Lighting up the Lunar New Year
by Danny Wong, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 21, 2012, Saturday
FESTIVE: Peter with his family members at his outlet.
Hanging up lanterns or tanglung to decorate the home or business premises is a must for most Chinese families here in conjunction with the Lunar New Year celebration.
The use of lanterns dates back to 250 BC, where lanterns became a way to diffuse harsh torchlight. Over time it became a decorative object, and today has purely ornamental purposes, hung up at the main entrance of the house or business premises to invite prosperity, longevity and good luck.
According to Tiong Chuang, a dealer who sells various types of lanterns, lanterns symbolise vitality, social status and good luck.
POPULAR: Tiong with his booth at Stat Mega mall offering colourful Vietnam Lanterns.
Tiong, who also sells Vietnamese lanterns, especially the UFO variety, said that he would decorate his house each year during the Chinese New year celebrations, paying particular attention to the entrance of the house.
“Without them for this auspicious occasion, I really don’t feel like celebrating the new year. It is a must for me as it has done wonders for me: over time, I have felt much more at ease or felt that my life was going smoothly with my business improving.”
He went on to say that the Oriental lantern was also a form of art with its various delicate designs which indicated vitality, good luck and prosperity.
Tiong mainly sells Vietnamese lanterns, which he favours for its variety of colours.
His penchant for Vietnamese lanterns began during a recent trip when a Vietnamese friend introduced him to the lanterns on a recent trip to the country.
One thing led to another, and he set up a booth in Star Mega mall to sell these varied balloon shape lanterns or UFOs of various colours and illuminating lights that send a signal of good luck and prosperity.
According to him, wealthy or well-to-do Chinese Vietnamese would splurge on these
colourful lanterns to hang up at their homes or business premises in time for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
Another dealer, Peter Tiong who usually sells oval-shaped Chinese lanterns said that it was “an ancient Chinese tradition dating back many years ago to put up lanterns to decorate our homes or business premises to celebrate Chinese New year.
“Without such a tradition, it is apparent we are not appreciating or celebrating the Chinese New Year which is an important occasion for the Chinese to rejoice and start anew in the year ahead. And to hope for peace, smooth life and prosperity,” he said.
Today, the Chinese paper lantern is a popular party decoration the world over for its colourful and festive look. But it has a rich, historic tradition in its land of origin that is steeped in symbolism.
Historically, Chinese lanterns were a way to protect their only available light source—the naked flame—from windy weather.
According to chinatravel.com, the precursors to Chinese paper lanterns might have been torches carried on the eve of the Chinese New Year by Buddhist monks as early as 250BC.
Monks carried these torches at night in the hopes of spotting the ethereal figures of the Buddha and his bodhisattvas. Soon, commoners began making lanterns with frames of bamboo, redwood or wire and covering them with thin, oiled paper, gauze or silk.
Today, lanterns are largely unchanged in design, though paintings of historical or heroic figures, divinities, and landscapes on the paper are popular.
According to chinatownhi.com, the Chinese Lantern Festival has taken place on the first moon of the new Lunar Year, or the 15th day of the New Year, since 230BC.
People gathered en masse in the streets and raised lanterns after nightfall in an attempt to see their deceased loved ones passing over on their journey to the heavens.
Today this festival is also known as the ‘Second New Year’, and celebrations feature elaborate lanterns with scenes or riddles painted on them. All people, from the cities to the countryside, string hundreds of lanterns across streets and around their homes.
Emperors of the Sui Dynasty, from 581 to 618AD, displayed colorful paper lanterns during parades to welcome foreign dignitaries.
These lanterns became a fixture in Chinese culture during the following Tang Dynasty, from 618 to 907AD. The nobility used them for lighting at palaces, and eventually the lanterns became a sort of folk art.
People often displayed them during festive occasions, and hung them on doors at night to ward off evil or bring good luck. They were also used to light the way for nighttime travelers before the days of streetlights.
The Song Dynasty, from 960 to 1279AD, was a time of great innovation in China, and a new style of lantern was designed.
The ‘zouma deng’ or ‘spinning’ lantern, because of its merry-go-round motion as it lifts through the air is a feat in simple, yet efficient engineering. Shaped like a miniature pavilion with upturned eaves, the inner wire shaft is fitted with paper vanes. The heat current from the lit candle within rotates the shaft, setting the paper cutout in a spinning motion.
Over the next several centuries, Chinese lanterns were used as a means of communication between neighbours. A red lantern, symbolising vitality or energy, signifies a new birth or marriage.
Blue lanterns, symbolising declining energy, are displayed when someone in the home is ill. White lanterns are used when a house is in mourning, to symbolize eliminated energy, or death.
The size and elevation of lanterns hanging outside homes indicate the dwellers’ social status. Wealthy homeowners often display very large silk or velvet lanterns that require several men to hang. Rural folks often display homemade paper lanterns.
Today the Chinese lantern is used in festivals, especially in Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Festival.
During these events, streets in big cities and small towns are decorated with red lanterns. The best places to view lanterns during the aforementioned festivals include Beijing, Hong Kong and Nanjing. In Beijing, temple fairs are held in various venues of the cities where red lanterns hang everywhere around these venues.
While the earliest Chinese lanterns were created for use in the home and for use as entrance-way lighting, it was quickly discovered that the lantern made an excellent “flashlight”, or portable lighting medium. Historical experts believe that the first such “flashlight” was in fact the Chinese lantern.
Typical also for ancient Chinese society was its penchant for grand celebrations, where the artistic expression of the individual was harnessed for the common good.
One such celebration is the Lantern Festival, aka Little New Year, in recognition of the fact that it is the culmination of the Chinese New Year festival.
Though there is no longer a practical rationale for the Chinese lantern (modern lighting is far superior to the old-fashioned oil lamp), the Chinese lantern is still made – and used and enjoyed! – by Chinese people, including by the Chinese diaspora, but it is also made, used and enjoyed by peoples everywhere, as the Chinese lantern continues to be a
vehicle for personal artistic expression, both in terms of functionality, design and embellishment.
Chinese New Year celebrations close with a festival dedicated to this iconic symbol. Around the world, the round, red lantern remains one of the most easily recognised trademarks of Chinese culture.
