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China traditional festivals
| Spring Festival
Spring Festival is as important to Chinese as Christmas to westerns. It is the Chinese New Year, known also as "passing the
year" in Chinese, marking the most important and popular of all Chinese festivals.
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As early as the Xia dynasty (21-16 century B.C.), the first day of the first moon in the lunar calendar was known as the "head of year". But it was not until
the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.) that the day became a widely celebrated holiday. After the 1911 revolution, however, the Gregorian calendar officially replaced the traditional Chinese
calendar and the "beginning of the year" became known as the Spring Festival. In post-1949 China, the Spring Festival has become a national holiday which is celebrated throughout the
entire country.
Spring Festival Activities:
Latern Festival
It falls on the 15th day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The name of this festival is in fact derived from a Tang
dynasty(618-907) custom of hanging out lanterns on the night of the faestival. The Lantern Festival is also celebrated with round dumplings made of glutinous rice flour and filled with a variety of
sweet fillings, known as Yuan Xiao(literally "the night of the first full moon"), which is another name for the festival.
Pure Brightness
Also called as Tomb-sweeping Day, It is the occasion for all the Chinese to honor their
ancestors. As it is early spring and usually falls around April 4, it is usually breezy and drizzly. But urban dweller prefer to go to the countryside during the season.
Paying respects to the dead in the third month in lunar calendar is related to the custom of funeral. Sweeping tomb has been an
indispensable custom since Qin Dynasty.
Tomb-sweeping day is not only one of the twenty-four solar terms but also an old traditional festival. The day before tomb-sweeping day is called “Hanshi
Festival” which is also in the third month of lunar year. This festival is in memory of a famous minister of Jin kingdom during the Spring
and Autumn Period.
customs related to Pure Brightness Festival: not eating food, sweeping the tomb of ancestors, going out to surburb, having a swing, flying a kite,
cockfighting, and playing the ball, etc.
Dragon Boat Festival
| It falls on the 5th day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This festival was established in commemoration of Qu Yuan (c.340-278 B.C.),
a statesman and poet of the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). An official of the State of Chu, Qu Yuan was thwarted in his ambitions to save the country and threw himself into the Biluo River
when the State of Qin conquered Chu. Zongzi, glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, are served on the festival and Dragon Boat races are held, which are strenuous and become
popular in Southern provinces.
Traditonally the dragon boat festival is " Sanitation Festival " as well. On that day people would
sweep the floor in the yard, hang moxa, sprinkle arsenic sulphide on the floor and drink alcohol made of arsenic sulphide, in order to sterilize and defend illness.
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The Seventh Evening of the Seventh Month Festival
The seventh evening of the seventh month festival is originated from a touching tale. It is also called as " meeting of stars ". It is
said that a herd-boy from mundane world and a weaving-girl from heaven loved each other. They were separated by the Milk Road by the order of Wang Mu-the goddess ruling the heaven, and were
permitted to meet only once a year. The herd-boy and the weaving girl became the stars Altair and Vegra. They would meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year. People regarded the
date of wedding as " meeting of stars " so far.
The Double Ninth Festival
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is " The Double Ninth Festival ". It is a festival of field amusement. The customs of the
festival include: climbing the mountain, enjoying the chrysanthemum, drinking the wine made of mum, inserting see below and eating a kind of cake
The Double Ninth Festival is also The Graybeard Festival. The old people enjoy the chrysanthemum and climb the hill, which can build their body and exert a
favorable influence.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The festival falls on August 15 in the lunar calendar. Originally it is the when ppeople celebrate harvesting, and later it became a date when family get reunited
wherever family members are. The festival also related to a beautiful legend " Chang'e Ran to the Moon ".
In the remote past, there were ten suns in the sky, which fiercely roasted the land, and sea water getting dry. Men couldn't
make a living. For the sake of saving the local people, a hero named Houyi climbed up the Kunlun Mountain, he exerts all his strength to dragg the bow and shot down nine of the ten suns. People were
saved. After a few years, he married a beautiful woman named Chang’e.
One day, HouYi went to the Kunlun Mountain to meet his friend. He happened to encounter the queen of the heaven. He asked
her for amaranthine medicine, and the queen gave it to him. It was said that if one took the medicine he could become a immortal immediately. However HouYi didn't have the heart to leave his wife so
he gave the medicine to Chang'e.
Unluckly, an underling named FengMeng saw everything. When HouYi went out, he came to HouYi’s
home and bullied Chang'e gave the medicine to him. Chang'e knew that she couldn't beat FengMeng so she took the medicine. After taking the medicine, she felt her body flying in the air, at last she
fly to the heaven. Missing her husband very much, she fell on the moon because it is the nearest to the earth and thus she became the goddess of the moon.
When Houyi returned home, handmaids sobbed out everything to him. HouYi 's heart was broken. He looked up the sky and cried out
for his lover. Suddenly he found that the moon that night was so bright and round, and there was a swaying figures so much like his wife. He hurriedly asked the servants to put an incense burner
table with fruits and sweeties under the moon to memorize Chang'e. People learned about the message, they all put an incense burner table under the moon impetrating that Chang'e would bring them
safety and luck. From then on, holding a memorial ceremony at the Mid-Autumn Moon has become a traditon and spread throughout the country..
Laba
It falls on the 8th day of the twelfth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. Laba was originally a religious holiday in celebration of Sakyamuni's attainment of
Buddhahood. Buddhists of the Han nationality would make an offering to the Buddha of a steamed pudding made of rice and fruit called "Laba pudding". The holiday has long been
secularized and the pudding remains very popular.
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