China people now spend Christmas with almost fanatical enthusiasm, and Valentine's Day has quietly penetrated into the minds of countless young people, becoming another important festival besides the traditional festivals in China. Most people may not know the origin and significance of Valentine's Day. The following is just one of many legends about Valentine's Day.
In ancient Rome, February 14 was a festival to pay tribute to Jonah. Jonah was the queen of the Roman gods, and the Romans regarded her as the goddess of women and marriage. The following February 15 is called Lupsala Festival to show respect for other gods under the rule of Jonah.
In ancient Rome, the lives of young people and girls were strictly separated. However, on Lupsala Festival, boys can choose the name of a girl they love and carve it on a vase. In this way, during the festival, young people can dance with the girl of their choice to celebrate the festival. If the selected girls are interested in boys, they can always pair up and eventually they will fall in love and get married in church. Therefore, later generations designated February 14 as Valentine's Day.
In the west, Valentine's Day is not only the best time to express love, but also the best time to propose to the one you love. In this regard, Valentine's Day embodies the original intention of the ancient Romans to design this festival.
September 10 of Gregorian calendar is Teachers' Day in China.
Teacher's Day was established in the history of our country. 193 1 year, educators Taihe Cheng Qibao gathered in Nanjing Central University and issued a declaration, demanding "improving teachers' treatment, ensuring teachers' work and enhancing teachers' self-cultivation", and unanimously agreed that June 6 was Teachers' Day, also known as Double Six Days. Soon, the Kuomintang government first agreed to June 6th as Teacher's Day, and then changed it to August 27th (Confucius' birthday).
After the founding of New China, the Central People's Government resumed June 6th as Teachers' Day, and the Ministry of Education informed local educators to organize their own celebrations according to the actual situation. 195 1 year, the national education trade union was established, and educators were recognized as part of the working class. 1951April19, Minister of Education and Chairman of the National Committee of China Education Trade Union made a written statement, announcing that "May 1 International Labor Day" is also Teacher's Day. However, due to the lack of teachers on this day, the implementation result is not ideal. Especially after 1957, under the influence of "Left" thought, teachers were ignored, and Teacher's Day actually did not exist.
In recent years, our government has taken many measures to mobilize the whole society to respect teachers, improve their status and improve their working and living conditions. In order to further improve teachers' political and social status, form a social fashion of respecting teachers, knowledge and talents, and promote the development of education, according to the repeated suggestions of NPC deputies, CPPCC members and people from all walks of life, especially teachers from all over the country, and the experience of carrying out activities of respecting teachers and attaching importance to education in various places, the State Council held a seminar on June 5438+0985 65438+ 10/.
Keith. At the Sixth National People's Congress held on June 65438+1October 2 1 in the same year, a proposal on the establishment of Teacher's Day was passed, and it was decided that September of 10 would be Teacher's Day.
September 10 is designated as Teacher's Day because the activity of respecting teachers and attaching importance to teaching can create a good learning atmosphere for teachers and students. At the same time, there are few national festivals in September, which is convenient for all parties to concentrate on organizing activities, highlighting publicity and reporting, and promoting the formation of a good social trend of respecting teachers, attaching importance to education, respecting knowledge and respecting talents throughout the country.
The establishment of Teacher's Day indicates that teachers are respected by the whole society in our country. This is because the work of teachers largely determines the future of our country. Teachers' work is closely related to every family, every child, teenager and youth. Teachers play a great role in the development and progress of human society. Teachers are engineers who cast human civilization, disseminators and builders of human civilization. The continuity of the development of human civilization depends on the work of generations of teachers. A society, a country and a nation will suffer losses in the process of civilization if teachers do not work hard and effectively. Therefore, a history of civilization is inconceivable without teachers.
Since then, every year on Teachers' Day, teachers all over the country have celebrated their festivals in different ways. Through selection and reward, introduce experience and help solve practical difficulties in salary, housing, medical care and improving teaching conditions. Teachers' enthusiasm for education has been greatly improved.
The Double Ninth Festival is also called ascensiontide. On this day, people climb high and look far and miss their loved ones. As the poem says, "I miss my relatives twice every festive season." So how did the Double Ninth Festival come about?
It turns out that in ancient China, nine was called "Yang number" and the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, both of which were Yang numbers, so it was called "Chongyang". The Double Ninth Festival originated from a fairy tale in Taoism;
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a young man named Huan Jing in runan county, with both parents and a wife and a son. Although life is hard, you can get by with half a meal. Who knows, unfortunate things have come. There are plagues on both sides of the Ruhe River, every family is sick, and no one is burying bodies everywhere. This year, Huan Jing's parents also died of illness.
When Huan Jing was a child, he heard an adult say, "There is a god of plague living in Ruhe, who goes out for a walk every year. It takes the plague everywhere. Huan Jing is determined to learn from the teacher and destroy the evil for the people. I heard that there lived a big fairy named Fei Changfang on the southeast mountain, so he packed his bags and set off for the mountain to learn from his teacher.
Fei Changfang gave Huan Jing a demon-reducing dragon sword. Huan Jing got up early and went to bed late, dressed in Dai Yue, and practiced day and night. Another year in a blink of an eye. Huan Jing was practicing sword that day when Fei Changfang came forward and said, "On September 9th this year, the plague god of Ruhe will come out again. Hurry back to your hometown and kill people. I will send you a bag of dogwood leaves and a bottle of chrysanthemum wine to let the elders in your hometown climb the mountain to avoid disaster. " Xianweng said, "Just point your finger, and a crane spreads its wings and lands in front of Huanjing. Huanjing boarded the crane and flew to Runan.
Huan Jing returned to his hometown and called the villagers. Tell everyone what daxian said. On September 9, he led his wife, children and fellow villagers to a nearby mountain. Cornus officinalis leaves are divided into pieces, saying that they can be carried with you, so plague demons can't get close. Then pour out the chrysanthemum wine, and everyone pecked it, saying that drinking chrysanthemum wine would not catch the plague. After arranging the villagers, he returned home with his dragon sword to subdue the demon, sitting alone in the house, waiting for the arrival of the plague demon and struggling to subdue the demon.
After a while, I heard Ruhe roaring and the strange wind spinning. The god of plague came out of the water and walked ashore through the village. There is no one in thousands of families. Suddenly, he looked up and saw people gathering on the high mountain. It jumped to the foot of the mountain and only felt the pungent smell of alcohol. Kaunus was so anxious that he couldn't climb near, so he turned around and walked to the village. I saw a man sitting in the room. Just shout and jump forward. Huan Jing saw that athel Loren was coming, so he drew his sword to fight. After several rounds, Mo Wen fought with him, but he ran away. Huan Jing threw the dragon sword out with a whoosh, only to see the sword flashing cold light chasing the plague demon and throwing it to the ground through his heart and lungs.
Since then, the people on both sides of the Ruhe River have never been harmed by the plague demon. The story of climbing a mountain on September 9 to avoid disaster and stabbing a demon to death with the sword handed down from generation to generation has been passed down from son to grandson and has been passed down to the present. Since then, people celebrate the Double Ninth Festival and have the custom of climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival.
The Double Ninth Festival is near late autumn, the atmosphere is cool, the air is fresh and the visibility is high, which is probably why people choose to climb high and overlook!
"Yuan" has the meaning of beginning, "Dan" refers to the time of dawn and also refers to a day. New Year's Day is the first day of the year. The word "New Year's Day" comes from Xiao Ziyun's poem "Jieya" in the Southern Dynasties: "Four Qi New Year's Day, long life." Song Wu's "Liang Lumeng" Volume 1 "First Month" entry: "The first day of the first month is called New Year's Day, and the custom is called New Year's Day.
The month and date of New Year's Day in China are inconsistent. Xia Dynasty is the first day of the first month, Shang Dynasty is the first day of December, and Zhou Dynasty is the first day of November. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the first day of October was New Year's Day, and it has not changed since then (Historical Records). In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian founded the "taichu calendar", and once again took the first day of the first month as New Year's Day, just like the provisions of the Xia Dynasty, so it was also called "Li Xia", which was used until the Revolution of 1911. After the founding of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen followed the farming season in order to "do well in summer"; From the Gregorian calendar, so statistics ",the first day of the first month (the first day of the New Year) is designated as the Spring Festival, and the Gregorian calendar 1 is the New Year.
In modern times, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first year of the year. Since the Gregorian calendar was introduced into China, the word New Year's Day has been dedicated to the New Year, and the traditional old calendar year is called the Spring Festival.
Before that, New Year's Day always refers to the first day of the Chinese New Year. Yuan means "early" and "beginning", but it means "day". New Year's Day is called "the first day" and is the first day of the year. 1On September 27th, 949, the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference decided that "the people of China and the national calendar should adopt the AD calendar method", which is what we call the solar calendar. In order to distinguish between the two New Years, and in view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar is just around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month is changed to "Spring Festival" and the solar calendar is January.
Celebrating the beginning of the new year and celebrating the new year can be said to be a common custom in all countries and regions of the world. In China, it is also listed as a national holiday. China and most countries and regions in the world adopt the Gregorian calendar, and set 65438+ 10/0 as the beginning of the new year, which is called "New Year's Day".
Because the longitude position of different countries in the world is different and the time of different countries is different, the date of "New Year's Day" is also different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, is located on the west side of the Japanese boundary. It is the first place in the world to start a day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, to the east of international date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day. According to the Gregorian calendar, China is the first 12 country in the world to start the New Year.
Introduction of Dragon Boat Festival:
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a traditional folk festival in China-Dragon Boat Festival, which is one of the ancient traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival and Duanyang. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Noon Festival, Chongwu Festival, May Festival, Magnolia Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day and Dragon Boat Festival. Although the names are different, on the whole, the customs of people everywhere are more similar than different.
Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of China people for more than two thousand years. Due to the vast territory, numerous nationalities and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names are produced, but also different customs exist in different places. Its contents mainly include: daughter going back to her mother's house, hanging Zhong Kui statue, welcoming the ghost boat, hiding in the afternoon, sticking leaves in the afternoon, hanging calamus and wormwood, traveling in all diseases, wearing sachets, preparing sacrificial bowls, dragon boat races, competitions, hitting the ball, swinging, drawing children with realgar, drinking realgar wine, drinking calamus wine, eating poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, have made new progress, breaking through the boundaries of time and region and becoming international sports events.
There are many opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; In memory of Wu Zixu's theory; In memory of Cao E; From the three generations of summer solstice festival; The theory of exorcising evil days on the moon, the theory of national totem sacrifice in wuyue and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 100 ancient books and archaeological studies by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is a totem festival held by Wuyue people in the ancient south of China, earlier than Qu Yuan. However, for thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so people "cherish it and mourn it, talk about it in the world, and tell it through the ages." Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan.
Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival among the people of China.
The Origin and Legend of Dragon Boat Festival;
Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Dragon Boat Festival has many origins and legends. Here are only the following four:
Commemorating Qu Yuan
According to the historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Tian Wen, which have a unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he was always reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he died in Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds.
After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Commemorating Wu Zixu.
The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Wu Zixu, a famous Chu national, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to Wu to help Wu to attack Chu, and entered the capital city of Chu in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was already dead. Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 bodies to avenge his father's murder. After the death of He Lu, the king of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high and he was defeated by Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, made peace, and Fu Cha agreed. Zi Xu suggested the complete elimination of Yue, but Fu Cha didn't listen. Wu was massacred and bought by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers. Fu Cha believed him and gave him a sword. Zi Xu died. Zixu, a loyal minister, feels like death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Jason Wu, watching the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." Then he killed himself. Fu Cha was furious after hearing this. On May 5th, he wrapped Zixu's body in leather and threw it into the river. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
In memory of the dutiful daughter Cao E.
The third legend of Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E who saved her drowning father in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old, crying day and night by the river. 17 days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and fished out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument for disciple Han Danchun to make a eulogy.
The tomb of the filial daughter is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and there is a monument made by Jin. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
Totem sacrifice originated from the ancient Yue nationality.
A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that in the Neolithic age, there was a cultural relic with geometric prints and pottery ruins in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the remaining clan is Baiyue clan, a clan that worships dragon totem in history. The decorative patterns and historical legends on unearthed pottery show that they have the custom of tattooing constantly, live in a water town and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Among its production tools, there are a large number of stone tools, as well as small bronzes such as shovels and chisels. As daily necessities, the printed pottery ding used for cooking food is unique to them and is one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still more than 100 Vietnamese people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival for their ancestors. During thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have integrated into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival for the whole Chinese nation.