The Traditional Eastern New Year Lantern Ceremony

Let us explore the evolution of the lantern festival that is seen during celebrations in the Chinese New Year.

The lantern is one of the most significant 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 called Yuan where as the second half of the name is what the ancient people used to refer to as night.

Fifteen days after entering the New Year, when the first full moon night is observed, the lantern festival is celebrated that night. It is to celebrate the joyful atmosphere when the first full moon of the New Year is seen shining brightly. Chinese people get together at the festival site and together they hold their lanterns up trying to constitute a beautifully lit up surrounding.

Chinese lanterns are designed with great detailing. Often you would find puzzles featuring on them that would get you rather busy in solving them and they are hardly, normal lanterns! The lantern festival is accompanied by eating rice balls which are shared with closed ones during this season.

The origins of the lantern tradition

The legend that is most popular linked with the Lantern New Year event is that, God Taiyi who reigned over the heavens in the ancient era was worshipedby the people in this festival. This is one of the many mythologies associated with the traditional New Year lantern festival.

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 ceremonies in order to acknowledge the lord and to satisfy him. This would avoid any risks of natural hazards and safeguard people’s security.

As time went, the Han dynasty patronized the ceremony to please lord Taiyi to very great extent and with time the ceremony became popular. It was during the reign of the ruler Wudi that this event became the most significant in China and revelry went on for the entire night.

The story behind the lantern festival however had a different explanation too that said the Taoists influenced these celebrations. The fortune of the Chinese people was in the hands of the Taoist lord Tianguan, apparently, and he seemed to have taste for Chinese entertainment. Hence, the Chinese took to pleasing him by, celebrating on the streets and performing various performances to keep him happy.

There is yet another tell story about the origins of the lantern festival that give the credit 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.

The lantern festival is one of the special events held as a part of the Chinese New Year celebrations no matter which part of the legend is genuine. These lanterns are interestingly designed with unique Chinese patterns.

Making a Chinese new years lantern can be a fun way of engaging kids in their heritage. For information about other aspects of the celebrations, including Chinese new year fireworks, please follow the links.