"It is advocating that the sky is boiling with five gates, and the ten thousand torches in the lamp mountain are moving at dusk." Nearly a thousand years ago, the poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Ding You Shangyuan".

February 15th is the annual Lantern Festival again. Looking back at Lu You's poems, in his writings, the scene of bright lights and bright colors reflecting the sky seems to have crossed the time and space of thousands of years and appeared in front of people's eyes.

　　The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called the night "Xiao", so the fifteenth day of the first month was called the "Lantern Festival".

Because of the influence of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty, it is also called Shangyuan Festival.

On the night of this day, people enjoy lanterns, guess lantern riddles, and eat Lantern Festivals.

　　"The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is also the end of the Chinese New Year, because after the Lantern Festival, the year is over." Folklore expert Liu Xiaochang said that in Chengdu in the old days, this festival was extraordinarily lively, and the custom of lighting up the Lantern Festival has continued. For thousands of years, the Chengdu Lantern Festival is an ancient traditional folk activity in Sichuan.

In the poems of many ancient scholars and writers, you can see the lively scene of the lanterns during the Lantern Festival.

Lights up

Chengdu Lantern Festival in Song Dynasty is comparable to the capital

　　"The precious lights in the spring night are bright, and the incense of smoke floats in Jinli. The city is full of rushes, and the border is poor for thousands of miles. The embroidered robes together, the chariots and chariots are fragrant. The voices of the thunder are far away, and the fire trees and flowers are thick." He used to be the prefect of Chengdu. Tian Kuang once described the grand occasion of the Chengdu Lantern Market in the Song Dynasty in the poem "Shangyuan Lantern Night".

The lantern market was crowded and bustling, the street market was on fire, and the lights illuminated the night as if it were day.

　　Chengdu Lantern City has a long history. In the Yuan Dynasty, Chengdu people used to quote the records in the Tang Dynasty's "Fang Lan Jiu Ji" in "Sui Hua Ji Li Pu", saying that during the Anshi Rebellion, Tang Xuanzong came to Chengdu to avoid the disaster of war, and had a relationship with the Taoist master Ye Qingshan. Go to the street to watch the lights, and buy wine and drink in Fuchunfang.

It is still unclear which era the Chengdu Lantern Festival can be traced back to.

　　In the Northern Song Dynasty, the famous minister Zhao Peng once clearly recorded the December city of Chengdu in "Chengdu Ancient and Modern Collection", of which the first month is the lamp market.

According to the record of "Suihua Ji Lipu": "In the second year of Song Kaibao, he ordered Shangyuan to put on lanterns for three nights next year. It is normal for the year." It can be seen that the date of the lantern festival is usually on the night of Shangyuan, which is the Lantern Festival. .

Chengdu Shangyuan Festival lights up for three nights, which is very lively.

　　In addition, Volume 10 of "Guang Ji" in "Sui Shiguang Ji" contains: "Chengdu Fu Dengshan or over the front of the Que, on the top is Feiqiao Mountain Pavilion, followed by the prefect, and only three people visited the pavilions and pavilions, each with several cups. It is down. From the front of the drinking shed of the subordinates, such as the thorn basin of the capital, the wood is used as a wall, and the flowers are planted in it. It can be seen that in the Song Dynasty, Chengdu officials built mountain sheds, made changing and novel lanterns, and held lantern festivals. The lantern mountain was comparable to that of the capital.

　　"During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Lantern Festival in Chengdu became more lively. From this time on, the Lantern Festival has to be described with the word 'noisy'." Liu Xiaochang described that during the Lantern Festival, there are lights everywhere in Chengdu, and the people inside and outside the city also To come out and look at the lights.

Excerpts of Sichuan Opera include couples watching lanterns, telling stories about lantern watching, which is very popular among Chengdu people.

There are thousands of lanterns, and it is very lively.

"Li Diaoyuan's "Lantern Festival" poem in the Qing Dynasty said: 'The Lantern Festival competes to see the lotus-picking boat, the BMW incense car picks up the falling tin. The wind and rain are dead in the night, and the lonely lamp still calls for the sale of soup yuan.' This is the most appropriate for the Chengdu Lantern Festival. compliment."

lanterns all over the street

Uniquely shaped headlights come to life

　　In the 1920s and 1930s, on the day of the Lantern Festival, East Street, Daci Temple, Zhaojue Temple, Wenshu Monastery, Qingyang Palace and other places can see the scene of brilliant lights.

"Take Dongda Street as an example, from Dongmen Bridge to Yanshikou Shili Long Street has become a sea of ​​lights, and every household is decorated with lanterns." Liu Xiaochang said that there were not only street lights, but also a group of large group lights with strange shapes.

For example, a big business that sells porcelain uses large bowls, small bowls, cups, cups, and plates to form a two- or three-zhang-long magnetic dragon and a magnetic door tower, with lights in the middle and hanging lanterns.

The wealthy merchants who sell cloth use red cloth and yellow cloth to form hydrangea and tie them into the building crossing the street, which complements the red lanterns.

　　"All walks of life hang their products on lamps, not only as lanterns, but also as advertisements. It is like a paper shop to make some painted figures, such as "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Three Heroes Fighting Lu Bu", and "Taoyuan Yiyi". The colorful sculptures are placed in front of the door to attract past lantern viewers, which are very exciting and beautiful.” Liu Xiaochang mentioned in particular that in the past at the East Street Lantern Festival, there were also lanterns painted with all the characters of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. , more than 200 colorful lanterns hanging on the street, lifelike, showing the prosperity of Chengdu Lantern Festival.

Chengdu's lanterns attract thousands of people from inside and outside the city to watch.

"It is mentioned in "Furong Old Talks" that since the ninth day of the first lunar month, the streets are full of colorful lights. On the most prosperous East Street, the colorful lights are the most exquisite, from the street to the end of the street."

　　With the change of time, in the early 1950s, the Chengdu Lantern Festival was moved to the Qingyang Palace. It was held once a year and lasted for more than a month. Infinite and dazzling, lantern viewers often linger in the colorful sea of ​​lights.

Cover reporter Li Yuxin