It is a custom in Guangshan County, Huangchuan County, Shangcheng County, and Xin County of Xinyang City (except for Arrow River, Guojiahe and other places) to send lanterns to their deceased relatives at their own cemeteries on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Every year on this day One day, no matter how far away from home, people will find ways to return home, just to send a light in front of the grave of their loved ones to express their memory and gratitude to their ancestors.

There is a local saying that "the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is like the New Year" and "the fire of thirty, the lanterns of the fifteenth day" means that you don't have to go back to celebrate the New Year, but you must go back to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which shows the grandness of sending lanterns. .

Sending lanterns on the 15th day of the 15th is a unique traditional folk custom in the Guangzhou area (now Huangchuan County, Guangshan County, Shangcheng County, and Xin County of Xinyang City). The custom of sending lanterns is said to have started in the early Ming Dynasty. According to legend, this custom is related to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The custom of sending lanterns has become the most solemn ceremony to commemorate ancestors in Guangshan, Huangchuan, Shangcheng and Xinxian areas.

Extended information

Xinyang Food: Most of Xinyang is located south of the Huaihe River and north of the Yangtze River. It is a typical Jianghuai area and is the only area in Henan Province where rice is the staple food. The various eating habits and cooking techniques also have Jianghuai characteristics.

After thousands of years of accumulation and development, Xinyang cuisine is famous in 16 provinces and 56 cities across the country for its unique style of original flavor, freshness and crispness. Luoshan large intestine soup, mall bucket fresh fish, Xinyang spicy soup, Xinyang glutinous rice cake, Huangchuan Guangzhou tribute noodles, Huangchuan soft-shell turtle, Huangchuan Huanggang fish soup, egg-filled cakes, etc. Xinyang is rich in Nanwan fish, and Xinyang grilled fish has naturally become a famous snack in Xinyang.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Xinyang