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Yet another common legend of the chinese lantern Festival is a beautiful bird that flew from heaven to earth that was hunted and killed by villagers. This angered the Jade Emperor in Heaven as the bird was his favorite. He then planned a storm of fire aiming to destroy the village on the 15th lunar day. The Jade Emperor’s daughter heard of this, warning villagers of her father’s plan to destroy the village. The village was then in turmoil simply because no one knew how should they escape the village’s imminent destruction. A wise man from another village suggested that each family should hang red lanterns around their houses, set up bonfires on the streets, and explode firecrackers on the 14th, 15th, and 16th lunar days, giving the village the appearance of already being on fire to the Jade Emperor. On the 15th lunar day, troops were sent down from heaven, their mission was to destroy the village. They saw the village was already ablaze and returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor was satisfied and decided not to burn down the village. From that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on the 15th lunar day every year by carrying red lanterns on the streets and exploding firecrackers and fireworks.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Miscellaneous.