Lantern Festival (Zigong Lantern Festival)

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

Applicant: Zigong City, Sichuan Province

Item No.: 988

Project No.: Ⅹ - 81

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Zigong City, Sichuan Province

Protected by: China lantern Museum (Zigong Lantern Park Management Office)

Brief introduction of the Lantern Festival (Zigong Lantern Festival)

Applicant: Zigong City, Sichuan 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.

Zigong is located in the south of Sichuan Basin, beside Fuxi River in Tuojiang River Basin. Zigong Lantern Festival has a long history. As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was the custom of lighting lanterns in the new year. Since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Zigong Lantern Festival activities such as "lion lantern Market", "Lantern pole Festival", "Lantern Festival", "hide the sky and cross the sea" and "niu'er Lantern Festival" have continued, showing a strong local style. With the change of society and the development of science and technology, the modern Zigong Lantern Festival is more prosperous than ever. From 1964 to the Spring Festival in 2006, Zigong has successfully held 19 lantern festivals.

Zigong Lantern Festival is the most famous Lantern Festival with grand scenes and rich lights. According to the type, Zigong lantern color mainly includes craft lamp, seat lamp, group lamp and so on. Among them, the group lantern is the most distinctive. It mostly shows the excellent folk tradition, classic works, fairy tales and other subjects. It has the characteristics of large scale, group and linkage, and has become a wonderful flower in the Chinese national lantern culture. Zigong lantern is ingenious in conception, fine in production and unique in materials. Porcelain tableware, glass bottles, cocoons, bamboo strips, tie dyeing and silk can be used as raw materials for lantern production. With the combination of traditional production techniques and modern science and technology, the lanterns are colorful and dazzling, presenting a gorgeous appearance, which has pushed the Zigong Lantern Festival to a higher artistic level.