Beijing, Feb. 20, Chinanews client (reporter Shangguanyun) There is no doubt that the "Forbidden City Shangyuan Night" was painted last night: this is the first time that the Palace Museum has been open to the public free of charge at night since its establishment in 94 years. In addition, there are also various creative lanterns or light shows in other places.

Wang Juan, a folklore expert, said in an interview with the reporter of China News Network (WeChat official account: cns2012) that the characteristics of the Lantern Festival mainly focus on carnival and watching lights. Moreover, Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival were originally on the same day. Therefore, the night of the Lantern Festival can be called "Shangyuan Night".

Information picture: Photographed by Zhang Yong, a reporter from China News Service

The Lantern Festival was originally called the "Lantern Festival"

"Spring is like the sea with one song, and night with thousands of lights is like the day."

The 15th day of the first lunar month is the "Lantern Festival". The folk custom of hanging, playing and watching lanterns has long been known, so it is also called the Lantern Festival, which has been followed up to now.

The custom of watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival originated early. In the Tang Dynasty, lantern lighting had developed into a very popular cultural and entertainment activity. According to records, the capital at that time "made a lantern wheel 20 zhang high, dressed in brocade, decorated with gold and silver, lit 50000 lamps, and clustered them into flowers and trees", which was very beautiful.

For the grand view of lantern watching at that time, Su Wei of the Tang Dynasty wrote in "The Fifteenth Night of the First Moon" that "the fire trees, silver flowers, and iron locks open the star bridge. The dark dust goes with the horse, and the bright moon comes one by one." It depicts the moving scene of lantern and moonlight.

The Lantern Festival in the Song Dynasty was even more spectacular. During the Lantern Festival, crowds of people flocked to watch lanterns of different shapes while enjoying seasonal snacks. Su Dongpo once described that "every family has its own lights, and the music is everywhere".

Since then, the scale and time of the Lantern Festival have changed constantly. The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty lasted one day before and after the Shang Yuan Dynasty, three days in total; In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the 16th day of the first lunar month, which counted as five days; The Ming Dynasty lasted ten days from the eighth day of the first lunar month to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.

Data map. Photographed by China News Agency reporter Futian

According to the light period, the day when the first light was put on was called "test light", the 15th day was called "positive light", and the last day was called "residual light" and "appendix light", which is very interesting.

What are the types of "lantern"?

Nowadays, every Lantern Festival, all kinds of lanterns can be seen in the streets and alleys, not to mention the large-scale lantern festivals held in various places, often with unique colored lights.

In ancient times, the variety of lantern festival is also very rich. Taking the Southern Song Dynasty as an example, Zhoumi's "Old Stories of Wulin" records that "there are no more lamps than Su and Fu..." It is said that at that time, the largest Su lantern was made of colored glaze with a diameter of three or four feet, and it was lifelike with landscape characters on it.

In addition, there are also "boneless lamps" like "Hunran glass balls", "carved golden pelt tortoise shell for decoration", "five colored beads as a net, drooping tassels" bead lamps... quite new and ingenious.

Among them, the "riding lantern" is also called the dragon dragon lantern and the horse riding lantern, and it is quite ingenious: it is equipped with a "wheel axle", also called the paper wheel windmill, on which there is paper-cut. The heat generated by burning the candle in the lamp causes the airflow, drives the wheel axle to rotate, and the candle light casts the shadow of paper-cut on the lamp screen, and the image changes constantly.

Data picture: The picture shows the large pig zodiac lamp group. Photographed by Wang Dongming

Wang Juan said that in ancient times, there were more common pictorial lamps, including the huge "Ao Deng", which were made by imitating the image of things, such as dragon lamps and tiger lamps. There are also "activity lights" made according to opera stories and folk stories, such as Niulang and Zhinv, the twenty fourth filial piety, which are very beautiful.

Those customs related to "lights"

In addition to watching lanterns, there are also some folk customs related to "lanterns". Xiao Fang, a folklore expert, told reporters that Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, for example, has a custom of "holding a lantern party". On the day of the Lantern Festival, many people put paper lanterns on bamboo branches, meaning "Spring Festival", which is very lively.

In addition, most of the ancient private schools started their classes after the 15th day of the first lunar month. At that time, the first program for admission was called "Turn on the lights". Students invited a knowledgeable old man to light the lanterns they had brought to symbolize a bright future.

Data picture: A small tourist took pictures of lanterns. Photographed by Cui Nan, a reporter from China News Service

In fact, whether it's "Lantern Festival" or "Lantern Festival", it represents people's yearning for a better life.

Xiao Fang said that the meaning of the festival customs of the Lantern Festival is closely related to the beginning of the year. As the folk saying goes, "30's fire, 15's lights", the gongs, drums, lights and tourists of the Lantern Festival weave the beautiful scenery of the New Year's Eve, forming a unique landscape of traditional Chinese festival customs. (End)