Ice lanterns are often seen in northern China in winter. Do you know how the ice lantern was invented

1. How did the ancients invent the ice lantern? According to legend, farmers or fishermen living in cold areas in ancient times used lanterns made of ice as lighting tools at night. At that time, the production process of ice lanterns was very simple. Just put the water in a wooden bucket and freeze it into ice cubes, cut a hollow hole, put an oil lamp or candle, and an ice lamp is finished. Later, some poor people, unwilling to be lonely and unable to afford lanterns, put ice lanterns in front of their doors during the Spring Festival or Lantern Festival.

Another folklore tells that in a village near the Songhua River in ancient times, lanterns were lit in front of the door to ward off evil spirits in the first month, but the paper cover of the lanterns was not strong, and when the wind was strong, they would be burned by the lights inside. So someone thought of a new trick, using ice as a lampshade to prevent the lamp from being blown out by the wind.

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Second, those things about ice lanterns need a cold climate, but ancient ice lanterns are not patented in the north.

"Old Wulin Stories" describes the city features of Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. "Wulin" is another name for ancient Hangzhou. According to the book, there was a scene of enjoying snow in the palace. In the palace, snow sculpture made snow lanterns, snow-capped mountains, or carved them into the shape of flowers, and then sent them to Mingyuan upstairs with golden pots for the king to enjoy. It can be seen that the "snow lantern" similar to the northern ice lantern appeared in the southern region of the Song Dynasty.

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In the Ming dynasty, the so-called "bonsai ice lantern" also appeared. This kind of ice lantern uses the roots of dead trees as the base, and casts dendritic popsicles on it, just like a tree carved with jade. In the Qing dynasty, ice lanterns could also be used as signboards. Some stores make ice into bottles or tripods, put burning lanterns in them and hang them high in front of the store. It's amazing.

During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a description of ice lanterns in Notes on the Outside of Heilongjiang written by Xi Qing, a Heilongjiang official. On the Lantern Festival, ice lanterns will be displayed with other lanterns for people to watch. Some ice lanterns are as high as five or six feet, and look like crystal people from a distance. People from ten miles and eight townships nearby come to see lanterns by car, and the sound of wheels keeps on all night, which shows that watching ice lanterns has become a part of Heilongjiang people's winter life.