Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsQuanzhou, FujianBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

China began lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival as early as the Han dynasty, and this gradually developed into a popular custom. By the Tang dynasty the custom was even more widespread: the lines 'Fire trees and silver blossoms merge; the star bridge opens, its iron locks undone' describe the splendor of the Lantern Festival in Chang'an. In the Ming dynasty the Lantern Festival had already become an important part of the people's lives, with ten consecutive days of lantern-viewing. In the Qing dynasty it was a folk festival shared in merriment by the whole population, and setting off firecrackers and fireworks added to the excitement of the lantern-viewing activities. A number of traditional activities are also carried out at the Lantern Festival. The first is guessing lantern riddles, also called 'beating lantern riddles', which first appeared in the Song dynasty: riddles are hung up for people to guess, and those who guess correctly receive a prize. The second is eating yuanxiao (sweet rice dumplings). Yuanxiao was originally called 'fuyuanzi' (floating round balls) and is also known as 'tangtuan' or 'tangyuan'; it is a ball-shaped food made of glutinous rice flour, usually with a filling, boiled in water before eating, and remarkably sweet and delicious. Eating yuanxiao symbolizes that the whole family is reunited, harmonious, and happy. Besides the Han, many ethnic minorities also celebrate the Lantern Festival, including the Manchu, Korean, Hezhe, Mongolian, Daur, Evenki, Oroqen, Hui, Xibe, Tibetan, Bai, Naxi, Miao, Yao, She, Zhuang, Buyi, Li, and Gelao peoples, and their festival activities each have their own distinctive features. The Quanzhou Lantern Festival revelry custom originated in the Central Plains region and takes the lantern fair as its principal form of expression.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Lantern Festival, also called the 'Shangyuan Festival', the 'Yuanxi Festival', or the 'Festival of Lanterns', is a traditional Chinese festival, widely observed throughout the country. In China the first month of the lunar calendar is the yuan (first) month, and in ancient times night was known as 'xiao'; therefore the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, when the year's first full moon appears, is named the 'Yuanxiao Festival'. In some places the Lantern Festival also includes the custom of 'walking off a hundred ailments', also called 'roasting away a hundred ailments' or 'dispersing a hundred ailments'. On the day of the festival people walk in groups, crossing bridges together or heading out into the countryside, symbolizing the dispelling of illness and disaster and the attainment of peace and good health. Since modern times, traditional performance items such as dragon-lantern dances, lion dances, stilt walking, land-boat rowing, yangge (rice-sprout) dances, and Taiping drum playing have been added to Lantern Festival activities in various places, giving the festival new development in the course of its transmission. The Lantern Festival, with a history of more than two thousand years, is not only widely celebrated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait but is also highly valued in overseas Chinese communities. According to the Genealogy of the Fu Clan of Taoyuan, Nan'an, in the first year of the Guangming reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang dynasty (880), Fu Shi — a native of Gushi in Henan and a military commissioner and punitive commander of the Weiwei Army — led troops from Chang'an into Fujian to garrison Quanzhou, and built the Tang King Palace (Taoyuan Palace) at Fengzhou in Nan'an. At the Lantern Festival, Fu Shi celebrated together with the people following the lantern-lighting ceremony of Chang'an; thereafter the practice was continued by local custom, and every year the Lantern Festival revelry is held. The Quanzhou Lantern Festival revelry custom is transmitted in the counties of Quanzhou, Fujian, and has spread to Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Taiwan, and elsewhere. The Quanzhou lantern fair custom includes hanging lanterns, presenting lanterns, viewing lanterns, lighting lanterns, and parading lanterns; in ancient times there was also the practice of scrambling for lanterns. At the Lantern Festival every household hangs decorated lanterns; men and women, old and young, go out in groups to admire the lanterns, and children roam the streets and lanes in the 'lantern parade'. Families that have newly married off a daughter must present their in-laws with red and white lotus lanterns and Guanyin child-giving lanterns. If a lantern is accidentally burned while being lit, this is called 'sending out the lantern' (chu deng). The Quanzhou Lantern Festival revelry custom also includes cultural and artistic activities such as lantern-riddle guessing and 'zhuangren' (costumed people parades). Street parading (caijie) was anciently called 'zhuangren'; it includes folk performance troupes (zhentou), decorated lanterns, floats, South Shaolin martial arts, and various artistic performances, and when someone sets off firecrackers, the performers stop to express their thanks. The Quanzhou Lantern Festival also has blessing-seeking customs such as 'jinggong' (honoring the ancestors) and 'listening to the incense' (tingxiang); those who 'listen to the incense' are generally women, who hold burning incense and listen to remarks made carelessly by others in order to divine good or ill fortune. In addition, the people of Quanzhou eat seasonal foods such as yuanxiao balls and runbingcai (thin pancake dishes), symbolizing the reunion of the whole family. The Quanzhou Lantern Festival revelry custom is an activity for the whole population: the entire city turns out, streams of people crowd together, and everywhere is prosperous and lively. Even compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan and overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia organize groups to come to Quanzhou to take part in the lantern fair and celebrate the festival together.

Hanging the lanterns

Every household hangs lanterns along doors and eaves, taking care to leave a vent for the flame.

Gifting lanterns

A newly married household sends lotus and child-granting lanterns to the in-laws, a gift of offspring.

Lantern wandering by children

Children go door to door singing lantern songs, for a failed round bodes an unlucky year.

The costumed street parade

The parade called zhuangren combines processions, lanterns, floats and southern martial display.

Listening for omens

Women hold incense and overhear chance remarks, reading them as signs of fortune.

Glutinous balls and spring roll greens

Glutinous balls stand for reunion, rolled greens for the renewal of the year.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

In the Quanzhou dialect, 'deng' (lamp) and 'ding' (male child) are homophones, so 'sending out the lantern' (chu deng) is equivalent to 'producing a male heir' (chu ding), signifying a flourishing family with many descendants.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Quanzhou Lantern Festival revelry custom has thus become a concrete symbol of local social prosperity and stability and an emotional bond in the cultural identity of overseas Chinese; it has research value in folkloristics and in local history and culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Lantern Festival (Quanzhou, Fujian) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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