The origin of traditional festivals

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month

(The fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is the "Dragon Boat Festival". The original name of "Dragon Boat Festival" is "Duan Wu", and Duan means the beginning. "Five" It is an ancient festival in my country that is homophonic with "noon". After Qu Yuan, the earliest patriotic poet in ancient my country, was slandered and exiled, he witnessed the increasingly corrupt politics of Chu State and was unable to realize his political ideals and was unable to save his perilous motherland. , so he threw himself into the Miluo River to die for his country. After that, in order to prevent the fish and shrimp from eating his body, people kneaded glutinous rice and flour into various shapes and threw them into the river. This became the custom of eating rice dumplings and fried cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival. Source. This custom has spread abroad)

Mid-Autumn Festival

The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month

(This day falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. In the middle of the moon, it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". At night, the full moon is fragrant and the old people regard it as a symbol of reunion. They should prepare various fruits and cooked foods. It is also a festival to eat moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to legend, in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to overthrow the brutal Yuan Dynasty, the people wrote the date of the uprising on notes and put them in moon cake fillings so that they could secretly pass them on to each other, calling on everyone to finally revolt on August 15th. On this day, a nationwide peasant uprising broke out, overthrowing the decadent rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Since then, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival has become more widespread)

Double Ninth Festival

The ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar

(The ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. In ancient my country, nine was the yang, and September 9th was the yin, moon, and yang day, so it was called "Double Ninth Festival". According to legend, Runan people in the Eastern Han Dynasty Huan Ying heard that Fei Changfang told him that there would be a great disaster in Runan on September 9th. He quickly asked his family to sew a small generation with dogwood inside, tie it to his arm, climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and take refuge. Huan Jing's family went hiking on this day and returned home at night. Sure enough, all the chickens, dogs and sheep in the family died. From then on, there were folk customs of making dogwood sacrifices, drinking chrysanthemum wine, holding temple fairs, and climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival. "" has the same sound as "cake", so there is also the custom of eating "Double Ninth Cake" during the Double Ninth Festival. Wang Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, has a poem "Remembering Shandong Brothers on September 9th": "I am a stranger in a foreign land alone, every festive season "I miss my loved ones even more. I know from afar that my brothers are climbing high, and one of them is missing a dogwood tree." It records the customs and habits of that time. Because of the sincerity of the poem, it is still popular today.)

Winter Solstice

Lunar Calendar November 22

(In ancient my country, the winter solstice was taken very seriously. The winter solstice was regarded as a major festival. There was a saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the new year", and there was a custom of celebrating the winter solstice. " "Book of Han" says: "The Yang Qi rises during the winter solstice, and the king is in charge, so congratulations." People believe that after the winter solstice, the days are getting longer day by day, and the rising Yang Qi is the beginning of a solar cycle and an auspicious day, which should be celebrated. "Book of Jin" records that "the winter solstice in the Wei and Jin Dynasties was praised by all nations and officials... its ceremony was inferior to that of Zhengdan." This shows that the ancient times attached great importance to the winter solstice.

Now, some places still regard the winter solstice. It is celebrated as a festival. In the north, there is the custom of slaughtering sheep and eating dumplings and wontons during the Winter Solstice. In the south, there is the custom of eating winter solstice rice balls and winter solstice noodles on this day. Various regions also have the custom of worshiping heaven and ancestors on the winter solstice. )

Laba Festival

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month

(In ancient times, the "gods" worshiped in December were called Laba, so the twelfth lunar month was called the twelfth lunar month. The twelfth lunar month On the eighth day of the lunar month, it is an old custom to drink Laba porridge. It is said that Sakyamuni attained enlightenment and became a Buddha on this day, so the temple would cook porridge to offer it to the Buddha on this day, and it has been a custom among the people until today.)

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve in the twelfth lunar month

(The night of New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve. The original meaning of "Chu" is "to go", which is extended to "Yi" [alternate ]; The original meaning of the word "Xi" is "sunset", which is extended to "night". Therefore, New Year's Eve means "the old year is gone, and tomorrow will be replaced by the new one". Meaning. New Year's Eve originated from the "driving away" in the pre-Qin period. According to "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Ji Dong Ji", the ancients used drumming on the day before the New Year to drive away the "ghosts of epidemics and disasters" so that they would be free from evil spirits in the coming year. This is the origin of the "New Year's Eve" festival. In ancient times, "New Year's Eve" had many other names, such as New Year's Eve, Zhuchu, Suizhu, Daji, etc., but they are all the same. It means to see off the old and welcome the new, to get rid of diseases and eliminate disasters)

Spring Festival

The first day of the first lunar month

(It is the first day of the year in the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Big Day". Year". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of more than 4,000 years in our country. It is the most lively and solemn traditional festival among Chinese people. The ancient Spring Festival refers to the "beginning of spring" among the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. After the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Spring Festival was moved to the end of the year, and it generally refers to the entire spring. At this time, the earth returns to spring and everything is renewed. People regard it as the beginning of a new year. After the lunar calendar changed to the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the first lunar month was designated as the Spring Festival. It was not until September 27, 1949 that the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the first day of the first lunar month as the "Spring Festival", so many people still regard it as the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival is called New Year.)

Nian: (Everyone often calls the Spring Festival "New Year", but the original meaning of "Nian" is fundamentally different from today's. It is said that in ancient times, the world There is one of the most ferocious beasts in the world called "Nian". It grows bigger than a camel, runs faster than the wind, and roars louder than thunder.