What are the customs and traditions of Lantern Festival?

The customs of Lantern Festival are different all over the country, among which eating glutinous rice balls, watching lanterns and dancing dragons and lions are several important folk customs. Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, so it is celebrated all over the country. The customs in most areas are similar, but each area still has its own characteristics. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called "night", so the fifteenth day of the first full moon in a year was called Lantern Festival. Because of its important cultural connotation, the Lantern Festival has become a favorite theme of literati, and the folk culture about the Lantern Festival can also be seen in various excellent works.

Folk customs of Lantern Festival:

1, eat Yuanxiao

Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, as a kind of food, has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao". There are white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, cinnamon bark, walnut kernel, nuts, jujube paste and so on in Yuanxiao. After the stuffing ball is formed, it is rolled into glutinous rice flour, and the glutinous rice flour is made from jiaozi and then wrapped in jiaozi, which is completely different. Yuanxiao can be meat or vegetarian, with different tastes. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion.

Step 2 be careful with the lights

During the Yong Ping period of Han Dynasty (AD 58-75), when Ming Taizu advocated Buddhism, it coincided with Cai _ returning to Buddhism from India, saying that it was the fifteenth day of the first month in India, and monks gathered to pay tribute to the relics, which was an auspicious day to participate in Buddhism. In order to carry forward Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in the palace temple on the 15th night of the first month. Since then, the custom of putting lights on the Lantern Festival has spread from being held only in the court to the people. That is, on the fifteenth day of the first month, both the gentry and the people hang up lights, and the urban and rural areas are brightly lit all night.

Step 3 solve the riddle on the lantern

Solve riddles on the lanterns, also called playing riddles, is a traditional activity of the Lantern Festival. Lantern riddles originated from riddles in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Lantern riddles hung on lanterns for people to guess and shoot began in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhou Mi recorded in "The Old Story of Wulin-Lights": "Cut poems with silk lights, laugh at them at times, draw characters, hide hidden characters, and tease pedestrians with old Beijing slang." On the Lantern Festival, the imperial city stays up all night, and the people enjoy the Lantern Festival in spring. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected on candles and listed on the road, which is called "lantern riddles".