Lantern Festival (Pancun Lantern Festival)

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

Applicant: Kaiping City, Guangdong Province

Item No.: 988

Project No.: Ⅹ - 81

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Guangdong Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Kaiping City, Guangdong Province

Protection unit: Kaiping Cultural Center

Brief introduction of the Lantern Festival (Pancun Lantern Festival)

Applicant: Kaiping City, Guangdong Province

Lantern Festival is a traditional mass festival in China. It is popular all over the country and in overseas Chinese communities. Lantern Festival often occurs during the Lantern Festival, and some places hold Lantern Festival on the 15th of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The characteristics of Lantern Festival are different in different regions.

"Lantern Festival" is also known as "Lantern Festival". The custom of lighting lantern festival began in Han Dynasty, further developed in Tang and Song Dynasties, and reached its peak in Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to the traditional custom, on the night of the full moon on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people should hang and light all kinds of colored lights, and hold lantern watching, lantern watching, lantern racing and other celebration activities to pray for family reunion and longevity. Taking the Lantern Festival as the center, a series of distinctive Lantern Festival customs, such as guessing lantern riddles, eating Lantern Festival and walking through all kinds of diseases, have been formed all over the country.

With the passage of time, lantern festival activities become more and more abundant. In many places, traditional folk performances such as playing dragon lantern, playing lion, walking on stilts, rowing dry boat, twisting Yangko, playing Taiping drum and raising pavilion are added to Lantern Festival, which makes Lantern Festival more prosperous.

Pancun Lantern Festival is popular in Pancun Township, Shuikou Town, Kaiping City, Guangdong Province, with a history of more than 500 years. Every year on the 13th day of the first lunar month, banners and firecrackers are used to block out the sun in Pancun village, and more than 40 villages are decorated with lanterns. The whole village is surrounded by big lanterns more than three meters high. They travel all over the village from morning to dusk. When they travel the lanterns, they open the way with parasols in front of them, and there are dragons and lions beside them.

Pancun Lantern Festival originated in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the officialdom was corrupt, the society was dark, bandits were rampant, and the people were in dire straits. Qi jianzhai, the 13th ancestor of Kuang family in Pancun, went to visit Chen Baisha (1428-1500), a famous Confucian who had taught in Pancun, and asked about the ways to eliminate and avoid disasters. Chen Baisha pointed out that there are five black stone animal mountains in Pan Village, namely, lion mountain, tiger mountain, elephant mountain, Ma mountain and Niu mountain. The five animal town could have ensured the safety of the village, but the lion, the king of the five animals, did not wake up, and the other four animals made trouble, which led to frequent disasters. He suggested that every family in the village hang up lights, fire guns and beat gongs and drums to wake up the lion and let it control the four beasts. Pan village people listen to the instructions, Ming Yingzong Tianshun eight years (1464) on the 13th of the first month, every household lights, guns, banners, loud. It is said that since then, Pancun has returned to a peaceful scene. From this year, every year on the 13th day of the first lunar month, people in Pan village hold lantern dance activities to eliminate disasters and pray for the new year. Every year, people from Taishan, Xinhui, Heshan and other neighboring counties and cities will come to visit to boost the fun. The whole Lantern Festival is full of joy and excitement.