Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month

(The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. The real name of "Dragon Boat Festival" is "Duanwu", which means the beginning. "Five" and "noon" are homophonic and universal. It is an ancient festival in China. After being exiled by slanderers, Qu Yuan, the earliest patriotic poet in ancient China, witnessed the increasingly corrupt politics of Chu State, and was unable to realize his political ideal and save the endangered motherland, so he threw himself into the Guluo River to die. Since then, in order to prevent fish and shrimp from eating their bodies, people have kneaded glutinous rice and flour into cakes of various shapes and put them into the heart of the river, which became the source of eating zongzi and fried cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom has spread abroad. )

Mid-Autumn Festival

August 15th of the lunar calendar

(August 15th of the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". At night, the moon is full in Gui Xiang, which is regarded by the old customs as a symbol of happy reunion. It is a festival to enjoy the moon by preparing all kinds of fruits and cooked food. Eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. According to legend, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to overthrow the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty, the broad masses of people wrote the date of the uprising on a piece of paper and put it in the stuffing of moon cakes, so as to secretly pass it on to each other and call on everyone to revolt on August 15th. Finally, on this day, a nationwide peasant uprising broke out, overthrowing the decadent Yuan Dynasty rule. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival has spread more widely. )

Double Ninth Festival

the ninth day of the ninth lunar month

(the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In ancient China, nine was the sun, and September 9 was the sun of the cloudy moon, hence the name "Chongyang". According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Runan people were in the shadow, they heard Fei Changfang tell him that there would be a great disaster in Runan on September 9, so they quickly asked their families to sew a small generation, put cornus in it, tie it on their arms, climb the mountain and drink chrysanthemum wine, so as to take refuge. On this day, the whole family climbed the mountain and went home at night. Sure enough, all the chickens, dogs and sheep in the family died. Since then, there have been folk customs such as making cornus's generation, drinking chrysanthemum wine, holding temple fairs and climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival. Because "Gao" and "Gao" have the same sound, there is a custom of eating "Chongyang cake" on the Double Ninth Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, the poet Wang Weiyou wrote a poem "on the mountain holiday thinking of my brothers in shandong": "Being a stranger alone in a foreign land, I miss my family twice every festive season. I know from afar where my brother climbed, and there was one less person in the dogwood. " Recorded the customs and habits at that time. Because of its sincere feelings, the poem has been well-known so far. )

winter solstice

November 22nd of the lunar calendar

(In ancient China, the winter solstice was attached great importance, and it was regarded as a big festival. There was a saying that the winter solstice was as big as a year, and there was a custom to celebrate it. "Han Shu" said: "The sun is shining on the winter solstice, and the monarch is long, so congratulations." People think that after the winter solstice, the days are getting longer and the sun's spirit is rising, which is the beginning of a solar cycle and an auspicious day and should be celebrated. It is recorded in the Book of Jin that "the Winter Solstice of Wei, Jin, was congratulated by all countries and hundreds of people ... its appearance was inferior to that of Zhengdan." Explain the importance attached to the winter solstice in ancient times.

Now, some places still celebrate the winter solstice as a festival. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep in the winter solstice, eating jiaozi and wonton, while the southern region has the habit of eating rice balls and long noodles in the winter solstice on this day. There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors on the winter solstice in various regions. )

Laba Festival

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month

(In ancient times, the sacrifice to the "gods" in December was called La, so the twelfth lunar month was called the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the old custom is to drink Laba porridge. Legend has it that Sakyamuni became a Buddha on this day, so every time the temple cooked porridge for the Buddha on this day, the folk followed suit and became a custom until today. )

New Year's Eve

Lunar New Year's Eve in December

(New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve. In addition, the original meaning is "go" and the extension is "change" [alternation]; The original meaning of the word "evening" is "sunset" and it is extended to "night". Therefore, on New Year's Eve, it means "the old year will be removed here, and the new year will be replaced tomorrow". "except" means to get rid of the old cloth and make new ones. New Year's Eve originated from the "expulsion" in the pre-Qin period. According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Ji Dong Ji, on the day before the New Year, the ancients used drums to drive away the "ghost of plague", so that the next year would be disease-free and disaster-free. This is the origin of "New Year's Eve" Festival. There were many nicknames for "New Year's Eve" in ancient times, such as "except night", "except by night", "except by year", "except by year", "except by year" and so on. Although there are many names, they always mean to send the old and welcome the new, and to eliminate diseases and disasters. )

Spring Festival

The first day of the first lunar month

(It is the first year of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "New Year's Day". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of about 4, years in China. It is the most lively and grand traditional festival among Chinese people. The Spring Festival in ancient times refers to the "beginning of spring" season in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar. It was not until the Northern and Southern Dynasties that the Spring Festival was changed to the end of the year, which generally refers to the whole spring. At this time, spring returns and Vientiane were renewed, and people took it as the beginning of a new year. In the early years of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911, after the lunar calendar was changed to Gregorian calendar, the first day of the first month was designated as the Spring Festival. It was not until September 27th, 1949 that the China People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the New Year on the first day of the first month as the "Spring Festival", so many people still call it the Spring Festival. )

Year: (Everyone often refers to celebrating the Spring Festival as "Chinese New Year", but the original meaning of "Year" is totally different from today. It is said that in ancient times, there was one of the most ferocious beasts in the world called Nian. It grows bigger than a camel. Run faster than the wind and roar louder than thunder. When it comes out, people eat people and animals are injured, and people's lives are seriously threatened. In order to punish Nian, the gods locked it in the deep mountains and allowed it to come out only once a year. In the long-term practice, people have found that Nian has three fears-fear of red color, fear of noise and fear of fire. So, one year on the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, everyone posted red paper at the door, kept beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers, and lit lights all night in the house at night. "nian" came to have a look at the evening, and every family was brightly lit; Hearing this, the sound of shooting everywhere scared it into the village. During the day, it sneaked down the mountain again, only to find that the door of every household was still red and drummed everywhere, which frightened it and turned around and ran back. Since then, "Nian" has never dared to come again. It is said that he starved to death in the deep mountains and forests. Later, people turned the prevention of "Year" and "Drive Year" into a safe and steady New Year. "Nian" is gone, but the custom of Chinese New Year remains. Bright red Spring Festival couplets, brilliant lights, crisp firecrackers, loud gongs and drums, year after year. )