"The first month, the first month right, the lanterns on the first month's fifteenth." When talking about the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, lanterns must come to mind. The custom of releasing lanterns at the Lantern Festival flourished in the Tang Dynasty and prospered in the Song Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, lanterns were put up for three days. After Song Zhao Guo Li, Song Taizu issued an edict in the first month of the fifth year of Qian De: "The lanterns will be released for three nights at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Today, the court has no business, regional peace, valley full of prosperity, the people to enjoy themselves as appropriate. Let Kaifengfu open seventeen or eighteen nights of night lights. Take this as an example." Extend the Lantern Festival lighting time to five days. During the Chun_ years of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was increased to six nights, and the lanterns were lit on January 13th.
The festive atmosphere of the Lantern Festival has been brewing for a long time. Just after the winter solstice, on the royal street in front of Xuande Gate in Bianjing, Kaifeng Municipality has long set up sheds with bamboo and wood for lighting, decorated with flowers, colorful flags, brocade and silk, and hung with cloth paintings." Everyone painted fairy tales, or square time sellers of medicine and divination ." This shed was called the "Mountain Shed".
Since the year before last, every day there are all kinds of entertainers performing all kinds of entertainment in the two corridors of the Royal Street in Bianjing: magic, acrobatics, rapping, singing and dancing, miscellaneous operas, monkey plays, and lantern riddles, "a marvelous experience, refreshing to the ears." The program list was certainly much richer and more exciting than the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. A list of the most popular programs and entertainers of the time is included: Zhang Jiuge, who swallowed an iron sword; Li Wai-Ning, a puppet performer; a young athlete who performed magic tricks; a child who played acrobatics; Wen Dudu and Xiao Cao, who played the piano; 1,000 flutists; twelve kings of the theater; Zou Yu, who had a diverse way of performing in a wide range of fields; Su Shi and Meng Xuan, who wished to go to the Qiu; Yin Chang, a storyteller, who sold books; Liu Baiqin, who got insects and ants; and Yang Wenshou, who performed a drum-and-antenna flute.
As the Lantern Festival drew near, people erected two colorful statues of Manjushri and Purusharthas on the left and right sides of the Yujie Mountain shed. They rode on lions and white elephants, and five streams of water gushed out from between the bodhisattvas' fingers. This is the earliest man-made fountain installation. From the mountain shed to the Xuan De Gate of the Imperial City, there was a large square where the government used thorns to form a large circle, about 100 feet long, called the "Thorn Basin". A music shed was built in the thorn basin, where artists from the teaching workshop performed music and hundreds of plays. Visitors stand outside the thorns and watch.
When it was time to light the lamps, the mountain shed was lit up, "golden, golden, splendid." Standing on top is a graceful geisha beauty in a flowing gown, fluttering in the wind like a fairy. The shed is also equipped with an artificial waterfall. The water is winched up with a winch on the roof of the shed and contained in a huge wooden cabinet. The spout of the wooden cabinet is then regularly opened to allow the water to flow down, creating a spectacular waterfall. The lighting makes for a happy ending. The two towers of the Xuande Gatehouse, "each hanging a lamp ball, about the length of a square circle, inside the burning rafters." "All kinds of lanes and alleys, horse stores, incense stores, teahouses, restaurants, there are all kinds of lanterns, candles", "there are lanterns, lanterns, sun and moon lamps, poinsettia lamps, mirror lamps, word lamps, riding lamps, phoenix lamps, water lamps, sulfur glass lamps, shadow lamps," and so on, so that the people's eyes.
The Lantern Festival in Lin'an Province of the Southern Song Dynasty also kicked off early. It was only in winter that the market began to sell all kinds of beautiful lanterns. "Tea stores on Tianjie Street have been listing lanterns and flower balls for sale one after another, known as the 'lantern market'," he said. "As soon as you enter the new school, the lights get brighter and brighter." The official lighting time had not yet begun, and citizens were already trying to turn out the lights first.
Many singing and dancing troupes appeared at the market to perform "puppets, folk so
In the blink of an eye it was time for the Lantern Lighting. As night falls, a variety of lanterns compete with each other from the palace to the countryside. The lanterns in the palace are undoubtedly the most luxurious. One year, the Forbidden City made a five-foot-high "glazed lantern mountain" with all kinds of writing on it. It was controlled by the authorities and could be moved freely. Late at night "music everywhere" "more than a hundred fireworks" lit.
The folk are also "home lamps, strings everywhere", "the most lamps", "exquisite". Riding horse lamp, "a horse riding figure, spinning as flying"; bead lamp, "five-color beads for the net, hanging tassel, or tell the story of the dragon boat, phoenix web, tower"; sheepskin lamp, "carved, dyed in five colors, such as the method of shadow play "; Luo point silk lamps, "or flowers, or fine eyes, red and white, the number of '10,000 eyes Luo', this is the most strange". There is a "boneless lamp", like a large glass ball, very clever; there is also a giant lamp called "big screen", "water rotation, everything moves", by water power to drive the rotation. "Quiet alley and a nice house, more colorful glaze bulbs, more elegant and clean", such as a flower girl, "makeup beauty smile, like a fairy.
West Lake in the temple, Lingyin Hill in the Tianzhu, in the straight Tianzhu, the lower Tianzhu is "the most prosperous temple", "often given for the Palace, the noble left", "people are curious, but also to see! ". The Song Dynasty said, "Who do you not appreciate, Tianzhudang night rain". The Qing Dynasty, the Jiang Imperial Household, Zhang Fu rich merchants, not only lights and colors, but also fireworks, singing elegant drama, "the same game". These private Yuanlin are open to the public and visitors can come in and watch. "You look around and go to the door for a drink." The Yuanlin's host families will also provide guests with "exotic teas and different soups that can be served on demand." No wonder "tourists can't bear to give it up." Lanterns were also lit in Hangzhou's major restaurants, "clamoring for publicity and rewards, and prostitutes sat in the noisy crowds, seducing fastidious children to buy them, laughing and chasing them."
Song people's late-night snacks, as Xin Qiji Tokyo Meng Hua record words: "Thousands of trees blossom east wind night. Windy, stars like rain. BMW carved all over the road car. The sound of xiaojiao jade pot light, dragon and fish dance through the night."