#Chinese lantern lights full#

Later, Sky Lanterns or Kongming Lanterns were widely used to pray when people wrote their wishes on the lanterns' surface and sent them to the sky on important festivals or memorable occasions. Sky Lantern was invented by Zhuge Kongming (181 - 234) to send messages and mislead enemies when he and his army were enclosed in a war. Sky Lantern or Kongming Lantern - Military and Pray Prominent families usually use these status lanterns with power, respected reputation, and wealth, which could be hung in front of every gate of their mansions or held by their family members and servants. In history, lanterns that write with the master's family name, political position, or titles had been used as an essential way to show one's identity and status. Status Lantern or Zixing Deng - To Show Identity and Social Status Liu Zhuang (28 - 75), the Emperor Ming of Han, commanded to hang and light lanterns in his imperial palace and temples to worship Buddhas and promote Buddhism.Įither way, the Chinese lantern and Lantern Festival originated in the imperial Han palaces and soon spread to the civilian world. In this grand ceremony, countless lanterns would be lightened from dusk till the following day to illuminate the imperial palace.

#Chinese lantern lights full#

Liu Che (156 BC - 87 BC), the Emperor Wu of Han, started to worship Tai Yi Shen, the most honorable and paramount deity of heaven during that period, on the first full moon in the new year. Liu Heng (202 BC - 157 BC), the Emperor Wen of Han, set the festival to memorize the success of having defeated a rebellious scheme that was initiated by the family of Empress Lv (the first queen of the Han Dynasty, the wife of Emperor Liu Bang), to honor peace and loyalty.

In different versions, the festival was believed to be under the command of one of these three emperors of Han: The Lantern Festival on the 15th of January on the Traditional Chinese Calendar, when every family would hang creative and beautiful lanterns the whole night, also came from the Han Empire.