Lantern Festival

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

Applicant: Huairou District, Beijing

Item No.: 978

Project No.: Ⅹ - 71

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Beijing

Type: new item

Applicant: Huairou District, Beijing

Protected by: Beijing Huairou Yunmengshan painting and Calligraphy Academy

Introduction to Lantern Festival

Applicant: Huairou District, Beijing

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.

LIULIMIAO town in Huairou District of Beijing was formed in the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty. Since then, the female villagers in LIULIMIAO town have gathered together to eat congqiao rice every year during the Lantern Festival. This local custom has a history of more than 180 years.

Every year on the eve of the 16th of the first lunar month, the village's twelve or thirteen year old girl goes to collect food and vegetables. On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the older women helped the girls cook the food, and all the women in the village ate it together. When cooking, you should put things like needle and thread, copper coins, etc. into the pot. People who eat them will think that they have sought skillful skills and fortune. In addition, the word "Qiao" is another name for finches by local people. Before the meal, people should feed "Qiao", that is, sparrow, tit and other birds. At the same time, they should recite auspicious words, one is to thank the sparrow, the other is to pray for a bumper harvest in the coming year. Walking on the ice after dinner is called "walking a hundred ice (diseases)", which means eliminating all kinds of diseases. The troupe and the flower fair will hold a performance to help the audience when they come to the gathering of delicacies.

The custom of gathering skillful food has a long history and lasts for a long time. Even during the "ten years of turmoil", it is still held regularly and is welcomed and loved by the masses. This custom is the remains of farming culture in northern China. In the process of development, it has gradually become an integral part of the local spring festival folk activities in Huairou, vividly presenting the unique traditional folk culture in Beijing. With the change of social living environment and the emergence of various forms of entertainment, some of the traditional activities in the custom of gathering skillful meals have disappeared, while others have gradually lost their original meaning, so it is urgent to take effective measures to protect them.