in the sky and thousands of lights on the earth. That’s a Chinese concept - Harmony, or correspondence between man and nature. For this full moon, we have a grand celebration to welcome the first full moon of the year. It’s a Chinese concept.

All in all

The holiday is happiness, which means reuniting with our families, eating delicious food, and undergoing festive celebrations. Let us experience traditional Chinese culture through the Lantern Festival. We hope that everyone has a good Lunar New Year.