Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsYongchang, GansuBatch 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. The swastika-character (wan) lantern custom of Yongchang County is mainly found in Maobula Village, Hongshanyao Township, Yongchang County, Gansu Province. According to the Yongchang County Gazetteer, in the third year of the Hongwu era of the Ming dynasty (1370), the people of Maobula Village introduced the swastika-character lanterns from the capital to Yongchang, Gansu.

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 lantern chart used for the lantern-viewing activity is painted on a piece of hand-woven white cloth, which also marks the cardinal directions and the entrance and exit. When the lanterns are lit, an open piece of ground is chosen at the center of the village, and poles are planted according to the lantern chart: the poles are 2 meters high, 19 per row, with 19 rows both across and down, 361 in all, spaced about 2 meters apart and arranged in a square. The single central pole of the main ground is the master pole, 8 to 10 meters high, hung with a large festoon lantern; the remaining poles are hung with 360 small festoon lanterns, symbolizing the 360 days of the lunar year, and a colored gate with a lantern screen is erected at the entrance and exit. The poles are linked with ropes according to the chart, and lantern viewers can only proceed along a prescribed route, twisting left and right through the labyrinth, which provides endless enjoyment. Opposite the lantern ground is set up a 'lantern mountain', with 360 festoon lanterns arranged in sequence to spell out different blessing phrases. During the lantern viewing, yangge dance troupes dance along the routes, creating a scene of great liveliness; the performance content includes the old ox pushing a cart, lion dances, land boats, dragon dances, bear dances and jiezi (stick) dances, and the singing style is bold and hearty, with the vocal styles deeply influenced by local opera.

Raising poles by the lamp diagram

A hempen-cloth diagram marks layout and entrances, guiding 361 poles into a square grid.

The central pole and 360 lamps

A tall central pole carries the great lamp while 360 smaller ones stand for the days of the year.

The rope-linked maze

Ropes between poles force a turning maze, and visitors must follow the marked line to the exit.

Arranging blessings on the lamp hill

On the facing hill, 360 lamps are moved one by one to spell out different blessings.

Yangge troupes dancing along the route

Yangge and lion dances follow the crowd, singing in a rough local operatic style.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The swastika-character lantern custom is concentrated in Maobula Village of Hongshanyao Township; it was introduced from the capital in the third year of the Ming Hongwu era and has since been staged only within this single village. From the eighth day of the first lunar month the frames are erected, and according to the lantern chart a grid of poles nineteen rows across and nineteen rows down is planted in the open ground at the heart of the village, spaced about two meters apart. Although the lantern fair is organized by the one village, when the lanterns are lit the yangge troupes dance along the routes and people from the surrounding villages come to view the array; opposite the lantern ground a 'lantern mountain' is also set up, with 360 small lanterns arranged in sequence into blessing phrases. Thus a single village's lanterns are in truth a fair for the whole countryside.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The swastika-character lantern fair is rooted in the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and displays strong local characteristics; it has a certain reference value for research on folklore studies and the culture of northwestern China. With the rapid development of modern society and the economy, the Yongchang swastika-character lantern custom, which belongs to the realm of traditional folk culture, has been impacted by foreign, dominant and popular cultures; it is declining day by day, on the verge of extinction, and urgently in need of protection and rescue. Chen Yongqing (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1958, a native of Yongchang County, Gansu Province. From 1991 to 2011, during every Spring Festival, he presided over the holding of more than ten swastika-character lantern fairs, made three miniature models of the lantern fair, and took part in the intangible cultural heritage performance of the 2011 Gansu Provincial Television Spring Festival Gala. He possesses one copy of the swastika-character lantern fair chart, one copy of its introduction, one set of optical discs, three miniature models of the lantern fair and four photographs of the activity scenes. On the basis of inheriting the lantern-display making techniques of his predecessors, he boldly innovated in the selection of materials and in the content of the curtain-and-screen imagery and the techniques of expression. He is a representative inheritor of the Lantern Festival (Yongchang County swastika-character lantern custom) project of the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. He has focused on training and teaching the next generation of inheritors, passing on to his eldest son Chen Xingtao the making, painting and cutting of various lanterns, techniques for controlling light transmittance, the enlargement of model lanterns and the traditional observances of the custom.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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