Honolulu Star Bulletin. Friday, February 8, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor
If your Chinese grandpa came to Hawaii from China, He probably celebrated the Lantern Festival held on the two days of the full moon of the first month (February 13 and 14 of 1957).
The Lantern Festival is no the big event in Honolulu today that is in China, where it is part of the 18 days of the Spring Festival.
The Chinese pray for the "homeless spirits" during that festival in obedience to the instructions of the Lord Buddha to ask the Buddhas to intervene for the spirits of those ancestors who did not have the opportunity to hear his teachings.
For Buddhists, this festival compares in importance with the Full Moon Festival of the seventh month which the Chinese call the Ghost Festival and the Japanese the Bon Festival.
The Ghost Festival is held to welcome the spirits of the dead who are believed to come back to earth at that time.
The Lantern Festival as it is celebrated in China may be Buddhist in origin, but like all other great festivals, it is confused with T'aoist mythology.
In China a great parade is held on the evening of the 15th in honor of the moon goddess. The parade ends at her temple where the offerings are made in the belief that she will intercede for the ancestors.
Chinese societies compete for honors in constructing beautiful floats lighted with rows of lanterns for the parade.
They are built on a platform carried on the shoulders of 12 men. Outside the carriers are other men with torches made of woven bamboo wrapped about a burning rope.
Chinese houses are decorated with lanterns within and without. Rich people have the lanterns arranged so that they twirl constantly.
The streets are gay with people carrying lanterns in the shape of a hare or rabbit. Each rabbit lantern has pink eyes and is lighted with a candle from within which shines through the rabbit eyes.
Some rabbit lanterns are carried; others are drawn about the streets by a string.
The hare or rabbit is believed to be the spirit of the Moon Goddess as she appears on earth.
NEXT: Gift giving
If your Chinese grandpa came to Hawaii from China, He probably celebrated the Lantern Festival held on the two days of the full moon of the first month (February 13 and 14 of 1957).
The Lantern Festival is no the big event in Honolulu today that is in China, where it is part of the 18 days of the Spring Festival.
The Chinese pray for the "homeless spirits" during that festival in obedience to the instructions of the Lord Buddha to ask the Buddhas to intervene for the spirits of those ancestors who did not have the opportunity to hear his teachings.
For Buddhists, this festival compares in importance with the Full Moon Festival of the seventh month which the Chinese call the Ghost Festival and the Japanese the Bon Festival.
The Ghost Festival is held to welcome the spirits of the dead who are believed to come back to earth at that time.
The Lantern Festival as it is celebrated in China may be Buddhist in origin, but like all other great festivals, it is confused with T'aoist mythology.
In China a great parade is held on the evening of the 15th in honor of the moon goddess. The parade ends at her temple where the offerings are made in the belief that she will intercede for the ancestors.
Chinese societies compete for honors in constructing beautiful floats lighted with rows of lanterns for the parade.
They are built on a platform carried on the shoulders of 12 men. Outside the carriers are other men with torches made of woven bamboo wrapped about a burning rope.
Chinese houses are decorated with lanterns within and without. Rich people have the lanterns arranged so that they twirl constantly.
The streets are gay with people carrying lanterns in the shape of a hare or rabbit. Each rabbit lantern has pink eyes and is lighted with a candle from within which shines through the rabbit eyes.
Some rabbit lanterns are carried; others are drawn about the streets by a string.
The hare or rabbit is believed to be the spirit of the Moon Goddess as she appears on earth.
NEXT: Gift giving
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