The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that has existed since the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. The Lantern Festival began during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Emperor Ming promoted Buddhism and heard that Buddhist monks viewed Buddha relics and lit lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month. He ordered that lanterns be lit in the palace and temples on that night to worship Buddha, and that the nobles and common people hang lanterns. Later, this Buddhist ritual festival gradually became a grand folk festival. The festival has experienced a development process from the palace to the folk, from the Central Plains to the whole country.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was designated as the Lantern Festival. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities for the "Taiyi God" were set on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. (Taiyi: the god who dominates everything in the universe). When Sima Qian created the "Taichu Calendar", he had already designated the Lantern Festival as a major festival.

Another theory is that the custom of lighting lanterns during the Lantern Festival originated from the Taoist "Three Yuan Theory"; the 15th day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the Zhongyuan Festival, and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month is the Xiayuan Festival. The three officials in charge of the upper, middle, and lower Yuan are the heaven, earth, and man respectively. The heavenly official is happy, so lanterns must be lit during the Shangyuan Festival.

The duration and customs of the Lantern Festival have been extended and expanded with the development of history. In terms of the duration of the festival, it was only one day in the Han Dynasty, three days in the Tang Dynasty, five days in the Song Dynasty, and ten days in the Ming Dynasty, from the eighth day of the first lunar month to the night of the seventeenth day of the first lunar month. It is connected with the Spring Festival, and the market is bustling during the day, and the lights are lit at night, which is spectacular. In particular, the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, dragon dance, lion dance, dry boat racing, stilt walking, yangko dance and other "hundreds of performances" were added, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days.

There are several interesting folk legends about the origin of the Lantern Festival:

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts that hurt people and livestock everywhere, so people organized to fight them. A divine bird landed on the earth because it got lost, but was accidentally shot dead by an uninformed hunter. When the Emperor of Heaven found out, he was very angry and immediately issued an order, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the earth on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and burn all the people, livestock and property in the earth to death. The Emperor of Heaven's daughter was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see the innocent people suffer, so she risked her life and secretly came to the earth on a cloud to tell people the news. When people heard the news, it was like a scorching thunder above their heads. They were so scared that they didn't know what to do. After a long time, an old man came up with a solution. He said, "On the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth days of the first lunar month, every family should hang lanterns, light firecrackers and set off fireworks at home. In this way, the Emperor of Heaven will think that people have been burned to death."

Everyone nodded in agreement and went their separate ways to prepare. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Emperor of Heaven looked down and saw a red light and a deafening noise on earth. This continued for three nights. He thought it was the flame of a big fire and was very happy. In this way, people saved their lives and property. To commemorate this success, every fifteenth day of the first lunar month, every household would hang lanterns and set off fireworks to commemorate this day.

Another legend is that the Lantern Festival was established during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty to commemorate the "suppression of the Lü clan". After the death of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the son of Empress Lü, ascended the throne as Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Hui was cowardly and indecisive by nature, and power gradually fell into the hands of Empress Lü. After Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty died of illness, Empress Lü took control of the government and turned the Liu family's world into the Lü family's world. The old officials in the court and the Liu clan were deeply indignant, but they were afraid of Empress Lü's cruelty and dared not speak out.

After Empress Lü died of illness, the Lü clan became anxious and worried about being harmed and excluded, so they secretly gathered at the home of General Lü Lu to plot a rebellion in order to completely seize the Liu family's kingdom.

This matter reached the ears of Liu Nang, the King of Qi and a member of the Liu clan. In order to protect the Liu clan's kingdom, Liu Nang decided to lead an army to attack the Lü clan. He then contacted Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, two old ministers who had founded the country, and designed a plan to remove Lü Lu. Finally, the "Lü Rebellion" was completely put down.

After the rebellion was quelled, the ministers supported Liu Bang's second son Liu Heng to ascend the throne and named him Emperor Wen of Han. Emperor Wen felt that peace and prosperity were hard-won, so he designated the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, when the "Lu Rebellion" was quelled, as a day for celebrating with the people. Every household in the capital city hung lanterns and decorated houses to celebrate. From then on, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month became a folk festival celebrated by all the people - "Lantern Festival".

This legend is related to the custom of eating Yuanxiao: It is said that Emperor Wu of Han had a favorite minister named Dongfang Shuo, who was kind and humorous. One winter day, it snowed heavily for several days, and Dongfang Shuo went to the imperial garden to pick plum blossoms for Emperor Wu. As soon as he entered the garden, he found a palace maid in tears preparing to jump into a well. Dongfang Shuo hurriedly stepped forward to rescue her and asked her why she wanted to commit suicide. It turned out that the palace maid was named Yuanxiao, and she had parents and a younger sister at home. Since she entered the palace, she has never had the chance to meet her family again. Every year when the twelfth lunar month ends and spring comes, she misses her family more than usual. She feels that she can't be filial to her parents, so it's better to die. Dongfang Shuo felt deeply sympathetic after hearing her experience, and promised her that he would try to reunite her with her family.

One day, Dongfang Shuo went out of the palace and set up a fortune-telling stall on Chang'an Street. Many people rushed to ask him for divination. Unexpectedly, everyone's fortune was "burned by fire on the 16th day of the first lunar month". Suddenly, there was a great panic in Chang'an. People asked for a way to solve the disaster. Dongfang Shuo said: "On the evening of the 13th day of the first lunar month, the God of Fire will send a red-clothed goddess to investigate. She is the messenger who was ordered to burn Chang'an. I will give you the verses I copied, so that the current emperor can think of a solution." After saying that, he threw down a red note and left. The people took the red note and hurried to the palace to report to the emperor.

Emperor Wu of Han took it and saw that it was written: "Chang'an is in danger, the imperial palace will be burned, the fire will burn on the 15th day, and the flames will be red for supper." He was shocked and quickly invited the resourceful Dongfang Shuo. Dongfang Shuo pretended to think about it and said: "I heard that the God of Fire loves to eat glutinous rice balls. Doesn't Yuanxiao in the palace often make glutinous rice balls for you? You can ask Yuanxiao to make glutinous rice balls on the 15th night. Your Majesty, burn incense and offer sacrifices, and order every family in Kyoto to make glutinous rice balls and worship the God of Fire together. Then tell the subjects to hang lanterns together on the 15th night, light firecrackers and fireworks all over the city, as if the whole city is on fire, so that you can hide it from the Jade Emperor. In addition, notify the people outside the city to enter the city on the 15th night to watch the lanterns and mix in the crowd to avoid disasters and solve problems." After hearing this, Emperor Wu was very happy and ordered to do it according to Dongfang Shuo's method.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month, Chang'an City was decorated with lanterns and tourists were bustling about. The parents of the palace maid Yuanxiao also brought her sister to the city to watch the lanterns. When they saw the big palace lantern with the words "Yuanxiao" written on it, they shouted in surprise: "Yuanxiao! Yuanxiao!" Yuanxiao heard the shouts and finally reunited with her family. After such a lively night, Chang'an City was indeed safe and sound. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very happy and ordered that every 15th day of the first lunar month, glutinous rice balls should be made to offer to the God of Fire, and lanterns and fireworks should be hung throughout the city on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Because Yuanxiao made the best glutinous rice balls, people called them Yuanxiao, and this day was called the Lantern Festival.