Origin of Zigong Lantern Festival
Zigong Lantern Festival is a kind of Han folk culture with historical tradition.
Zigong is located in Sichuan Province. The inner meaning of Nanguo Lantern City, It was formed in the Qingming period and gradually developed into a relatively fixed connotation, And a large-scale Han folk cultural activity with a certain inheritance route carried out at a specific time.
Lanterns, it is a comprehensive handicraft of the Han nationality tradition and folk that is popular in China.
Lantern art is also the comprehensive decorative art of lights.The production of colored lights was developed from the use of fire by humans, the invention of lights, and the manufacture of lamps and lanterns. Suiren invented drilling wood to make fire, and humans set fire to it, when the torch is lit, this fire and torch are the origin of the original lamp.
With the development of social productivity, mankind began to use animal, plant and mineral oil and wax as lighting lamps. "Zhou Li, Si Heng" contains "The important events of all nations are for the candles and candles." It can be seen that there were candle lights in the Zhou Dynasty. In the Warring States Period, the manufacturing process of the lamps flourished, which is stated in Qu Yuan's "Chu Songs": "Lan Gao Ming Zhu Hua Tong Co". The Han Dynasty was the heyday of copper lamp making. "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" contains: "Han Gaozu entered the Xianyang Palace. Qin had five sapphire lamps, seven feet and five inches high. The lower part was a beetle. The lamp was held in the mouth, and the scales moved when burning, glowing like a star." In the Tang dynasty, Lantern Festival lanterns developed into an unprecedented lantern market. The capital was “made a lamp wheel twenty feet high, decorated with brocade, gold and silver, burning fifty thousand lamps, clusters like flowers and trees”. After that, lantern activities became particularly popular everywhere. In the Song Dynasty, the lantern development reached its peak, and its styles changed a lot. "Tokyo Dream Hualu" records: The palace of Bianjing (Kaifeng) was erected as a mountain of lights, and there were lights such as Samantabhadra, Manjusri Buddha riding a lion, and a white elephant.
Chinese lanterns are well-known in ancient and modern times; Zigong Lantern Festival has a long-standing reputation. The industrious and intelligent people of Zigong not only dedicate the unparalleled well salt technology to the world, but also contribute the magnificent lantern craft to mankind. On the land of China where the New Year’s Festival Lantern Festival has been widely used for thousands of years, the Zigong Lantern Festival has stood out. It has gathered the style of Chinese lamp culture and won the reputation of "The Capital", "The Land of Dinosaurs", and "Southern Lantern City" are famous all over the world. The New Year Lantern Festival in Zigong area has a long history and distinctive features. Since the Tang Dynasty, there has been the custom of lighting lanterns in the New Year. It was extended to the Qing Dynasty and there were "Lion Lantern Market" and "Denggan Festival". Activities such as dragon dance lanterns, lion theatre lanterns, and lanterns. As a result, it has developed into a festival that gathers the achievements of local folk customs and customs.
According to historical records, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Zigong area has gradually formed the custom of burning lanterns during the New Year and the lantern festival before and after the Lantern Festival. In the Zigong area during the Tang and Song Dynasties, folk acrobatics and acrobatics also appeared during the New Year and Lantern Festival and lighting of lanterns, which was deeply loved by the people who watched lanterns. In the second year of Chunxi in the Southern Song Dynasty (1175), the famous patriotic poet Lu You once wrote in his phrase "Qinyuanchun": "Farewell to the Qin Tower, in the blink of an eye the New Year, and the lights are near." This shows the Zigong area at that time. The lighting of lanterns in the New Year has become a customary folklore activity. Of course, there is still a difference between this and the Lantern Festival formed by birth. Therefore, the Tang and Song Dynasties should be the embryonic or initial stage of the Zigong Lantern Festival.
