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The story about the origin of the festival goes like this. Buddhism first entered China during the reign of Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty. That was in the first century. However, it did not exert any great influence among the Chinese people. One day, Emperor Mingdi had a dream about a gold man in his palace. At the very moment when he was about to ask the mysterious figure who he was. The gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in the west. The next day, Emperor Mingdi sent a scholar to India on a pilgrimage to locate Buddhist scriptures. After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures. Emperor Mingdi ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as a repository for the scriptures. Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness. So Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to become the Lantern Festival.
還有一種傳說認為元宵節與佛教有關。東漢明帝時期，佛教進入中國，這也是佛教首次傳入中國，然而，佛教并沒有對中國人產生多大影響。一日，明帝做了個夢，夢見皇宮里有個金人，正當他準備問清這個神秘人物的身世時，金人突然升入天空，消失在西面。次日，明帝委派一位學士去印度開始了他的取經之旅，經過幾千里的長途跋涉，學士終于帶回了經卷。漢明帝下令建造一所寺廟供佛雕安身、收藏經書。佛徒們相信佛能驅走黑暗，所以漢明帝宣昭他的臣民們張燈結彩，這樣就形成了“燈節”。
The custom of lighting lanterns continued. However, the lanterns would develop from simple ones to those of various color and shape. The scale of the celebration also increased greatly.
張燈的習俗得以延續傳承，然而，燈盞由簡樸到華貴，樣式繁多，慶賀的規模也愈來愈大。
