Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsJinjiang, 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. Before the Ming dynasty, people of Dongshi in Jinjiang had already gone to Taiwan to make a living; during the Jiajing reign the number going to Taiwan increased. They cleared mountains and opened up the seas, reclaiming new land, and named their settlements after their home villages, forming villages such as Dongshi and Buduizui in Taiwan. They also carried a divided spirit-image of the 'Three Lords' (Sangongye) from the Jiaying Temple of Dongshi, Jinjiang across the sea and built a temple in Dongshi Township, Taiwan, to house it; there are now more than twenty branch temples (fenlu) of the Jiaying Temple in Taiwan.

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. On the two sides of the Taiwan Strait there are two coastal villages of the same name, Dongshi — one in Jinjiang, Fujian, and one in Chiayi, Taiwan. The two places share a Lantern Festival lantern custom that is unique in the whole country, popularly known as 'Two Dongshis of Fujian and Taiwan, counting one palace lantern together'. The Dongshi palace-lantern counting activity begins on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month and lasts three days. In both Dongshis, grooms married during the previous year must hang the palace lanterns from their brides' dowries in the Three Lords Temple (Sangong Palace). At midnight on the Lantern Festival, the grooms gather together at the Sangong Palace. A large public red embroidered-ball lantern is hung in the center, and the master of ceremonies announces the number of palace lanterns from Taiwan and from the locality that year, celebrating the thriving population on both sides of the Strait. Then the highlight of the palace-lantern counting activity, the 'divining of the lantern' (bu deng), is held. The grooms throw divination blocks (jiaobei) before the seats of the Three Lords; the one who throws the most winning casts sets off firecrackers and, to the sound of red ceremonial pipes and drums, escorts the red embroidered-ball lantern home. The others also take their own palace lanterns home and hang them in the bridal chamber, praying that the Three Lords will bless their marriages with happiness and grant them sons early. When the Jinjiang Dongshi hangs its palace lanterns, the Dongshi compatriots in Taiwan send people ahead of time on the thirteenth of the first month to return to their hometown to worship the Three Lords, bringing a number of palace lanterns matching the number of marriages among Taiwan compatriots during the past year, and carrying back the number of lanterns from their hometown. The two places report their lantern counts to each other, jointly wishing for the prosperity of their descendants. This generational lantern-counting custom reflects the ardent hopes of the Dongshi people on both sides of the Strait for family prosperity and numerous descendants, and is a vivid expression of the cultural cohesion of the Chinese nation.

Wedding lanterns brought to the temple

Newly married men hang the lanterns their brides brought as dowry in the temple, making private news public.

Announcing the lantern count

At midnight the grooms gather before a great red silk ball lantern while the tally of both shores is read aloud.

Casting the divination cups

Grooms cast divination cups before the deity, and the winner is first to lead the great lantern home.

Taking the lanterns home

Each groom takes a lantern to the bridal chamber, seeking the deity's blessing for marriage and children.

The deity carried across the strait

The deity was carried to Taiwan, where more than twenty branch temples now keep the custom alive.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The two Dongshis face each other across the Strait; each has established its own palace and temple locally, yet they share the same wedding lantern-counting practice: when the Jinjiang Dongshi hangs its lanterns, the Dongshi compatriots in Taiwan hurry back on the thirteenth of the first month to worship the Three Lords, bringing with them palace lanterns converted from the number of marriages in Taiwan over the past year, and carrying back the lantern count from this side of the homeland. The palace lantern changes from a wedding dowry item into public property of the temple; a single lantern records at once the joy of one family and the population of a whole lineage.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Dongshi palace-lantern counting combines wedding, temple sacrifice, and ideas of population into a single night's gathering: once the palace lantern enters the temple, the new marriage becomes a piece of good news that the whole lineage can count; the throwing of blocks to divine the lantern hands the wish for heirs to a game of vying to be first. Locally, more than twenty branch temples of the Jiaying Temple have received divided spirit-images from Jinjiang, and the incense and the lantern custom followed the migrants across, keeping this single night of lanterns forever connected with their fellow-provincial settlements.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

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

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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