What is the traditional festival culture in China?

China is a multi-ethnic country with a long history of five thousand years. In the historical process of continuous development, many traditional festivals with diverse forms, rich contents and unique features have been formed. Festivals are an important carrier of Chinese national spirit and emotion. Festival culture is deeply rooted in people's hearts and has strong and fresh vitality. After years of change, it has gradually become a valuable legacy of the splendid culture of the Chinese nation.

The origin and development of festivals is a process of gradual formation, perfection and infiltration into social life, and it is the product of the development of human society to a certain stage. The progress of social productive forces, the continuous improvement of people's living standards, and the emergence and frequent activities of religion provide the possibility for the emergence and development of festivals. The knowledge of astronomy, calendar and mathematics in Dawa, an ancient festival in China, is constantly enriched, especially the solar terms of the Lunar New Year, which were later divided, which are closely related to the emergence of traditional festivals. By the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the 24 solar terms in a year were basically complete. Solar terms provide a prerequisite for the emergence of festivals, that is, with the changes of seasons and time series in a year, people have formed different folk activities and sacrificial activities that represent people's good wishes when they are engaged in productive labor. Festivals are formed on this basis.

Most festivals in China were originally formed in the pre-Qin period, such as New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Shangsi, Cold Food Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day and Double Ninth Festival. However, the richness and popularity of customs have gone through a long development process. The earliest custom activities are related to primitive worship, superstition and taboo, and are linked with rich myths and legends, adding a bit of romance to the festival; Religious belief also has a certain impact and influence on festivals; There are also some historical figures who have been given eternal commemorative significance and integrated into the festival. All these are reflected in the content of the festival, which makes the festivals in China have a profound sense of history and rich cultural heritage.

By the Han Dynasty, the main traditional festivals in China had been basically finalized. The Han Dynasty was the first golden age after the reunification of China, with stable social, political and economic conditions and rapid development of science and culture. At this time, Qin culture, Chu culture, Qilu culture and other regional cultures with profound historical connotations have achieved historical integration and formed a cultural identity marked by the unified Han culture. This provides a good social condition and cultural soil for the final formation of the festival.

Festivals developed in the Tang Dynasty (6 18-907), liberated from the mysterious atmosphere of primitive worship and taboo, and turned into entertainment and ceremonial activities. Many sports and entertainment activities appeared and soon became popular. Since then, the festival has become cheerful, festive and colorful, and has become a real festive occasion. Due to the communication between ethnic groups, the exchange of festival culture has been promoted. With the development and wide spread of religion, the content of festival culture has been enriched. These customs have been developing and continuing.

Traditional festivals in China are not only an important part of folk culture and entertainment, but also an important opportunity for economic, trade and cultural exchanges. Almost every festival is a fair trading day and a cultural exchange day. In these festivals, farmers and craftsmen exchange various means of production, urban residents improve their material life, literati write poems and exchange exercises, and the state holds some large-scale sacrificial activities to establish moral etiquette standards for officials and people, giving play to the function of publicity and education.

The emergence and development of traditional festivals is a process of long-term accumulation and cohesion of national and national history and culture. There are many nationalities in China. In addition to some important traditional festivals of the Han nationality, the other 55 ethnic minorities also have their own unique national festivals and cultural customs. Modern people can clearly see the wonderful pictures of ancient people's social life through these festival customs, which have developed from ancient times and have been passed down to this day. In the process of personally experiencing, participating in and creating colorful festival culture, China's excellent national culture can be passed down and carried forward.

Due to the development of society and the progress of the times, people's ideological traditions, consumption concepts and life tastes have also undergone major changes. Therefore, the festival culture in China keeps pace with the times and brings forth the new. Today, some major traditional festivals, especially the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals and customs, are still widely followed. People not only inherit and develop the healthy content in traditional festival culture, but also give it new forms. And a few small festivals have gradually been forgotten by people and withdrawn from the daily life of ordinary people. In recent years, western festivals have quietly spread to China, and some "foreign festivals" such as Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day and Christmas provide China people, especially young people in large and medium-sized cities, with new ways to express their feelings.

With the continuous improvement of modern people's living standards and the gradual change of lifestyle, the way of celebrating festivals has also changed, pursuing the combination of tradition and fashion. A considerable number of ordinary people are no longer satisfied with sticking to traditional holiday habits, and begin to pursue simpler and more leisure ways to celebrate the holidays. The fresh content that can reflect the etiquette of China people has also entered people's choice field of vision. Internet and SMS have become new carriers for people to celebrate each other and express their good wishes. Festivals in China and China are getting more and more exciting.

The number of festivals in China is the highest in the world, so this book is limited in space and can only be introduced selectively. All these festivals tell the history of national and social development and decorate today's beautiful life.