Best Practices: Sample Visual Arts Residency, Background Information | Lesson | Teaching Tools | Introduction
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Chinese Lanterns
& the Lantern Festival Simple lanterns are
used in everyday life in China: to light the way home at night and to
hang on boats or outside shops and homes. More elaborate lanterns are
made for two major holidays in China: Lantern Festival and Midautumn Festival.
The lanterns for Midautumn Festival, or Moon Festival, come in fanciful
shapes such as animals, fruits, and flowers. The lanterns for Lantern
Festival often depicting historic or patriotic scenes painted on silk
Many have riddles on them, and part of the festivities is guessing the
riddles and writing poetry. The Chinese have celebrated
Lantern Festival since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-221 AD). Like all Chinese
festivals, Lantern Festival follows an agricultural cycle. Just as the
Chinese New Year comes during the winter, when farmers are unable to work
in the fields, Lantern Festival marks the conclusion of the Chinese New
Year season, when farmers begin preparing for spring planting. The festival
marks the return of light and spring. Some Chinese refer to the festival
as Shang Yüan and Hsiao Kuo Nien, the minor new year.
Lanterns are exhibited in markets throughout the Chinese New Year season,
which lasts for about two weeks. On the 15th day of the Chinese
new year, people all over the country make lanterns from wood, bamboo,
silk, and rice paper and carry them through the streets for the Lantern
Festival, which marks the conclusion of the Chinese New Year season..
After processing through the streets, participants assemble in a public
square to present and share their lanterns. Later they wait for the long
paper and silk dragon to come out of hibernation. The dragon is popular
during the New Year’s festivities because it symbolizes good fortune. Additional Resources: Goldstein, Peggy.
Lóng is a Dragon: Chinese Writing for Children (buy
it!) A.R.T.S., Inc. Chinese
Traditional Arts (buy
it!) For other books on
Asian Culture, visit our CARTS
Catalog Online
Chinese
Lantern Residency
Lanterns are an ancient
craft in China and are used in many festivals and in daily life. They
come in many shapes and sizes: there are lanterns called "pacing horses"
which spin when heated from the flame of a candle, lanterns as large as
houses, and lanterns shaped like animals. In Northern China, where winters
are cold, lanterns are sometimes carved from blocks of ice. Special red
lanterns are used for weddings and white lanterns for funerals. Children
in China also make lanterns at school and hang riddles on them.
The text below was adapted from books in our resource section. In particular,
Red Eggs and Dragon Boats: Celebrating Chinese Festivals, by Carol Stepanchuk.