Traditional
Chinese Festivals Based on lunar calendar, traditional
Chinese festivals are an important part of traditional Chinese culture.
Most traditional festivals took shape during the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206
BC), the first unified and centralized feudal dynasty in Chinese
history. By the Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220AD), China had experienced
a great development period and major traditional festivals were
fixed. In the most prosperous Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD), traditional
festivals liberated themselves from primitive sacrifice and became
celebrations.
China is a multi-nationality country so different ethnic groups
also have their own festivals). The most popular festivals in China
are the Chinese New Year (the Spring Festival), the Lantern Festival,
the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid- Autumn Festival and etc. The Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring
Festival, which is most important festival in China. It falls on
the 1st day of first Chinese lunar month (in the late January or
early February). The historical reason for Chinese Spring Festival
is that it is the time for the people to take a rest and celebrate
after one year’s hard work. There was also a legendary story about
Chinese Spring Festival. A monster called “Nian” preyed on people
at the end of every year. People gathered to discuss how to deal
with him. Some people suggested that the demon was afraid of the
color red, fire and bamboo cracking noise. So they put red paper
on their gates, set off firecrackers and beat gongs to drive “Nian”
away. That really worked and “Nian” fled away. The custom of celebrating
the Spring Festival was passed down.
Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the
early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st
lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are
Spring Festival Eve and the first three days of the New Year.
On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba
porridge, a kind of delicious porridge made with glutinous rice,
millet, jujube, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.
The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Xiaonian. At this
time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. After the Xiaonian,
people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing
the New Year in".
Then people decorated and cleaned their houses before the New Year's
day that would add a jubilant atmosphere. All the door panels will
be pasted with Spring Festival couplets (Chinese calligraphy with
black characters on red paper). The content varies from house owners'
wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also,
pictures of the god of door and wealth will be posted on front doors
to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and good luck.
The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness)
is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or
upside down, for in Chinese the "reversed fu" is homophonic
with "fu comes", both being pronounced as "fudaole."
What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of
the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on windowpanes and
brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may
be put on the wall.
The time before the Chinese New Year is also a good occasion to
clear old debts. Traditionally, Chinese believed in self-sufficiency.
Owing debts to others was a disgrace, a notion unthinkable to people
in the modern world where credit is the common practice today. As
the New Year set in, owners of businesses and individuals would
start to settle their account and get ready to pay back their creditors
as much as possible if not in full.
People attach great
importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members
have dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes
such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese,
their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu"
and "doufu," mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness.
After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting,
playing cards or watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival
Party Program on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential
entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According
to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.
Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings
to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift,
wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi,
or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in
sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the
new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from
ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure.
Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice
flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher
and higher with one year after another." The first five days
after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends,
and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts
and chat leisurely.
Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring
Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive
away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially
forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise
and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some
buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little
balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts
to hang in the living room.
The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but also permeates
to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing,
dragon lantern dancing and temple fairs will be held for days. The
Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is
finished.
China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival
almost the same day as the Han people, but they have different customs. Chinese Lantern Festival
falls in the night of the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. The first
lunar month is called Yuan month and people called night Xiao in
the ancient time. Thus
the Lantern Festival is also called Yuanxiao Festival. On the lantern
Festival people could enjoy the full moon first time after the New
Year Festival. It is also the mark of the end of the Chinese Spring
Festival.
Till today, the lantern festival is still held each year around
the country. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the
streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made
or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited.
"Guessing lantern riddles" is an essential part of the
Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post
them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles,
they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check
their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The
activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song
Dynasty (960AD-1279AD). As riddle guessing is interesting and full
of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.
In the daytime of the Festival, performances such as a dragon lantern
dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking
on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. On the
night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful
scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival
and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments
will even organize a fireworks party. On the night
people would enjoy the full moon and set fireworks. Lantern Festival
is also Chinese Valentine’s Day. In the past, it was the only day
of the year that single women could go out and meet their lovers.
Now, many young people gather at the festival and have romantic
parties.
People will eat “yuanxiao”, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it
is also called the "Yuanxiao” Festival. "Yuanxiao” also
has another name, “tangyuan”. It is small dumpling balls made of
glutinous rice flour with sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut
meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can
be boiled, fried or steamed. It tastes sweet and delicious. What's
more, “tangyuan” in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”,
meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and
happiness for the family. The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one
of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6
each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and
rainfall increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing.
But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide
farm work; it is more a festival of commemoration. The Qingming
Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness. This is the
most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic
groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep
the tombs of the diseased. Also, they will not cook on this day
and only cold food is served. The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was
usually one day before the Qingming Festival. As our ancestors often
extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined. On each
Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came
to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries
becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified
today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers
and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and
bow before the memorial tablet. In contrast to the sadness of the
tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope
of spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the
sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature
is again lively. Since ancient times, people have.
Followed the custom of spring outings at this time tourists are
everywhere.
People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival. Kite flying
is actually not limited to the Qingming Festival. Its uniqueness
lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night.
A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look
like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."
The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival
rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past,
the Qingming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since
1979, "Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to
the Gregorian calendar. Duanwu Festival,Chinese Dragon Boat Festival with
a history over 2,000 years, it falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar
month. Usually it is in June in the Gregorian calendar.There are
many legend stories about the Dragon Boat Festival, the most popular
of which is in commemoration of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), who was minister
of the State of Chu and one patriotic poet. He submitted the King
his suggestions of political reforms to protect the country. But
the King thought he was a traitor. He was also excluded by his colleague
due to his upright characters. He was exiled by the King Chuhuai.
On the way he still worried about his country and people. When he
learnt that his country was occupied by State Qin. He was so miserable
and plunged himself into the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th
lunar month. After his death, the people of Chu gathered on the
bank of the river to pay their respects to him. The fishermen sailed
boat up and down the river to look for his body. People threw zongzi
(pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves)
and eggs into the water to feed fish and shrimps in case his corpse
was eaten.
Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held
all over the country. Folk tales say the game originates from the
activities of seeking Qu Yuan's body. But experts believe that dragon
boat racing is a semi-religious, semi-entertaining program from
the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). In the following thousands
of years, the game spread to a lot of Asian countries. Now dragon
boat racing has developed into a popular aquatic sport item, which
features both Chinese tradition and modern sporting spirit.
Traditionally before the race started, a ritual called awakening
the Dragon was performed. A Taoist priest touched the Dragon's eyes,
called eye dotting, in order to wake it up. After the race, a similar
ceremony was required to put it back to sleep again.
The multi-colored boats are decorated with fearful looking head
of dragon. The whole boat could measure up to 30 meters in length.
The crew consisted of 10-22 paddlers, a leader, a steersman, a drummer,
a flag waver and a hand clapper. The drummer and hand clapper set
the pace.
When starting accompanied by rhythm of drums racers in dragon-shaped
canoes pull the oars as one man and at full tilt toward their destination.
Zongzi is a popular food on the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said
that people ate them in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).
In early times, it was only glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in
reed or other plant leaves and tied with thread, but now the fillings
are more diversified, including jujube and bean paste, fresh meat,
and ham and egg yolk.
On Dragon Boat Festival, parents also need to dress their children
up with a perfume pouch. They sew
little bags with colorful silk cloth and fill the bags with perfumes
or herbal medicine, and finally string them with silk threads. The
perfume pouch will be hung around the neck or tied to the front
of a garment as an ornament. People hang moxa on the front door
and they also drink realgar wine in order to keep evil spirits away.
The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival,
is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. At this time, the moon's
orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear
brighter and larger than any other time of the year. In the Western
tradition, it is also called the Hunter's Moon or Harvest Moon.
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, it is also the exact middle
of autumn. To the Chinese, this festival is similar to the American
Thanksgiving holiday, celebrating a bountiful harvest. Compared
to many Chinese festivals that are inundated with vibrant colors
and sounds, the Mid-Autumn festival remains mild.
The festival has a long history. In ancient China, emperors followed
the rite of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and to the
moon in autumn. Historical books of the Zhou Dynasty had had the
word "Mid-Autumn". Later aristocrats and literary figures
helped expand the ceremony to common people. They enjoyed the full,
bright moon on that day, worshipped it and expressed their thoughts
and feelings under it. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Mid-Autumn
Festival was fixed which became even grander in the Song Dynasty
(960-1279). In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties,
it became a major festival of China. Moon's Festival There was also folklore about the
origin of the Moon Festival. In the remote age, Hou Yi was a great
archer and architect, who shot down nine extra suns that had suddenly
appeared in the sky and thus kept the earth from being scorched.
He also built a palace of jade for the Goddess of the Western Heaven.
For this, he was rewarded with elixir of immortality. His wife called
Chang E who was extremely beautiful. Out of her curiosity, she swallowed
the pills and in no time soared to the moon and became a permanent
resident there. Later people began to worship Chang E in the full
moon night.
To eat moon cakes is ubiquitous on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon
cakes are stuffed with a wide variety of fillings. Egg yolk, lotus
seed paste, red bean paste, almonds, pineapple, and coconut are
common, but walnuts, dates, and other fillings can be found as well.
Most have characters for longevity or harmony inscribed on the top.
Special cakes can reach almost one
foot in diameter. The moon cakes are round and they also stand for
harmony, peace and union.
There was a historical anecdote of eating moon cakes. The Mongol
Hordes of Genghis Khan subjugated the Chinese, and established the
Yuan Dynasty in the 13th Century. However, many Chinese resented
the fact that they were ruled by a foreign regime. In the 14th Century,
Zhu Yuanzhang organized uprising army to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.
He once used moon cakes to hide and pass the military message. Later
he became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Moon cake of course,
became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient
Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really knows.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the important occasion for the family
reunion. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant moon cakes of many
varieties with a cup of tea or wine. while the children run around
with their brightly lit lanterns. After nightfall, entire families
go out under the stars for a walk or picnics, gazing at the full
silver moon, thinking of their nearby relatives or friends, as well
as those who are far from home. A line from a verse "The moon
at the home village is exceptionally brighter" expresses those
feelings. It is also a romantic night for the lovers, who sit holding
hands on riverbanks and park benches, enraptured by the brightest
moon of the year.
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