Lantern Festival (the custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Lantern Festival

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Item No.: 978

Project No.: Ⅹ - 71

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Fujian Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Protection unit: Quanzhou Art Museum (Quanzhou Minnan cultural and ecological protection center, Quanzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Brief introduction to the Lantern Festival (the custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou)

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Lantern Festival, also known as "Shangyuan Festival", "Yuanxi Festival" and "Lantern Festival", is a traditional Chinese festival, which is popular all over the country. In China, the first month of the lunar calendar is Yuanyue, which is called "Xiao" in ancient times. Therefore, the 15th day of the first full moon in a year is called "Yuanxiao Festival".

Since the Han Dynasty, China has been lighting lanterns on the Lantern Festival, which has gradually developed into a custom. In the Tang Dynasty, this custom became more popular. The sentence "fire trees and silver flowers, star bridges and iron locks open" describes the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in Chang'an. In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival has become an important part of people's life, and it will enjoy lanterns continuously for 10 days. In the Qing Dynasty, the Lantern Festival is a folk festival enjoyed by all the people, Fireworks and firecrackers will be set off during the lantern watching activities.

There are also some traditional activities in the Lantern Festival: one is "guessing lantern riddles", also known as "playing lantern riddles", which first appeared in the Song Dynasty. The riddles are to be guessed and the winner will be awarded; the other is to eat yuanxiao, which was originally known as "fuyuanzi", also known as "tangtuan" or "Tangyuan", a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. It is filled with stuffing and eaten after being cooked in water, Eating Lantern Festival symbolizes the family reunion, harmony and happiness. The Lantern Festival in some places also has the custom of "walking through all kinds of diseases", also known as "baking all kinds of diseases" and "dispersing all kinds of diseases". People walk together on the Lantern Festival, or cross the bridge with each other, or go to the suburbs, symbolizing the elimination of diseases and disasters, peace and prosperity. Since modern times, traditional performances such as playing dragon lantern, playing lion, walking on stilts, rowing dry boat, twisting Yangko, playing Taiping drum and so on have been added to the Lantern Festival activities, which makes the Lantern Festival have a new development in the inheritance.

The Lantern Festival, which has a history of more than 2000 years, is not only popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also highly valued in overseas Chinese communities. In addition to the Han nationality, Manchu, Korean, Hezhe, Mongolian, Daur, Ewenki, Oroqen, Hui, Xibo, Tibetan, Bai, Naxi, Miao, Yao, she, Zhuang, Buyi, Li, Gelao and other ethnic minorities also celebrate the Lantern Festival, with their own characteristics.

The custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou originated from the Central Plains, with the Lantern Festival as the main form of expression. According to the records of Fu's genealogy in Taoyuan, Nan'an, in 880, the first year of Guangming of emperor Fu Zong of Tang Dynasty, the people of Gushi, Henan, and the powerful army led Fu Shi into Fujian from Chang'an to guard Quanzhou, and built the Tang Palace (Taoyuan Palace) in Fengzhou, Nan'an. During the Lantern Festival, Fu Shi shared happiness with the people in accordance with the lantern ceremony of Chang'an. Since then, the local people have followed the local customs and held Lantern Festival activities every year.

The custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou is popular in all counties of Quanzhou, Fujian, and spread to Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Taiwan and other places. Among them, the custom of Quanzhou lantern festival includes hanging, sending, watching, lighting, traveling and so on. In Quanzhou dialect, "Deng" and "Ding" are homonymous, and "chudeng" is the same as "ChuDing", implying the prosperity of people. On the Lantern Festival, every household hangs lanterns. Men, women, old and young go to the streets in groups to enjoy the lanterns. Children go through the streets to play with the lanterns. Families with newly married women have to send red and white lotus lanterns and Guanyin lanterns to their in laws. When you light a lamp, you accidentally burn it. It's called "light out".

There are also lantern riddle guessing, makeup people and other cultural activities in Quanzhou. Stepping on the street is known as "makeup man" in ancient times, including folk performances such as array head, lantern, floats, martial arts of Southern Shaolin and various artistic performances. When someone sets off firecrackers, they should stop performing to express their gratitude. Quanzhou Lantern Festival also has the custom of praying for blessings, such as "worshiping the public" (ancestor worship), "listening to incense", and so on. In addition, Quanzhou people also eat festival food such as Yuanxiao pills and runbing dishes, which means family reunion.

The custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou is a nationwide activity. At that time, the city will be full of people, and the scene will be prosperous and lively. Even compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and Southeast Asian overseas Chinese will also organize groups to participate in the Lantern Festival in Quanzhou to celebrate the festival. Thus, the custom of making lantern festival in Quanzhou has become a concrete representation of the prosperity and stability of the local society and an emotional link of cultural identity of overseas Chinese, which has the research value of folklore and local history and culture.

Chinese PinYin : Yuan Xiao Jie Quan Zhou Nao Yuan Xiao Xi Su