How many festivals are there in China?

Most of the important traditional festivals are related to the calendar system. A new book by Ms. Li Lulu, a researcher at the National Museum of China, entitled Chinese Festivals - Illustrated Traditional Folk Festivals (Fujian People's Publishing House, 2005), summarizes the more important traditional festivals in China into 20, of which 16 come from, or are related to, the meeting of the sun, moon, and seasonal seasons: the Spring Festival, the Lichun Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Zhonghe Festival (February 2), Shangshi Festival (March 3), Qingming Festival, Tian Kuang Festival (June 6), Summer Solstice Festival, Tanabata Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chung Yeung Festival, Winter Solstice Festival, all of which are related to the rhythm of the seasonal time and weather; and a few of which have nothing to do with the seasonal time and weather on the surface, such as Duanwu Festival, Lahai Festival (the first eight days of December), Zaosi Festival (the 23rd days of December), New Year's Eve Festival, which, after detailed investigation of the ancient system, is also related to the seasonal time and weather. Folk beliefs believe that May is a poisonous month, and the fifth day of the month is also a poisonous day, with five poisons, i.e. snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards and toads. This month is plagued with disasters, and even the birth of children are back to the early death, so we must take all kinds of ways to prevent, to avoid the five poisons is the "Dragon Boat Festival" of the original intention. Lapa, sacrificial stove and New Year's Eve Festival, are the Spring Festival's "companion festival", naturally, is also related to the time, while the remaining four festivals on the seventh day of the first month of the "Festival of Human Victory," the eighth day of April, "Bathing Buddha Festival" (Sakyamuni's birthday) in July. (Sakyamuni's birthday) on the 15th of July, the "Mid-Yuan Festival (Ghost Festival)" and the "Xia-Yuan Festival (Birthday of the Water Palace Emperor)" on the 15th of October, are derived from legends, deification and religion. The legal holidays in China are: New Year's Day (January 1), a one-day nationwide holiday; Chinese New Year ( Lunar New Year), a three-day national holiday; International Working Women's Day (March 8); Arbor Day (March 12); International Labor Day (May 1), a three-day national holiday; Chinese Youth Day (May 4); Nurses' International Day (May 12); Children's Day (June 1); the anniversary of the birth of the ****anufacturing Party of China (July 1); and the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (August 1) Teachers' Day (September 10); National Day (October 1), a three-day national holiday; Journalists' Day (November 8) China's New Year's Day is rumored to have begun in Zhuan Xu, one of the three emperors and five emperors, with a history of more than 3,000 years. The term "New Year's Day" first appeared in a poem in the Book of Jin: "Zhuan Di took the first month of Meng Xia as the first month of the year, which was actually the spring of the first month of the year". During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Xiao Ziyun's poem "Jie Ya" also has the record of "four seasons of the new New Year's Day, the first spring of life". >>> China's major traditional festivals include the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition, all ethnic minorities also keep their own traditional festivals, such as the Dai's Water Festival, the Mongolian Naadam Assembly, the Yi's Torch Festival, the Yao's Danu Festival, the Bai's March Street, the Zhuang's Song Wei, the Tibetan's Tibetan New Year and Wangguo Festival, and the Miao's Flower Jumping Festival, etc. The Spring Festival is the first time of the year for the Chinese people to celebrate. The Spring Festival is the first traditional festival of the year for Chinese people. In the past, the Spring Festival was called the "New Year" because it was the first day of the first month, the beginning of the new year, according to the lunar calendar that has been used throughout Chinese history. According to records, the Chinese people have been celebrating the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years, and it was started by Yu Shun. On a day more than 2,000 years B.C., Shun became the son of heaven and led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, this day has been regarded as the first day of the year and is considered the first day of the first month. This is said to be the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival, and after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, when China adopted the Gregorian calendar, the Lunar New Year was renamed the Spring Festival (around late January to mid-February on the Gregorian calendar). During the Spring Festival, families put up Spring Festival couplets, post New Year's paintings, and decorate their homes. The night before the Spring Festival is called "New Year's Eve" and is an important time for family reunions, when the whole family gathers for a sumptuous "New Year's Eve Dinner"; many people stay up all night to "observe the New Year". The following day, people start to pay "New Year's Greetings" to the homes of their friends and relatives, greeting each other and wishing all the best for the new year. During the Spring Festival, traditional recreational activities such as lion dances, dragon lantern dances, rowing dry boats and stilt walking are the most common. >> Spring Festival Customs >> Spring Festival Food Customs >> Spring Festival of Ethnic Minorities >> Traditional Islamic Festivals: Gurban Festival >> Spring Festival Customs of Various Ethnic Groups >> Spring Festival Food Customs of Minorities >> Spring Festival Sporting Activities of Ethnic Minorities >> The 15th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar is the Lantern Festival. It is also known as the Lantern Festival, the first full moon after the Spring Festival. This is the first full moon night after the Spring Festival. Legend has it that Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (179-157 years ago) to celebrate Zhou Bo in the first month of the fifteenth survey leveled the chaos of the Lü, every night, will be out of the palace to play, with the people with the music, and the first month of the fifteenth as the Lantern Festival. Sima Qian created the Taichu Calendar, which listed the Lantern Festival as a major festival. Since the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties, it has been even more popular. "Sui book - music Zhi" day: "Whenever the first month, all the countries to the court, stay until the 15th in the Duanmen outside the Jianguo Gate, stretching eight miles, the play for the theater", to participate in the song and dance tens of thousands of people, from dusk to dawn, to the obscure and finished. When with the changes in society and the times, the Lantern Festival customs and habits have long had greater changes, but is still a traditional Chinese folk festival. During the Lantern Festival, it is customary to eat Lanterns and watch lanterns. Lanterns are made of glutinous rice flour, covered with fruit and sugar filling, and are round in shape, symbolizing "reunion". The Lantern Festival began in the first century A.D. and is still practiced throughout the world today. Every Lantern Festival night, many cities held lanterns, displaying a variety of colored lanterns, modeling novelty, thousands of forms; in the countryside, it is held recreational activities, such as fireworks, stilt walkers, playing dragon lanterns, twisting rice-planting songs, swinging and so on. >>> Zhonghe Festival in the second month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as dragon head. At this time is just before and after the hibernation, spring returns to the earth, everything is recovering, hibernation in the soil or cave insects, snakes and beasts will wake up from hibernation, the legendary dragon also woke up from the slumber, so the name of the dragon carries the head. In ancient times, the dragon was a sacred symbol, so the dragon to expel pests. In the Ming Dynasty, it was popular to smoke insects, and on February 2, people would fry the remaining cakes from the New Year's Day sacrifice in oil to smoke the beds and kangs, which was called smoking insects. In the countryside, the people with grass ash winding around the house in a circle, and then into the yard around the water tank in a circle, in the lead back to the dragon. Interestingly, the food and drink on this day are also named after dragons. Eat dumplings called eat dragon ear, eat spring cake in eat dragon scales, eat noodles called eat dragon beard, now the "dragon beard noodles" is probably the name. Children shave their heads and cut their hair on this day, called "shaving the dragon's head". Women do not move the needle and thread on this day, it is said to avoid hurting the dragon's eye. There are also candles to light the walls of the house, "February 2, light the beams, scorpions and centipedes have no place to hide," the saying. However, this festival has been forgotten, but eating spring cakes and other customs still exist. >>> Qingming Festival Tomb Sweeping and Ancestor Worship Around April 5 for the Qingming Festival. Qingming Festival is also known as the ancient March Festival, has a history of more than 2000 years. Around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar for the Qingming Festival, is one of the twenty-four solar terms. Among the 24 solar terms, only Qingming is both a solar term and a festival. The Qingming Festival was originally a festival to worship ancestors, but nowadays more activities are carried out on this day to visit the tombs of martyrs and pay tribute to the martyrs. At the time of the Qingming Festival, the weather turns warm, the grass is budding, people often go to the countryside in groups to trekking, kite flying, enjoy the spring, so the Qingming Festival is sometimes called "trekking festival". >>> Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu) is a festival that commemorates patriotic ancestors on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which is known as the "Dragon Boat Festival". The "Taiping Yuban" volume 31 cited the "customs" has "midsummer end five, end, the beginning of the" sentence. It is generally believed that it was created to honor the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan (about 340 BC - before 278 years) is the warring states period chu people, he was unable to realize his political ideals, but also unable to save the fall of the state of chu, when the qin state after the destruction of chu, the fifth day of may hold the stone thrown into the bioluo river self-sinking; riverside people know, they have been driving a boat to salvage the body of qu yuan. To commemorate the great patriotic poet, later generations set this day as the Dragon Boat Festival. Every this festival, folk with incense bags, eat zongzi, dragon boat race custom. Fragrance bag that Qu Yuan's moral integrity such as the Xin posthumous art, the ancient fragrance: zongzi originally to prevent the fish to Qu Yuan's body to eat, and then become a festival food, rowing the dragon boat said to go to rescue Qu Yuan. >>> The seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, known as the "Tanabata", is the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden will meet every year. Is the night, Chen melon fruit in the court, girls knot colorful wisps, wear seven holes needle. It is said that the one who finishes first is the most skillful. "Begging for coincidence festival", but also due to the participation of girls, it is called "girls festival". >>> Zhongyuan Festival in the lunar calendar on the 15th of July. It is the birthday of the legendary official, so it is also known as the "Ghost Festival". Buddhists on this day to set up the "Bon", give fasting for monks, held chanting and Buddhist rituals, as well as water and land dojo, river lanterns and other religious activities. In China, the Bon Festival was first organized around the time of Emperor Wu of Liang (in the first half of the sixth century). Nowadays, it is rare to see "Bon" in folklore, but the custom of releasing river lanterns is still passed down in some areas. Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar and is also known as the "Festival of Reunion". The 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the "Reunion Festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient imperial rites of sacrificing the moon in the fall. Since the Wei, Jin, Tang and Song dynasties, it has gradually evolved into a custom of enjoying the moon. The term "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first used in the book "Zhou Li", and the real national festival was formed in the Tang Dynasty. It is rumored that the formation of this important festival of the Chinese nation is related to the story of "Emperor Tang Ming Huang's dream of visiting the Moon Palace". In ancient times, every Mid-Autumn Festival, people used refined cakes to offer sacrifices to the moon god; after the sacrifices, the whole family ate them to show that the family was reunited and happy. This custom has been passed down until today. >>> Chongyang ascends to honor the old Chongyang Festival for the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, is the Wei and Jin Dynasty after the rise of the holiday. The name "Chongyang" and "Chongjiu" originated in the Three Kingdoms era. There are five main traditional customs. One is to climb high, this time the autumn high, pleasant scenery, it is a good season to travel, both can cultivate interest, but also good for health. The second is to insert dogwood, can drive the autumn mosquitoes and pests. Third, drinking wine and enjoying chrysanthemums. September of the lunar calendar is when the chrysanthemums are in full bloom, ornamental chrysanthemums, drink a few cups of chrysanthemum wine, but also the Chongyang Festival of fun. The fourth is to eat Chongyang cake. People make the grain into a tender and delicious rice cake, known as Chrysanthemum Cake, and "cake" and "high" resonance, eating is said to be able to step up. Fifth, to carry out activities to honor the elderly, from ancient times to the present day to honor the old winds continue. Lunar December (also known as Lunar month) the eighth, commonly known as Laha. Earlier legend has it that this day is the day of Sakyamuni into the Tao, monasteries have to cook porridge to sacrifice Buddha, and later became a folk custom to show that the grains are plentiful. There is a folk song; "every year there is a family busy, twenty-three days to sacrifice the king of the stove. A table is set up in the middle of the festival, with two plates of sugar on both sides. There is a bowl of water with black beans and dried herbs, and a stream of incense burns in the stove. The head of the family comes over and wishes the Zao Wang good luck". It reflects the scene of Zaos worship in the past. This day is particularly lively, some people even think that this is the lunar new year "rehearsal", so it is also known as the small new year. Nowadays, although there is no longer a Zao festival, the Guandong candy sold around the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is still a favorite traditional food. Chinese festivals in a year; 1` New Year's Day: January 1 (lunar calendar); 2` Spring Festival: the first day of the first month (lunar calendar); 3` Lantern Festival: the fifteenth day of the first month (lunar calendar); 4` International Working Women's Day: March 8; 5` China's Tree Planting Day: March 12 (lunar calendar); 6` Ching Ming Festival: April 5 (lunar calendar); 7` International Workers' Day: May 1 (lunar calendar); 8` China's Youth Day: May 4 (lunar calendar) 9` Dragon Boat Festival: April 4 (solar calendar); 9` Dragon Boat Festival: May 5 (lunar calendar); 10` Dragon Boat Festival: May 6 (lunar calendar); 11` Dragon Boat Festival: April 6 (solar calendar) January 1; These are just a few of the more traditional festivals, in addition; there are a number of smaller festivals, that's too much, can be said to be countless ah.