Festival Customs in Cixi (2)

1. Spring Festival: The Spring Festival is the grandest and most lively ancient traditional festival in China. Commonly known as "Chinese New Year". According to the China lunar calendar, the first day of the first month is the beginning of a year. Traditional celebrations last from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. Every New Year's Eve, every family gets together to have a New Year's Eve dinner, which is called "reunion dinner". Then we celebrate our old age together, catch up with the old and talk about the new, and congratulate and encourage each other. When the new year comes, firecrackers and fireworks push the festive atmosphere to a climax. In northern China, there is a custom of eating jiaozi at this time, which means "having sex when you are young". There is a habit of eating rice cakes in the south, which symbolizes a better life. Putting up Spring Festival couplets, beating gongs and drums, saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new are very lively. In addition, there are customs such as visiting each other to celebrate the New Year, dancing lions, playing dragon lanterns, performing social fires, visiting flower markets, and watching lantern festivals.

2. Lantern Festival: The 15th night of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in China, also known as Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival will be held on the fifteenth day of the first month, which will push the celebration on New Year's Eve to another climax. On the night of Lantern Festival, the streets are decorated with lanterns and people appreciate them. Solve riddles on the lanterns and eating Yuanxiao have become the customs of several generations.

February 2: According to folklore, the second day of the second lunar month is the day when the Dragon King, who is in charge of sex and rain in the sky, looks up. After that, the rain will gradually increase. Therefore, this day is called "Spring Festival". It is widely circulated in northern China that "on February 2, the dragon looked up; The big warehouse is full and the small warehouse flows. " Folk proverbs.

Tomb-Sweeping Day: Tomb-Sweeping Day is not only one of the 24 solar terms, but also a traditional festival with a long history. The day before in Tomb-Sweeping Day was called Cold Food Festival. The two festivals coincide with the spring of March, with bright spring and pink and green. The establishment of the Cold Food Festival is to commemorate the intermediary of the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period that "it is unfair to burn people to death". During the Qingming cold food period, there were folk customs such as forbidding fire and cold food, worshipping ancestors and sweeping graves, and going out for an outing. There are also traditional activities such as swinging, flying kites, tug-of-war, cockfighting, willow crossing, weeding and ball games.

Dragon Boat Festival: The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in China, also known as Duanyang, Chongwu and Dragon Boat Festival. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, there was a custom of "storing orchids and bathing on May 5th". But many activities of the Dragon Boat Festival today are related to the memory of Qu Yuan, a great writer in China. On this day, every household will eat zongzi, and dragon boat races will be held all over the south, all of which are related to mourning Qu Yuan. At the same time, the Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" handed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang branches of Artemisia argyi, hang calamus and sprinkle realgar wine to remove rot, sterilize and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of our nation.

6. Tanabata: On the seventh day of July every year, all the magpies in the world build a magpie bridge on the Milky Way to meet the cowherd and the weaver girl. This wonderful legend began in the Han dynasty and has been handed down from generation to generation for more than 1000 years. On this day, people have the custom of asking the Weaver Girl for help. It's usually a game to see who is more scheming. Therefore, Tanabata is also called Beggar's Day or Daughter's Day. Every Tanabata is approaching, Petunia and Weaver Maid fall from the sky at night and don't retire until the sun rises, so it is also called the meeting of separated couples.

7. Mid-Autumn Festival: August 15th of the lunar calendar is the middle of autumn, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, in addition to enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are activities such as dancing grass dragons and building stupas in some places. In addition to moon cakes, all kinds of seasonal fresh fruits and dried fruits are also delicious in the Mid-Autumn Festival. This night, people look up at the bright moon as jade, and naturally look forward to family reunion. Wanderers who are far away from home also take this opportunity to pin their thoughts on their relatives in their hometown. Therefore, Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival".

8. Double Ninth Festival: The activities of the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month are extremely rich, including climbing, enjoying chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating double ninth cake and inserting dogwood. The Double Ninth Festival is also the "Festival for the Elderly". On this day, the old people either admire chrysanthemums to cultivate their sentiments or climb mountains to exercise, adding infinite fun to the evening scenery in Sang Yu.

9. Winter Solstice Festival: Winter Solstice is a very grand festival in ancient China. Up to now, China Taiwan Province Province still retains the tradition of offering nine-layer cakes to ancestors from winter to the sun, as a sign of not forgetting to change books, and wishing the whole family a reunion. There is a custom of slaughtering sheep to eat jiaozi in the winter solstice in the north, and traditional foods in the south include dumplings and noodles in the winter solstice.

10. Laba Festival: Laba Festival is a Buddhist festival. This day is the day when Sakyamuni became a Buddha, also known as the "Taoist Festival". The most important activity on this day is to eat Laba porridge. The earliest Laba porridge only added adzuki beans to rice porridge, and later it evolved into a very complicated and exquisite one. The main ingredients are dozens of kinds such as white rice, yellow rice, glutinous rice, millet and water chestnut rice. , as well as walnuts, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, raisins, longan, lilies, lotus seeds and so on. The fragrance floated for miles.

1 1. New Year's Eve: New Year's Eve is the last day of the year. On this day, ordinary families try their best to get together and the whole family gathers together.

Gather around the fire, drink and eat delicious food to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, while the outdoor is firecrackers.

The family spent the last night of a warm year together.