Chinese streets are decorated with all kinds of red lanterns, adding a festive atmosphere to the festive streets.
Chinese lanterns, also known as lantern color, are an ancient Han traditional handicraft. In ancient times, lanterns were everywhere. Lanterns only came into existence in China during the Qin and Han Dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, and lanterns didn't come into existence until the Eastern Han Dynasty when paper-making technology was developed. Since then, there have been various kinds of paper lanterns. From the kind of palace lamp, gauze lamp, chandelier, snow globe lantern and so on; From the modeling, there are figures, landscapes, flowers and birds, dragons and phoenixes, fish and insects, and so on. In addition, there are special for people to enjoy and play.
According to legend, Jiang Ziya had no official job after he was ordained as a god, only to substitute for a certain deity when he traveled. When all the gods had returned to their places, Jiang Ziya had no place to go. Seeing his pity, the people lit a lamp on the top of a tall pole and made him squat under it all night. Over time, the custom of lighting lanterns was formed.
Lanterns, in addition to lighting, beautiful role, it is often a symbol, the bride lamp (namely palace lamp) on behalf of the wedding festival, when the groom to marry the bride, will be written on the groom's surname as the lead of the umbrella lamp, it will also write the bridegroom's hall number, "two family name marriage, hundreds of thousands of grandchildren, generation prosperity" and other words. After marriage, the lamp is hung in the ancestral hall or hall of the bridegroom's home.
Bamboo strip lamp is notice this is a funeral occasion, commonly known as the five generation lamp. In the early days, when a family held a funeral, it would hang a lantern with blue characters on a white background in front of the door. On the top of the lantern were written the family name of the deceased, and on the side were written "Five generations of great father" and "four generations of great mother" (depending on how many generations lived under the same roof). Those who enjoy longevity (60 to 89 years old) and those who enjoy longevity (90 to 99 years old) are given pink or red lanterns and written in gold characters. In addition to the five generation lamp, there is a daughter lamp. Since it is traditionally considered taboo for married daughters to visit their parents' graves, the daughters would ask their parents' brothers to buy a pair of lanterns to hang on their parents' graves during the Tomb-sweeping Day to show filial piety.
In the early years, if an elder birthday, will also present a pair of lanterns to congratulate, and write "happiness as East China Sea, longevity as south Mountain" and other blessing message. When the middle beam (the main beam of the traditional house) is placed on the ancestral hall built within the family, lanterns with a yellow base are chosen and "Good luck on the upper beam" is written in red characters. When completed, a lantern will be hung saying "Family Peace". When the couple got married, the woman's family would also hang lanterns in the new house. This kind of lantern related to building houses and new houses is called upper beam lamp. It is a pity that the lanterns mentioned above, which are related to weddings and funerals, are rarely seen today under the change of modern social customs.
Umbrella lamp (surname lamp), because "lamp" and "Ding" have the same pronunciation, which means a thriving population. So, in the past, every house had a surname lamp, hanging under the eaves and in the living room.
In the aspect of folk festival, besides Lantern Festival, the palace temple, and the god's birthday held related activities, you can see a variety of lanterns. For example, the general palace temple will order a pair of large lanterns written with the name of the palace temple, hanging in front of the temple, in addition to the name of the temple, also written with "good weather, peaceful country and people" and other words. In addition, various lanterns are hung inside and outside the temple.
During the ceremony, the temple will present a pair of lanterns to the rotating furnace master (the person in charge of the god sacrifice), the auxiliary furnace master and the head (the fundraiser and organizer of the ceremony). The title, name, year and family peace of the stove are written in red on the yellow background. In addition to expressing gratitude, it also represents the blessing of the gods. It is replaced in the three Yuan Festival (Yuanxiao, Zhongyuan and Xiayuan Festival).
Lantern Festival view light custom originated in the early Han Dynasty, a widely spread saying is: the eastern Han Dynasty Ming Emperor Liu Zhuang advocated Buddhism, heard that Buddhism has the fifteenth day monks view Buddha sarra, light Buddha worship practice, ordered this day night in the palace and temple light Buddha worship, so that the common people are hanging lights. After this kind of Buddhist ritual festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. This section has experienced the development process from the court to the people, from the Central plains to the whole country. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, in order to celebrate the prosperity of the country and the peace of the people, people tied lanterns. With the flickering lights, the lanterns symbolized "the colorful dragon is auspicious, the people are rich and the country is strong".
There is also an interesting folk saying. It is said that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts that hurt people and livestock everywhere, so people would organize to fight them. There was a divine bird that got lost and landed on earth, but was shot to death by an unwitting hunter. When the emperor of Heaven knew this, he was very angry. He issued a decree and ordered the soldiers of Heaven to set fire to the world on the fifteenth day of the first month. The kind-hearted daughter of the Emperor of Heaven could not bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she secretly came to the earth and told the people the news. A wise man came up with a plan. On the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth days of the first lunar month, he asked people to decorate their homes, light firecrackers and set off fireworks. In this way, the Emperor of Heaven would think that the soldiers of heaven had set fire to them. On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor of Heaven looked down and found that the earth was glowing red with a loud noise, which had been the same for three consecutive nights. He gave up thinking that it was a fire burning. In order to commemorate this success, every family will hang lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to commemorate this day.