It's time again for the Lantern Festival.The Lantern Festival was also known as the "Shang Yuan" Festival in ancient days, referring to the first time the full moon appears during a lunar new year.
It was compared to the "Zhong Yuan" and "Xia Yuan" festivals, which were marked on the 15th day of the seventh and tenth lunar months.
People light up lanterns to pay tribute to the gods who bestow good luck to humans.
A carnival of lanterns
No matter how it started, the day was later turned into a big event, and lanterns are an indispensable part of it.
Starting the Tang Dynasty, the regimes gave holidays during the Lantern Festival.From big cities to towns and villages, in and out of the palaces, the streets, buildings and households were all decorated with lanterns, with vendors setting up booths, selling food and handicraft, just like today's night fairs.
The patterns and styles of the lanterns could be as diversified as one can imagine.The frames of the lanterns were usually made of bamboo slices, which were covered with gauze or paper.The high-rank families would decorate them with jewelry.
There were lanterns in the shape of auspicious characters, fairy figures, flowers and mythical animals.They even took the shapes of the architecture and characters, with which the organizers used to tell fairy tales and legends.
During the Song Dynasty (960-279), people started to put up puzzles onto the lanterns, to add to the fun.Those who could solve the puzzles would win small awards.Celebrations could last for days, with many people staying up all night, even during the ancient days.
The traditions have been passed on well until today, but now, with new technologies and electricity, the lanterns have become even more diverse and eye-catching.
