Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 03-04-07 06:55
Dear All,
Today is the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year
This day is called "The Festival of Lanterns" or 元宵節 (Yuan Xiao Jie),or
"正半月(Zheng Ban Yue)" or the first half month of the new year. In the
streets, business men would hang up all sorts of beautiful lanterns in front
of their shops. For those families that had produced a baby boy the previous
year, they would hang up a little lantern next to the ancestral altar. The
Hakkas call it "添新燈 (Tian Xin Deng)", which means "add in a new lantern,
or a new member has been added to the family. That night, for supper, the
Hakkas family would eat "湯圓 (Tang Yuan)" or glutinous rice round balls.
This is a poem written by 朱淑貞 (Zhu Shuzhen) who lived during the Song
Dynasty (宋朝).
去年元夜時,---Qu4 nian2 yuan2 ye4 shi2,
花市燈如畫,---Hua shi4 deng ru2 hua4;
月上柳梢頭,---Yue4 shang4 liu23 shao tou2,
人約黃昏後.---Ren2 yue huang2 hun hou4.
今年元夜時,---Jin nian2 yuan2 ye4 shi2,
月與燈依舊,---Yue4 yu4 deng si4 jiu4;
不見去年人,---Bu4 jian4 qu4 nian2 ren2,
淚溼春衫袖.---Lei4 shi chun shan xiu4.
Last year on this night,
The lanterns in the flower market were like a picture,
When the moon reached the top of the willow tree,
I met my friend.
This year tonight,
The moon and lanterns were the same as last year,
But I did not see my friend,
Tears wetted the sleeve of my new garment.
The poem was written by 朱淑貞who was the daughter of Duke Wen 朱文公. Her
daeth of birth and her death were not recorded in history. It is believed
that she was born in Qian Tang (錢塘 present day city of.Hangzhou 杭州)
in Zhejiang province (浙江省) and she was alive in 1170AD during the reign
of Emperor Xiao Zong 孝宗皇帝 (1165AD to 1198AD) of the Song Dynasty (宋
朝 960AD to 1279AD).
According to Chinese historical records, on the night of Yuan Xiao (元宵
), there was no lanterns displaying before the Sui Dynasty (隋朝 581AD to
618AD), but the sport of wrestling. The tradition of displaying lanterns
started during the Tang Dynasty (唐朝 618AD to 907AD) when Li Shimin (李
世民) became the second Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He reigned from 627AD
to 649AD. The country was prosperous and peaceful. All the periphery countries
lived peacefully with the Tang Dynasty. During the new year period delegates
from the border countries paid homage to Emperor Li Shimin. In order to
show the foreigners how peaceful and wealthy the country was Li Shimin told
his officials to produce and display lanterns in the shape of the drums
(nowadays the lanterns are in many forms and shapes) in the palace and the
streets of Changan (長安 present day Xian 西安市 in Shaanxi province 陜西
省), the capital of the country. Later the tradition of displaying lanterns
spread throughout the country and carried on generation after generation
until today.
There were many stories about how the ancient people celebrateI Yuan Xia
Jie 元宵節. One of them was like this and it was called 擲炮城 (Zhi Pao
Cheng) or throwing firecrackers into a walled-city.
This was about a Hakka village. Before the festival a collection of money
was made from the Hakka villagers. The money was for the prizes to the winners
of the competitors in the game.
On the night of Yuan Xiao Jie, an iron or a wooden bucket with many holes
was placed on a small platform of about 10 to 20 feet high supported by
bamboo rods. Many strings of firecrackers were put inside the bucket. Any
one from the village could take part in the game. Any person would light
a firecracker and throw it into the bucket. Whoever's lit firecracker lighted
the string of firecrackers inside the bucket that produced a chain of explosions
inside the bucket was the winner and received a prize. After the explosions
another bucket was placed on the platform to replace the damaged one. The
game could go on until there were no buckets and firecrackers left.
This is another one called "the Deaf Man's Fire-Cracker".
This is a story from the novel "紅樓夢 A Dream of Red Mansons".
In the middle of the first month, during the Lantern Festival, (Ancient
people called it 正月節 Zheng Yue Jie), a man carried a fire-cracker as
large as a house out of town to let it off. There were hundreds of people
following him to watch how he was going to let it off. One fellow was so
impatient that he set light to the fire-cracker.on the sly with a stick
of incense. Then - Whizz! - Bang!, the fire-cracker exploded. The crowd
roared with laughter and dispersed.
However, the man, who was carrying the fire-cracker, did not hear the explosion,
complained that:
"What a sloppy job the cracker-maker did!
How could it burst apart before being lit?"
Unfortunately, the man carrying the fire-cracker did not hear the bang
because he was deaf.
Chapter 54 from the book 紅樓夢 A Dream of Red Mansions.
There are quite a few stories of Lantern Festival in this chapter.
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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