This yearly ritual attracts throngs of people, young and old, to major exhibitions around the island. And it has helped to keep the tradition of lantern-making alive, even though only a few artisans maintain the craft as a profession. Lanterns also continue to retain their cultural identity outside festival activities. Throughout the year, they line the entrances of temples or decorate restaurants, teahouses, and even roadside snack stands.
The use of lanterns in Chinese culture can be traced some four thousand years ago to the Hsia dynasty, when people carried them to light their way in the dark. No records describing these early lanterns have been found, but it is known that they were called kou (簼), a character which contains the ideogram for bamboo. Cultural historians thus believe that they were made of bamboo strips, just as today’s lanterns are. And as paper had not yet been invented, they were probably covered with cloth.
The custom of the Lantern Festival is believed to have started during the Eastern Han dynasty (A.D. 58-75). When Emperor Ming converted to Buddhism, which was spreading through China at that time, he ordered that lanterns be lit through the night on the first full moon of the year to demonstrate the “illustriousness of Buddhism.” Later emperors maintained the ritual and eventually it became widely popular. During the Tang dynasty (618-907), the festival took on broader significance when twenty silk lanterns in the shape of houses were made in honor of Laotze, the founder of Taoism. Another famous Lantern Festival occurred during the Ming dynasty (1368-1398) when Emperor Chu Yuan-chang (朱元璋) sent ten thousand lanterns floating down the Chinhuai River when he set up his capital in what is now Nanjing.
Although today’s Lantern Festival has a largely secular air, lanterns continue to have a religious function. They are standard decorations at many Buddhist, Taoist, and folk temples. Often these lanterns are adorned with the characters for peace, or some other blessing. Some believers say that the light of the lanterns is linked with the idea of Buddhist salvation and enlightenment, and that the more lanterns one lights, the more one is spreading the teachings of the Buddha. Others believe that the light from the lanterns illuminates the way for the roving spirits of the many folk gods. Today, people often pay a fee of about US$20 to a temple, which will then keep a lantern lit throughout the year as a symbol of peace for an individual or family.
Lanterns also have a history as a symbol of learning. In early times, the Lantern Festival also marked the first day of school for the year. On that day, each student took a lantern to school for the teacher to light in order to illuminate the way to wisdom. The shining orb represented the child’s brilliant future. Even today, it is customary for parents to buy their children lanterns or for students to make lanterns to carry around during the Lantern Festival. Nowadays, however, children cherish the activity more for its fun than for its original meaning, and most prefer modern cartoon characters to traditional lantern designs.
For adults, lanterns are used for traditional riddle contests during the Lantern Festival. Each person in the competition, which might be held outside a temple or community center, gets a simple lantern decorated with strips of paper on which are written riddles, often based on a pun or classical literary reference. Those who solve a riddle win a prize. This tradition is believed to date back to the Eastern Chou dynasty (770-221 B.C.).
Because in many Chinese dialects, including Taiwanese, the word for lantern is a homonym for “man,” lanterns also function as a symbol for male heirs. For this reason, they were traditionally hung above a wedding bed to ensure that the newlywed couple would bear many sons. And women who did give birth to male children were supposed to hang a lantern at the temple or at their family’s ancestral shrine. By “adding a lantern,” they thus showed their appreciation and joy over “adding a son” to the family.
There are two styles of lanterns popular in Taiwan. One originated in Quanzhou, a city in southern China, and has a fixed frame of thin bamboo strips woven together. The Fuzhou style, also from southern China, is collapsible and looks similar to an umbrella when closed. Both types are covered with paper or cloth. The Quanzhou lanterns are popular among temples, while collectors prefer the umbrella style, which is sturdier and easier to store.
Ten colors are traditionally used for the background of a lantern cover, but white, yellow, and red are the most common. At one time, there were strict rules for using these colors: White lanterns, for example, were used for mourning ceremonies or to honor one’s ancestors at a family shrine. Yellow, as the color of royalty, was reserved for lanterns hung at palaces or temples. Red, the color of joy, was strictly for weddings or birthdays, and black was used to fend off evil spirits. While these rules still apply in general, they are often ignored by interior designers and collectors.