Lantern Fair
01 · Historical Records
In 1978, the Qianjiang public spontaneously organized a Floral Lantern Research Society. Between 1978 and 2019, twenty-one large-scale lantern festivals were held in succession, presenting a grand scene of seas of lanterns and tides of people.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
This project involves numerous participants; its core area is in the Yuanlin urban district of Qianjiang, and its activity area covers multiple surrounding townships. From worshipping at temples to pray for blessings to fulfilling vows and sealing the lanterns, the Qianjiang Lantern Festival has strict ritual regulations. The first day of the lantern festival is commonly called the "Lantern-Raising Day," on which every household sweeps its courtyard and lights lanterns to pray for blessings. The people, organized by towns, villages, and ancestral temples, worship at nearby temples to pray for blessings; before worshipping they must wash their hands and body and burn incense and present memorials. Various folk performance troupes carry their props and tour the villages to avert disasters. The procession of performers touring the villages must be arranged in the order of deities, humans, and beasts, with people at the very front carrying incense to lead the way. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the "Lantern Parade Day": during the day, folk performances such as dragon and lion dances enter the town and parade through the streets, shops along the streets hang colored lanterns and sell festival gifts, and people from all the surrounding townships come into town to attend the fair and view the lanterns, celebrating throughout the night. The sixteenth day of the first lunar month is the "Lantern-Burning Day": villagers send paper-made lanterns, dragons, and the like to ancestral temples or designated grounds to be burned to avert disasters and console the spirits. Before burning, a lantern-sealing ceremony must be held.
The opening day of the lanterns
The first day is spent sweeping the courtyard and lighting lamps, so the house is made ready before any deity is invited in.
Cleansing before incense and the burning of the declaration
Worshippers go in groups by township, village or ancestral hall, washing first and then burning incense and a written declaration before approaching the shrine.
The order of gods, people and beasts in the procession
Procession teams travel in the order of gods, then people, then beasts, with worshippers carrying incense at the head to open the way.
The lantern-parade day in town
On the fifteenth, dragon and lion teams parade into town where shops hang lanterns and sell seasonal goods, and the fair runs deep into the night.
Sealing and burning the lanterns
On the sixteenth, paper lanterns and dragons are carried to the ancestral halls and burned after a sealing rite, taking each lamp through a complete year.
The lantern research association
A folk lantern research association was formed in 1978 and staged twenty-one large fairs up to 2019, showing continuous civic organisation behind the event.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Qianjiang Lantern Festival has a long history and is recorded in ancient texts such as the Tang-dynasty "Youyang Zazu," the Qing-dynasty "Jingzhou Prefecture Gazetteer," and the "Qianjiang County Gazetteer." Its folk activities fall into four parts: worshipping at temples to pray for blessings, viewing lanterns and competing in brightness, parading lanterns to welcome spring, and exchanging festival gifts. Qianjiang floral lanterns bear strong regional characteristics of the water country and Jing-Chu culture; its finest lanterns have appeared at the first China Art Festival and were also selected for touring exhibitions in European and Southeast Asian countries. The core area of the Qianjiang Lantern Festival is the Yuanlin urban district, and its activity area covers multiple surrounding townships. Its main folk components have long been fixed as the four items of worshipping at temples to pray for blessings, viewing lanterns and competing in brightness, parading lanterns to welcome spring, and exchanging festival gifts; the sequence of these four items constitutes the year's festival order: one first purifies oneself before going out to see the deities, and only then turns to viewing and giving gifts. Since 1978 the lantern festival has been organized spontaneously by the public, and in the same year the Floral Lantern Research Society was established; from then until 2019, twenty-one large-scale lantern festivals were held in succession, with the grand scene of seas of lanterns and tides of people repeated year after year, showing that this place has a spontaneous organizational habit rather than relying solely on administrative arrangement. The geographical conditions of the Jing-Chu water country also play a part: Qianjiang floral lanterns carry strong water-country characteristics, and its finest lanterns have appeared at the first China Art Festival and were selected for touring exhibitions in European and Southeast Asian countries, so the craft of making lanterns has gone beyond the New Year use of a single village.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Qianjiang Lantern Festival is a comprehensive traditional folk activity in the Qianjiang area of Hubei, held during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival periods, in which the broad public spontaneously participates; it is composed of activities such as appreciating and competing in floral lanterns, folk street parades to welcome spring, and market fairs, with the purposes of rewarding the deities and praying for blessings, celebrating the festival, and entertaining the people. It possesses important historical, cultural, artistic, and socio-economic value. From the early days of the folk customs of raising, viewing, and parading lanterns, which arose spontaneously among the people, to today's planned and organized development in response to popular sentiment, the Qianjiang Lantern Festival has always carried simple folk beliefs, played an important role in transmitting folk culture and sustaining popular feeling, and conveyed the people's prayers for a better life. The holding of the lantern festival has promoted social harmony, continuously strengthened the people's sense of gain and happiness, become an important vehicle for expressing devotion to family and country and promoting socialist core values, and provided continuing momentum for rural revitalization and the integration of culture and tourism in Qianjiang.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lin Wenyi 03-1474
- Shao Chuanfu 03-1475
- Kuang Huofa
- Niujunqi
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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