The origin of Lantern Festival

by: Yong Poh Wan


There are many different ways to explain the Lantern Festival and it had related with religious worship. Firstly, the name of Yuan Xiao in Chinese is actually was the name of the maid in the emperor’s palace during Han Dynasty. One day, a man was heard Yuan Xiao cried because she was depressed that she never got a chance to see her family again since she started working there and she would rather to die. Then the man promised her would help and let her see her family again. So he set up a fortune board in town and emphasize that the God of Fire would burn down the town and one of the fairy would be riding a black horse. As a reason for Yuan Xiao can came to the town, she pretended a fairy and gave the decree to the emperor. Then the emperor asked for the advised from the man and he told him that the God of fire like to eat “tang yuan” and Yuan Xiao should cook “tang yuan”on the 15th lunar day. Besides, everyone in town should make “tang yuan” to worship the god and also carry their red lanterns on street to see the decorations and light the firecrackers. Just because the emperor did not have any idea about this, so he just followed what the man had suggested. So, on 15th of lunar calendar, Yuan Xiao’s parents came to the emperor’s palace to admire the decorations. In this time, they were success to reunited with Yuan Xiao. After that, the emperor decreed that people should do the same thing every year. With this reason, he turned the day as an annual holiday. Since Yuan Xiao cooked the best Tang Yuan, the festival also call as Yuan Xiao Festival.

Another story about the origin of the lantern festival is the legend about the jade emperor. The jade emperor was so angered because his favourite crane was death when it was sent down from heaven and killed by some villagers. After that, the jade emperor planned to send a troop to burn the village, but the villagers were able to escape death because the jade emperor’s daughter warned the villagers beforehand. Besides, a wise man from another village also suggested hanging red lanterns around their house and set off the firecrackers from 14th until 16th of the lunar days. On the 15th of lunar day, heaven sent down a troop to complete their mission to destroy the village but they saw the village was already ablaze and report to the jade emperor. Then the jade emperor decided not to burn the village. So from that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on 15th of lunar day by carry the lantern and set off the firecrackers. 


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