What are the times, origins and customs of traditional festivals in China?

Time: the first day of the first lunar month.

Origin: The origin of ancient traditional festivals is related to ancient primitive beliefs, sacrificial culture, astronomical phenomena, calendars and other humanistic and natural cultural contents.

Custom: During the Spring Festival, it is everywhere, such as posting New Year greetings, observing the old age, having a reunion dinner, and paying New Year greetings. However, due to different local customs, the nuances have their own characteristics. The folk customs of the Spring Festival are diverse and rich in content, which is a concentrated display of the essence of China people's life and culture.

2. Lantern Festival

Time: the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Origin: The formation of Lantern Festival custom has a long process. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty. The activity of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to worship Taiyi in Ganquan Palace on the "Xin Night" in the first month was regarded by later generations as the first time to worship God on the fifteenth day of the first month.

Custom: As far as the length of festivals is concerned, there is only one day in Han Dynasty, three days in Tang Dynasty and five days in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, lights were lit from the eighth day until the seventeenth night of the first month. This is the longest Lantern Festival in the history of China. Connected with the Spring Festival, the day is the city. Very lively and spectacular.

Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, there were more "hundred operas" such as dragon dancing, lion dancing, dry boating, walking on stilts and yangko dancing, but the festival period was shortened to four to five days.

3. Tomb-Sweeping Day

Time: April 5, Gregorian calendar.

Origin: Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, which originated from ancient ancestral beliefs and spring sacrifices.

Custom: Tomb-Sweeping Day has incorporated the custom of forbidding fire and cold food in the Cold Food Festival in its historical development. According to legend, the Cold Food Festival was established in the Spring and Autumn Period to commemorate the Jiexiu, a loyal minister of the State of Jin. In folklore, the Cold Food Festival is related to Jie tui.

4. Mid-Autumn Festival

Time: August 15th of the lunar calendar.

Origin: Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena, and evolved from the worship of the moon in autumn night in ancient times.

Custom: On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom of lighting lanterns to help the moonlight. Nowadays, there is still the custom of piling tiles and burning lamps on towers in Huguang area. Jiangnan has the custom of making lantern boats.

5. Double Ninth Festival

Time: the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

Origin: The origin of the Double Ninth Festival can be traced back to ancient times. According to legend, Chongyang is the day of enlightenment in Yuan Di.

Custom: In the process of historical continuation, the Double Ninth Festival is a traditional festival in China, which combines many folk customs and cultural connotations. Celebrating the Double Ninth Festival generally includes traveling to enjoy the scenery, climbing high and looking far, watching chrysanthemums, picking Chinese herbal medicines, planting dogwood everywhere, holding old-age banquets, eating double ninth cake, keeping in good health with medicinal wine, drinking chrysanthemum wine and other activities.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Double Ninth Festival

Baidu Encyclopedia-Mid-Autumn Festival

Baidu Encyclopedia-Tomb-Sweeping Day

Baidu Encyclopedia-Lantern Festival

Baidu Encyclopedia-Spring Festival