The Lantern festival-“Shang Yuan Festival (上元節)” 英文版
二十四節氣的智慧故事Play Episode
內容描述
Happy New Year to everyone! I wish everyone had fun spending time with your family. After the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival comes next. The Lantern festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is the night of the first full moon of the year and the beginning of the yuan, the night when the Earth returns to Spring. This is why the people will celebrate it, and it is also a continuation of the New Year celebration.
The Lantern festival is also known as “Shang Yuan Festival (上元節)”. According to Chinese folk traditions, on this night, when the bright moon is high in the sky, people will light thousands of colorful lanterns, set off fireworks, go out to enjoy lanterns, carry lanterns, guess lantern rides, and reunite the whole family and celebrate the festival together. But why do people hang lanterns and set off fireworks during the Lantern festival? Let’s hear the story about the legend of the Lantern festival.
The story starts from a long, long time ago. There was a Jade Emperor in the sky, who was the biggest king of the sly. He kept a beautiful bird that he loved very very much. But one day, the bird lost its way because of it’s playfulness. It flew around aimlessly, over the mountains and over the sea. Finally, it was so tired, it landed in the human world. A hunter saw the bird and shouted “Wow! I’ve never seen such a beautiful bird before! I’ll shoot it down with a bow and arrow, and let everyone see it.” So, the hunter picked up his bow and shot the bird to death.
When the Jade Emperor found out about this, he was very angry. “How dare he! To shoot my beloved bird to death, this human hunter doesn’t know what’s coming his way. To think that I take care of human lives everyday. I let them eat well and dress warmly, let the world have good weather and good harvests. I didn’t expect them to do such a thing. I must punish them and set the world on fire! Burn everything down!”
The Jade Emperor’s daughter was a very kind princess. When she heard about this, she felt that the consequences would be unimaginable. She pleaded with the Jade Emperor: “Father, please calm down! The hunter didn’t know it was your bird. The humans are innocent! Please show mercy and don’t do this!” Although the princess was right, the Jade Emperor could not swallow his anger, so he decided to wait until the 15th day of the first lunar month to set the world on fire.
The princess could not bear for the humans to suffer such a big disaster, so she risked her life and secretly went down to the human world to warn the people. After hearing the news, everyone was so frightened, but they didn’t know what to do. After discussing it for a long time, they couldn’t think of a solution. At this time, an old man said: “How about this? During the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth days of the first lunar month, we hang big red lanterns at home, light firecrackers and set off fireworks. This way, the Emperor would think that the Earth was already burning, so he would not send anyone to set it on fire.” After listening to this idea, everyone thought it was very good and they all agreed. Then, everyone began to prepare for it.
On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Heavenly solders and generals were going to set fire to the human world. They looked at the human world and found that the entire Earth was covered in red light and said “Jade Emperor, the world is already burning with a fire, so we don’t need to set fire to it anymore.”
In the end, the people saved their lives and houses, so every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, every household would hang lanterns to commemorate peace.
This is the story of the origin of hanging lanterns and lighting fireworks during the Lantern festival. Now, during Lantern festivals, there are many activities related to lanterns. Especially in Taiwan, they hold a grand Taiwan Lantern festival with all kinds of large-scale lanterns that are very beautiful. Childrens and adults can all go together to enjoy the lights and take beautiful photos!
Wasn’t that an interesting story! We’ll see you next time, have a good holiday!