Spring Festival is the first day of the first lunar month, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year", which is the most grand and lively traditional festival among the people in China. The history of the Spring Festival is very long. According to "Pangu Wang Biao", "The Emperor of Heaven began to make the name of the main branch to determine the location of the year". In ancient times, the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors were held at the end of this year. Legend has it that Nian animals are afraid of red, fire and explosion, and they haunt on New Year's Day. Therefore, on New Year's Day, there are activities such as New Year greetings, hanging New Year pictures, stick grilles, setting off firecrackers, giving out red envelopes, wearing new clothes, eating jiaozi, dancing lion dragons, hanging lanterns and kowtowing.
2. Lantern Festival (15th day of the first month)
Also known as Shangyuan Festival, Little First Month, Yuanxi or Lantern Festival, it is the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is the first month of the lunar calendar, so the 15th day of the first full moon in a year is called Lantern Festival. In ancient customs, Shangyuan Festival (Tianguan Festival) _ Zhongyuan Festival (Diguan Festival, Oban Festival) _ Xiayuan Festival (Shuiguan Festival) are collectively called Sanyuan. Since ancient times, it has been dominated by the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns. Go out to enjoy the moon, set off fireworks, have solve riddles on the lanterns, eat Yuanxiao, pull rabbit lanterns, etc. In addition, there are traditional folk performances such as yangko dancing, playing with lions, walking on stilts, rowing dry boats and driving donkeys, among which House and Crane are the most famous!
3. Tomb-Sweeping Day (Gregorian calendar: around April 5)
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, is also called Big Cold Food in Xixiang, at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. "Huainanzi Astronomical Training" records: "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, when the handle of the big dipper points to the second position, the wind will be clear." The "Qingming" solar term got its name. It is a solar term determined by the ancients according to the phenomena of the sky and the cycle of the four seasons. On the occasion of spring in Qingming Festival, outing in the suburbs is the solar term theme of ancient people; With the development of history, it is also a clear custom to sweep graves and worship ancestors while hiking in the suburbs. Ancestor worship and outing are two major themes of Tomb-Sweeping Day's manners and customs. These two traditional themes of manners and customs have been passed down in China for thousands of years and have never stopped.
4. Dragon Boat Festival (Lunar calendar: the fifth day of May)
Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, also known as Duanyang Festival, Noon Festival, Tianzhong Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and so on. Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient folk festival, which originated from the totem festival held by the tribes who worshipped the dragon totem in Baiyue area in ancient times, and attached commemorative contents to commemorate Qu Yuan's suicide by jumping into the river, and finally formed the Dragon Boat Festival culture. On this day, people eat zongzi, put moxa sticks in every door and window, children wear wrist bands with five colors, and adults drink realgar wine, which means to eliminate plague and ward off evil spirits. This custom has been inherited to this day.
5. Chinese Valentine's Day (Lunar calendar: the seventh day of July)
Chinese Valentine's Day, also known as Begging for Qiaojie Festival, Seven Qiaojie Festival or Seven Sisters' Birthday, originated in China, and is a traditional festival in Chinese areas and East Asian countries. The festival comes from the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month (it was changed to July 7 of the solar calendar in Japan after the Meiji Restoration). Because the main participants in this day's activities are girls, and the content of the festival activities is mainly begging for skills, people call this day "Begging for Skills Festival" or "Girls' Day" and "Daughter's Day". On May 20th, 2006, Tanabata was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council, China.
6. Mid-Autumn Festival (lunar calendar: August 15th)
Also known as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and August Festival. On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, prevailed in the Song Dynasty, and became one of the traditional festivals in China with the same reputation as the Spring Festival in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national legal holiday since 2008. On May 20th, 2006, the State Council was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. The Mid-Autumn Festival has had customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, Yue Bai and eating moon cakes since ancient times, which have spread to this day and lasted for a long time. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a colorful and precious cultural heritage, with the full moon as a sign of people's reunion, as the sustenance of missing their hometown and their loved ones, and hoping for a bumper harvest and happiness.
7. Double Ninth Festival (the ninth day of September)
Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is called "Double Ninth Festival". People have the custom of climbing on that day, so Double Ninth Festival is also called "Climbing Festival". There are also sayings such as Double Ninth Festival, cornus and Chrysanthemum Festival. Because the homonym of "Jiujiu" on the ninth day of September is "for a long time" and has a long-lasting meaning, ancestor worship and activities to respect the elderly are often carried out on this day. The Double Ninth Festival and the three festivals of Chu, Qing and Meng are also the four major festivals for ancestor worship in traditional festivals in China. 20 12 years 128 February, the law clearly defines the ninth day of the ninth lunar month as the festival for the elderly.
8. Winter Solstice Festival Winter Solstice (solar calendar1around February 22nd)
Winter Solstice Festival Winter Solstice, also known as "Winter Festival" and "He Dong", is one of the twenty-four solar terms in China and one of the eight astronomical solar terms, which is opposite to the summer solstice. The winter solstice begins when the sun reaches 270 degrees of the yellow meridian, and it is around the Gregorian calendar1February 22nd every year. According to legend, the Winter Solstice was New Year's Day in the Zhou Dynasty in history, and it was once a very lively day.
9. New Year's Eve (the last day of the twelfth lunar month)
Because it often falls on the 29th or 30th day of the twelfth lunar month in the summer calendar, it is also called New Year's Eve, which is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. The people attach the most importance to it. Every household is busy or cleaning the courtyard, welcoming their ancestors home for the New Year, and offering sacrifices with rice cakes and three sacrifices.