The Beauty Of The Asian New Year Lantern Ceremony

Discover the legendary origins of the lantern festival that is celebrated during the Chinese New Year.

The lantern is one of the most prominent symbols of the Chinese New Year. In fact there is an entire festival known as the Chinese lantern festival celebrated at the time of New Year. In local lingo the festival is known as Yuan Xiao. It gets its name from the first month of the year which is known as Yuan where as the second half of the name is what the ancient people used to refer to as night.

The lantern festival is celebrated fifteen days into the New Year on the sighting of the first full moon. The idea is to bring about a joyful atmosphere as the full moon shines bright in the sky and the masses of Chinese people gather at the place of the festival holding up colorful lanterns creating a completely lit up environment.

There are many intricacies associated with Chinese lanterns. These are no mediocre lanterns rather they can be an extremely engaging item once you begin to indulge in the puzzles that are often featured on the lanterns. The eating of glutinous rice balls also goes along with the lantern celebrations which are shared amongst friends and families.

The origins of the lantern tradition

As is the case with many other traditional practices of China you will find a number of myths concerning the lantern New Year tradition. The most popular legend is related with the worship of a God known as Taiyi who was supposedly the ruler over the heavens in ancient times.

It was believed that Earth had its good fortune at risk in the hands of the god of heavens, Taiyi. He was attributed to have the power to punish the humans through natural disasters or epidemics. Quishihuang was the ancient Chinese ruler who started the celebrations in order to acknowledge the lord and to satisfy him. This would avoid any risks of natural hazards and safeguard people’s security.

The New Year ceremony became very popular during Han dynasty as they got a great support from the ruler. However, later, king Wudi made this ceremony even more unique and prominent so much so that the celebrations were night long and huge.

There is however another edge to the story that claims the tradition actually innovated under the Taoist influence. The Tianguan is a Taoist deity believed to be responsible for fortune and good luck and had a special fondness for Chinese entertainment. So the Chinese people took to the streets performing all sorts of entertainment services to please Tianguan.

There is yet another tell tale about the origins of the lantern festival that give the acknowledgment of the discovery to Emperor Mingdi. Under this story the emperor was influenced by Buddhism and a dream that he had which eventually led him to select the 15th day of the Chinese New Year as a day of lighting lanterns.

Irrespective of which of the legends are true the fact remains that the lantern festival is a prominent part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Especially interesting are the decorative lanterns with different traditional Chinese motifs.

The Chinese new year zodiac is based on twelve animal signs. If you would like to know how to produce your own Chinese lanterns click on the preceding link.

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