Over the years, the Lantern Festival continues to be celebrated with different levels of pomp, in different circumstances. And thanks to the cultural influences of the Chinese culture on many Asian countries, it wasn’t long until this festival was celebrated in the rest of the Asian countries like Japan and Korea. Through the ages, the Lantern Festival soon turned into this very popular Chinese holiday. So, with the town spared, the people continued to commemorate the day in gratitude, and they kept on the colorful tradition of carrying colorful lanterns all across town.
Besides the bright lights from the lanterns, there also were firecrackers and also lighting fires that all fooled the emperor. The people heeded the advice of the fairy, and all the light from the lanterns fooled the emperor into thinking that the town had been engulfed in flames already. This emperor was quite angered after a certain town killed his goose, and in a plan to destroy the said city with fire, was thwarted by the fairy who went on to advise the people to light up lanterns throughout the town that the emperor planned to burn down, on the same day that the emperor planned to destroy the town. One legend around this festival and its origins point to the tales of the Jade Emperor called You Di. Since then, the practice still stands, and today, the Lantern Festival is one of the biggest Chinese celebrations. In this decree, the imperial palaces and all the individual households would celebrate the festival the same way the Buddhist monks did. Between 58 and 75CE, when the festival is believed to have started, the Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty was one of the Buddhist followers – at this time, Buddhism was quite popular across China, and so, Emperor Ming, being the ardent supporter of the Buddhist beliefs, and after learning that lighting of the lanterns was customary among the Buddhist monks decreed that the celebration would be marked throughout the nation. Later on, the rites and celebrations were adopted by the rest of the Chinese and later Asian population. Essentially, the Lantern Festival dates back centuries and is believed to have started during the reign of the Han Dynasty between 206 and 220BCE when the Buddhist monks lit up lanterns on the same day (15th day in the Chinese lunar calendar) as a way of honoring the Buddha.
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