The origin of the lanterns on the 15th day of the first month of the year 1, from the folk
There are also legends that the Lantern Festival originated from the folk "whistling fire" and other farming habits. Every year around the first month of the fifteenth, spring plowing is coming, farmers around the world are busy preparing for plowing and other work. Farmers in some areas went to the ground on the night of the dead branches and weeds together, set fire to burn, in order to get rid of insect pests.
The festival period of the Lantern Festival and the festival activities are extended and expanded with the development of history. On the length of the festival, the Han Dynasty only one day, to the Tang Dynasty has been three days, the Song Dynasty is up to five days, the Ming Dynasty is since the eighth light, until the night of the first month of the seventeenth before the lights, the whole ten days.
With the Spring Festival, the daytime for the city, bustling, night lighting, spectacular. Especially the delicate, colorful lights, making it the climax of the entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. To the Qing Dynasty, and added a dragon dance, lion dance, running boats, stilt walkers, twisting rice-planting songs and other "hundreds of theater" content, just shortened the festival period of four to five days.
The origin of the lanterns on the 15th day of the first month of the year 2, from Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty
Some legends say that Emperor Yang was obsessed with color and wanted to marry his sister. The sister hard to twist, borrowed unless the first month of the fifteenth miracle of starry night, can be married. Emperor Yang ordered the people around the capital to the fifteenth night of each household lights, violators of the decapitation. To the fifteenth night, the younger sister climbed the stairs to see all the lights on the ground, mistakenly thought it was really stars on the ground, threw himself into the river to kill himself. In order to commemorate this woman who is not willing to be abused, the people of the folk every first month of the fifteenth day of the first month are lit up.
The origin of the lanterns on the 15th day of the first month 3, from Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty
Some legends say that the Festival of Lights originated from Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. At that time, the courtesans miss their parents at home after the Lantern Festival, the Palace of the deep forbidden, how to go out to meet it? Wise and resourceful Dongfang Shuo learned of sympathy, they designed to fulfill them, he first spread rumors that the Fire God will be sent to burn the city of Chang'an, the city of the palace a panic.
Afterwards, he also suggested to Emperor Wu that all the people in the palace should go out to avoid the disaster on the 15th night, and all the streets and alleys of the city, and the doors of the courtyards and houses should be hung with red lamps as if they were on fire, so as to deceive the fire god in the sky who was watching and monitoring the fire god. Emperor Wu promised, the court ladies of the Lantern Festival so take the opportunity to meet with their families.
After the night, Chang'an City was safe and sound. Han Wu Di also led the Empress, your consort, the court ladies in civilian clothes to watch the lanterns, just to the lively and unusual, very interesting, and thus ordered every year on the first day of the month of the fifteenth to release the lanterns.