文档介绍：Time Origin celebrate History The 15 th day of the 1 st lunar month The Lantern Festival is on the 15 th day of the first lunar ( 农历)month 。 Because the first lunar month is called Yuan month according to Chinese calendar ,we also call the Lantern Festival Yuan Xiao Festival .It is closely related to the Spring Festival . There exsists many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with religious worship. One of the most popular legends tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine orpestilence (瘟疫) upon human beings. Yangdi By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days . The emperor also lifted the curfew (宵禁令) , allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. In the Song Dynasty , the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns. ZhaoKuangyu History 3 The largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days . Emperor, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). ) had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. ZhuYuanzhong History 4