ONDAY, February 14, the Chinese are celebrated the Teng Chieh (ff), usually known to foreigners as the Feast of Lanterns, which falls on the 15th Day of the Ist Moon, according to the old style Chinese lunar calendar.
This festival brings to a close the Chinese New Year holidays.
In the days before the advent of the Republic it was one of the most important festivals in China, and was always celebrated with a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement:
Originating in the Han Dynasty and one could well imagine that any~ (208 B.C—220 A.D.) as a ceremonial) body looking down upon such a scene worship in the Temple of the First from a height might be deceived into Cause, it Was not till the Tang period. believing that the place was on fire. some "800 years later, that lanterns Indeed, "so brilliant were the illu-were used in celebrating it and it ruinations it mattered little that there Became a joyous festival of the] was a full moon in the sky, it bein the 15th of the lunar month. Every people, There is a legend told concerning where the alr would be redolent with the reason for the use of lanterns, the pungent smell of burning gun-bonfires and Inter on fireworks in powder mixed with the more haunt-connection with: this festival, Ing aroma of incense and smouldering, cording to it the Lord of Heaven, sandal-wood, as the smoke and fumes. having. grown weary of the wicked-rose to high heaven, ness of the human race, decided to Crowded Streets destroy the earth with fire, choosing the 15th Day of the ist Moon for Always on the night of the Feast of the execution of his plan, One of Lanterns the streets, especially in the heavenly courtiers, learning of! the big cities, would be crowded with this momentous decision and fecting sight-seers drawn from every walk compassion for doomed humanity. of life. Even the wives, concubines Gescended to earth, where he went and daughters of the wealthy upper' about warning the people of their classes and gentry, most of whose' fate, Asked what they should do to lives were spent behind the high avert the impending catastrophe, ho walls of their palatial residences, advised, them to make the earth took! would be allowed out on this night og if it were already on fire on the' of: nights, and they might be seen night fixed for the holocaust. This packed tight in their Peking carts they did by displaying innumerable peering through the small square' Janterns and. lighting! many great Window or out of the open fronts, fires, so that when the appointed where sat the drivers and trusted executioner looked down from male attendants. Often the crow! heaven he was deceived into the! would be so as to make pro-belief that his work had already gress impossible, but always it was Been done for him. Accordingly he good natured crowd, bent on amuse reported to the Lord of Heaven that ment, his orders had "been carried out, 'A brief excursion through some of 'Thus was mankind saved, and ever the back streets of Shanghai during. after the Chinese people have com: the past few days has revealed the memorate their escape from a ter fact that the local Chinese population Bible' doom by re-enacting on the' appears to be preparing to celebrate anniversary of the fateful night the: the Feast of Lanterns this year as seenes which deceived Heaven and has not done for quite a considerable saved them from annihilation, No] period. Many small shops are filled mention will be found of this legend fo overflowing with gay lanterns, and in Couling's "Encyclopedia Sintea" large numbers of people have been or Werner's "Dictionary of Chinese seen buying these and parading them Mythology" or Juliet Broder through the streets in a way reminis-"Moon Year," but it exists all the leant of pre-Republican days. It takes more than a decade to eradicate same.
As time passed the original signlcustoms which have been practised cance of the occasion seems to have {or the best part of 2,000 years, Even been lost, and the lanterns, and bon-so, it is very much to be doubted fires, instead of being lighted tone ina hundred of the Shanghai avert catastrophe, became the People who will light lanterns, set off pression of a festive spirit of joyous reworks and fire crackers to-night ness and gaiety, the culmination of have any idea of just why they are fortnight of holiday making at doing so. Customs often persist long the commencement of the New Year after their criging have been lost, and Before the people returned to the this is particularly true in China, 9 drudgery and daily toil of their drab fact which helps to provide sino agists with a raison deter. Aves.
In Modern Days Since China became a Republic, the celebrating of the Feast of Lanterns has tended more and more to pass into the realm of forgot things, especially in the last ten years, since the Nationalist Government has been in power. The latter hag frowned upon the practice of indulging in ancient superstitions, and has tried to abolish the use of the old lunar calendar and its many' festivals, In former days, however. the Teng Chieh was without doubt the most picturesque of all the fes~ tivalg celebrated by the Chinese people.
'On the days and nights immediate-preceding It the youths of every city' and vitiate in China paraded the streets with Jong dragon-lanterns and illuminated floats, hobby-horses: and Hons, stopping at frequent inter vals to indulge in what might be Termed set dances in which the lagen-lanterns were made to per~ form wonderful evolutions and the floats, hobby-horses and lions to) whicl about in mad gyrations to the thythmie beat of drums, the clash of] cymbals and the wail and blare of trumpets, By daylight these per~ formances were impressive enough. wut at night they were truly specta~ enlas, On the final night the tivities of these celebrators would) be redoubled and carried on far into} the small hours of the following day.
The main streets would be literally fa blaze of light with huge bonfires every few yards and every shop thrown wide open and brilliantly. illuminated with gay autems every conceivable shape and design. often at street crossings or in open places in front of temples or official buildings pyrotechnical_ displays would take place, some of the set pieces being remarkable for their Ingenuity. The writer remembers seeing a reproduction, in green and mauve lights, of a grapevine grow Ing'on a trellis frame, the luscious bunches of fruit being perfect in their verisimilitude. Tockets, fire-foun~ taing, catherine wheels and fire crackers were set off on every hand,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.