Lantern Festival

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

01 · Historical Records

Since the Han dynasty, the Chinese have lit lanterns on the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a practice that gradually developed into a folk custom. The custom became even more popular in the Tang dynasty; the lines 'fire trees and silver blossoms joined, the star bridge with its iron lock opened' describe the splendor of the Lantern Festival in Chang'an. In the Ming dynasty, the Lantern Festival had already become an important part of popular life, with ten consecutive days of lantern viewing; in the Qing dynasty, it was a folk festival celebrated by the whole nation, and the lantern-viewing activities were enlivened by fireworks. The Lantern Festival also involves several traditional activities. First is 'cai deng mi' (guessing lantern riddles), also called 'da deng mi', which first appeared in the Song dynasty; riddles are hung up waiting to be solved, and those who guess correctly receive prizes. Second is eating yuanxiao: 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 and eaten, with an exceptionally sweet taste. Eating yuanxiao symbolizes the whole family being reunited and living in harmony and happiness. Besides the Han, the Manchu, Korean, Hezhe, Mongol, Daur, Evenk, Oroqen, Hui, Xibe, Tibetan, Bai, Naxi, Miao, Yao, She, Zhuang, Buyi, Li and Gelao ethnic groups also celebrate the Lantern Festival, and their festival activities each have their own distinctive features.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Lantern Festival, also known as the 'Shangyuan Festival', the 'Yuanxi Festival' and the 'Deng Festival' (Festival of Lanterns), is a traditional Chinese festival, popular throughout the country. In China, the first month of the lunar calendar is the yuan (first) month; in ancient times, night was called 'xiao'. Hence the first full-moon night of the year, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, is named the 'Yuanxiao Festival'. In some places the Lantern Festival also has the custom of 'zou bai bing' (walking off the hundred illnesses), also called 'kao bai bing' (roasting away the hundred illnesses) or 'san bai bing' (dispersing the hundred illnesses). On the day of the Lantern Festival, people set out walking in groups, following one another across bridges or traveling far into the countryside, symbolizing the dispelling of illness and disaster and the attainment of peace and health. In modern times, traditional performance items such as dragon lantern dances, lion dances, stilt walking, land-boat (dry boat) dancing, yangge dancing and taiping drum playing have been added to Lantern Festival activities across the country, giving the festival new development in the course of its transmission. With a history of more than two thousand years, the Lantern Festival is not only widely observed on both sides of the Taiwan Strait but also attaches great importance among overseas Chinese communities. The Hakka are a special branch of the Han people. Before the medieval period, most Hakka ancestors lived in the Central Plains of the north; because of warfare and other reasons, beginning in the Western Jin dynasty, the Hakka ancestors migrated southward five times in succession. In the course of this southward migration, the Hakka not only preserved the ancient cultural traditions of the Han people but also absorbed the culture and customs of the Minyue, She and Yao peoples, gradually forming the traditional Lantern Festival celebrations of the Hakka of western Fujian. The Hakka Lantern Festival celebrations of western Fujian are mainly found in the five Hakka settlements of Liancheng, Yongding, Changting, Wuping and Shanghang counties in western Fujian; their most representative elements include the Gutian Great Dragon parade of Liancheng, the Luofang 'walking of ancient affairs' (zou gu shi) of Liancheng, the Zhixi flower lanterns of Liancheng, the Fushi flower-lantern stories of Yongding, and the Xinquan firecracker burning of Liancheng. The Hakka Lantern Festival celebrations of western Fujian are characterized by mass participation, entertainment value, competitive spirit, mystery and artistry. The Gutian Great Dragon parade of Liancheng has been transmitted for twenty-two generations. Its main prop, the great dragon, is made of cedar boards, bamboo strips, cotton paper and oxhide; the whole activity consists of stages such as welcoming the 'Gongdie' (grandfather deity), making the great dragon, pre-parade preparation, bringing out the dragon, parading the dragon and burning the dragon. The Luofang 'walking of ancient affairs' of Liancheng has been transmitted for twenty-eight generations; its main implement, the 'ancient affairs' float shed (gu shi peng), weighs about 200 kilograms. The activity includes stages such as organization and implementation, making the float sheds, fasting and purification in worship of the deity, preparatory activities, the racing 'walking of ancient affairs', and sending the 'ancient affairs' down into the stream. The Zhixi flower lanterns of Liancheng are made of bamboo strips, cotton paper, tetrapanax (tongcao) paper, spider gauze, rice-grain beads, colored puppet heads, glass cups, small colored pompoms, fire conch shells and lantern bamboo; their production includes steps such as splitting the bamboo strips, making the lantern frame, carving the decorative boards, pasting and covering the lantern with paper, making the revolving picture lanterns, and assembling the lanterns. They have been transmitted for twenty-five generations. The Xinquan firecracker burning has been transmitted for five generations; the implements used in the activity mainly include firecrackers, door planks, incense and paper offerings, candles, the sedan chair of the 'Three Great Ancestral Masters' deity, gongs and drums, and shifan (ten-tune) musical instruments.

The great dragon of Gution

The dragon is built of fir boards, bamboo strips, paper and cowhide, and its rite has passed twenty-two generations.

The Gushi parade of Luofang

The two-hundred-kilogram shrine is raced in the street, following twenty-eight generations of ritual order.

Making the Zhixi lanterns

Bamboo strips, paper, gauze and glass beads are worked through six stages into a lantern.

The firecracker rite of Xinquan

Door boards shield the fire while drums, gongs and temple music accompany the burning.

Five counties, five lantern traditions

Five Hakka counties each keep their own lantern programme, so the festival must be read county by county.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Hakka Lantern Festival celebrations of western Fujian are most exuberant in Liancheng County alone; within its borders Gutian, Luofang, Zhixi and Xinquan each lends its name to a custom: Gutian's great dragon, Luofang's 'ancient affairs' float sheds, Zhixi's flower lanterns and Xinquan's firecracker burning, each a complete set of procedures and a transmission of generations. Changting, Yongding, Wuping and Shanghang counties also have their own local lantern customs; only when the five places are combined does the full picture of the western Fujian Hakka Lantern Festival emerge. This festival is therefore in fact a cluster of celebrations observed in parallel across many villages and towns.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Hakka Lantern Festival customs of western Fujian are an important component of Hakka traditional culture and an important vehicle through which the Hakka social form and traditional spirit are passed down from generation to generation. They concretely and vividly reflect the values and aesthetic ideals of the Hakka people, and have research value in sociology, anthropology, ethnology, aesthetics and other disciplines.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

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

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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