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293
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 Chinese
Culture>> Traditional
Chinese Festivals |
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What is the
origin of the Lantem Festival?
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The
Fifteenth day of the first lunar month is
an important traditional festival in China.
Members of a family get together to mark
the occasion. This festival dated back to
the Warring States Period, when people observed
the custom of watching lanterns under moonlight.
At first, they did this on the day for offering
sacrifices to the Sun God, who was known
as the Lord of the East. It is said that
people began to mark the Lantern Festival
in the Han Dynasty. According to ancient
Chinese history, after the death of Liu
Ying, his consort Queen Lu monopolized the
power of the state, and placed Lu’s
family persons in key governmental positions.
However, after her death, Zhou Bo, Chen
Ping and others then jointly got rid of
Queen Lu’s powers and made Liu Heng
the new emperor of the Han Dynasty. Because
Zhou Bo and Chen Ping drove the Lu’s
relatives and officials out of power on
the fifteenth day of the first month, the
emperor would leave his palace in civilian
dress that night every year to celebrate
the festival with the people on the streets.
In ancient times, the word ye (night) and
xiao (evening) were synonyms, and the first
month of a year was called the yuan (primary)
month. Therefore, Emperor Wen named the
fifteenth day of the first month the Lantern
festival.
This
article by Yang Tianqing and Daniel Kister.
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