Lanterns are like earthly stars, they shine in the dark night, dispelling the darkness and chasing away the fears lurking in it and giving us hope in the literal and figurative sense.
It is impossible not to love them. Lanterns make our evenings not only safer, but also more comfortable.
They are lit late in the summer, and they look like good friends keeping up a conversation with their mere presence. And in winter they instill in us the confidence that no darkness is eternal, after the night comes day and winter will surely leave, the snow will melt and spring will come.
In our tradition, a lantern is just a structure or object that illuminates the road, allowing you not to get lost on the way. A home lantern, or rather, a flashlight, will help, if necessary, look into a dark place, for example, under a bath or a pantry, in order to find or fix something.
But in the East, lanterns are treated not only with respect, but also with reverence. Holidays are dedicated to them, poetry is written in honor of them and romanticized in every possible way. Although we are also not devoid of romance and our poets have poems dedicated, for example, to the lanterns of fireflies.
They are also mentioned in the ordinary poetry of our poets. For example, Alexander Blok has “Pharmacy, street, lantern”.
But still, we are far from the high love, for example, of the Chinese and Japanese, for lanterns and torches.
The month of February in Japan can be safely called the month of lanterns, it is February that gives one after the other holidays dedicated to lanterns.
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On February 3, in the city of Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, the Kasuga Shrine celebrates Mandoro - Lantern Lighting. This holiday is dedicated to the arrival of spring.
Again, in February, many cities in the northern provinces of Japan host the Snow Lantern Festival, which came to Japan from China.
It is believed that the souls of ancestors in the New Year, in order to celebrate the holiday with their families, return from the other world to the earth, and on the holiday of lanterns they return back. Relatives who remain on earth light many lanterns that illuminate the path so that the souls of the ancestors do not get lost.
In China, the Lantern Festival - Deng Jie - became popular in the 10th century. It begins on the night of the 15th of the first moon, and is called "the first night holiday" - Yuanxiao jie and "the holiday in honor of the first full moon" - Shanyuan jie.
According to legend, the custom of lighting colorful lanterns on this night owes its appearance to the Emperor Mindi from the Han dynasty, who was an adherent of Buddhism, a religious teaching that spread in China in the 3rd century BC.
Once the emperor learned that the monks have a tradition to meditate on the relics of the Buddha on the 15th of the first month and light lanterns as a sign of respect to him. After that, the emperor decided to follow the example of the Buddhist monks and, as a sign of respect for the Buddha, ordered that lanterns be lit in his palace and in temples that evening in the evening.
So this ritual Buddhist holiday, having taken root in the palace, also migrated to the homes of ordinary people and spread throughout China, becoming a national celebration.
On the 13th day of the new year, the Chinese begin to prepare for this magical holiday by hanging lanterns.
The 14th day of the new year is the day of the "lantern test", everything that is possible is lit with lanterns.
And the 15th is the "Main Day of Lanterns". The whole city is illuminated with lanterns, the light of lanterns is pouring from everywhere, from where, only possible and even impossible.
Residents of the city go out into the street that evening and admire the beauty, multicolor and originality of millions of colorful lanterns of various shapes and sizes. And, of course, a tribute is given to the masters who created this miracle indescribable in words.
Many lanterns are true masterpieces of art; they are decorated with carvings, beads, and have the shape of various animals, including mythical ones, such as dragons. Some flashlights glow from the inside and make sounds.
The most popular are red lanterns, because in China they symbolize happiness, success, prosperity and all other benefits of earthly life.
Lots of traditional paper lanterns painted with traditional Chinese motifs.
A candle can burn inside the flashlight, and under the influence of air moving inside, the flashlight rotates.
Today's lanterns are also colored with electricity.
On this festive evening and this night, the city is as bright as day from the light of countless lanterns. And smiling people everywhere.
And also during the lantern festival, the Chinese, like their ancestors, love to make riddles, and they post up pieces of paper with questions throughout the house. And they invite their guests to try to solve riddles. Riddles can also be written on lanterns around the house. Passers-by are invited to guess them using books containing works of Chinese classics.
The answers are written on the other side of the piece of paper.
The one who decided that he knew the correct answer, names it, then rips off a piece of paper and checks his answer against the written answer.
Traditionally, during the Lantern Festival, the Chinese steam, fry and boil glutinous rice balls with a variety of fillings of fruits, nuts, meat, vegetables, which they treat each other.
In order for the whole year to be successful, according to legends, it is imperative to take a walk under the moon on this night. The light of the first moon gives good health and good luck in all matters.
During the holiday, huge drums are beaten, rattles and gongs are used. Festivities and traditional Chinese dances, dance with lanterns in the form of a fiery dragon or lion, performances on stilts are held on the streets.
And also a holiday of lanterns, this is a time to meet friends and relatives.
The 16th and 17th days are "days of burning out of the lanterns"; in the evening and at night, the streets of the city are still lit by the multicolored lanterns.
Day 18 is called "day of the removal of the lanterns." The holiday ends, the lanterns are removed from the streets and buildings. Those that have not been sold out are removed until next year.
It is probably hard to imagine a person who would be indifferent to lanterns. They remind one of us of childhood, others inspire a romantic mood.
And who knows, maybe each of us would not hurt at the end of winter to light our own magic lantern for happiness and love.
Author: Natalia N Antonova