Transcript Document
When Is Lantern Festival?
Falling on the 15th day the first month of the of Lunar Year, the Lantern Festival takes place under a full moon, and marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities. The Lantern Festival dates back to legends of the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago .
After the festival, everything has to return to normal.
The First Legend
In one such legend, the Jade Emperor in Heaven was so angered at a town for killing his favorite goose , that he decided to destroy it with a storm of fire. However, a good-hearted fairy heard of this act of vengeance, and warned the people of the town to light lanterns throughout the town on the appointed day.
Oh! My dear goose! Who dared to kill you will live no longer!
The townsfolk did as they were told, and from the Heavens, it looked as if the village was ablaze . Satisfied that his goose had already been avenged, the Jade Emperor decided not to destroy the town.
From that day on, people celebrated the anniversary of their survival by carrying lanterns of different shapes and colors through the streets on the first full moon of the year, providing a spectacular backdrop for lion dances, dragon dances, and fireworks.
The 2nd legend
Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism . Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune.
His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month .
It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment .
So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune .
The third story about the origin of the festival is like this. Buddhism first entered China during the reign of Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty .
The 3rd Legend
That was in the first century. However, it did not exert any great influence among the Chinese people. One day, Emperor Mingdi had a dream about a gold man in his palace.
At the very moment when he was about to ask the mysterious figure who he was, the gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in the west .
The next day, Emperor Mingdi sent a scholar to India on a pilgrimage to locate Buddhist scriptures.
After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures.
Emperor Mingdi ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as a repository for the scriptures .
Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness.
So Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to become the Lantern Festival .
The Fourth Legend
During the period of the Western Han Dynasty in China's history Emperor Liu Bang was particularly fond of his concubine Lady Qi and wanted to make her son Ruyi the crown prince.
Although he failed to do so because of the obstruction of Queen Lu , the vicious queen harbored resentment against Lady Qi in her bosom.
After Liu Bang's death, Liu Ying, son of Queen Lu succeeded to the throne to be Emperor Han Huidi .
Huidi, weak in character, was irresolute and hesitant.
So the power fell gradually into the hand of the queen mother who was both cruel and astute.
To vent her ranking hatred Queen-mother Lu killed Prince Ruyi with poisoned wine .
Then she had Lady Qi's hands and feet cut off to turn her a cripple deaf and blind and then had her prisoned in a toilet all year round.
Emperor Huidi was very resentful cruelty and to the imperiousness of his queen mother, but he had no power to resist her.
So he fell ill with anxiety and melancholy in the end and died soon afterwards
From then on Queen Mother Lu arrogated all the powers to herself at court and took over the command of the army from Marshal Zhou Bo.
In order to take the state power from Liu's hand to Lu's, she offered the titles of princes and marquises to her maternal nephews and grand nephews to let them assist her to grasp the power at court.
To Remove possible perils, Queen Mother Lu not only pushed out the old officials killed in but also succession prince You, Gong and Yan , sons of the late emperor Liu Bang.
Members of the royal family and the officials felt deeply indignant at this, but being afraid of the Lu's cruelty and ferociousness they were forced to keep their resentment to themselves.
The death of Queen Mother Lu put the members of the Lu family on teeter-hooks.
They feared very much to be squeezed out or harmed.
One day they met secretly at General Lu Lu's house to plot a rebellion so as to take over the state power from the Liu family once for all.
Lu Lu's son-in-law was none other than Liu Zhang from the royal family.
He was alarmed to hear the news and hurriedly informed the Lu's conspiracy of rebellion to his elder brother prince Liu Xiang .
He urged him to dispatch the troops to suppress the Lus so as to defend the state power of the Lius.
After that Liu Zhang also got in touch with the founding officials Zhou Bo and Cheng Ping.
And they decided through discussion to operate from within in suppressing the rebellion .
Before long Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, with the cooperation of General Guan Ying , relieved Lu Lu of the military power by schemes.
The civil and military officials who had kept their resentment to themselves now rose one after another to form a punitive expedition .
The suppression of the rebellion was carried on with irresistible force.
Liu Zhang broke in the court with some people and killed the prime minister Lu Chan and General Lu who seized the power at court.
The rebellion of the Lus was at last put down once for all.
After the putting down of the rebellion, the officials supported the third son of Liu Bang to succeed to the throne.
He was none other than Emperor Wun who made a great contribution to the flourishing period of the Han Dynsaty.
Emperor Wun felt deeply that the peace did not come easily .
So he made the 15th of the 1st lunar month on which the Lus were suppressed the day of the sharing happiness with the people .
On that day every house in the capital was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers as an expression of celebration.
On the 15th of the first lunar month every year, Emperor Wun not only entertained the officials at a banquet but also disguised himself and went out of the court to enjoy the sight of lanterns and share happiness with the people .
Since then, the 15th of the 1st lunar month has become a folk festival which people share on happiness everywhere in the country
How do people celebrate Lantern Festival nowadays?
While the Lantern Festival has changed very little over the last two millennia, technological advances have made the celebration more and more complex and visually stimulating .
Indeed, the festival as celebrated in some places (such as Taipei, Taiwan) can put even the most garish American Christmas decorations to shame.
They often sport unique displays of light that leave the viewer in awe.
Master craftsman will construct multicolored paper lanterns in the likeness of butterflies, dragons, birds, dragonflies, and many other animals .
Brilliantly-lit floats and mechanically driven light displays draw the attention of the young and old alike.
Sometimes, entire streets are blocked off, with lanterns mounted above and to the sides, creating a hallway of lamps .
Some cities in North China even make lanterns from blocks of ice!
And just as in days gone by, the billion watt background sets the scene for dragon and lion dances, parades, and other festivities.
Yuan Xiao and Tang Yuan
Yuan Xiao and Tang Yuan are balls of glutinous rice, sometimes rolled around a filling of sesame, peanuts, vegetable, or meat.
Tang Yuan are often cooked in red-bean or other kinds of soup.
The round shape symbolizes wholeness and unity.
Yuan means “ first ”, and Xiao means “ night ”. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself.
It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century , then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.
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