A brief introduction to the origin and customs of traditional festivals

Traditional festivals in China include Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. The specific origins and customs are as follows:

1, Spring Festival

Origin: The origin of the Spring Festival is related to the ancient primitive belief culture, astronomical phenomena, calendars and other humanistic and natural cultural contents.

Customs: On New Year's Eve, there are some customs, such as posting New Year's Red, New Year's Eve, lucky money, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, keeping the new year, setting off firecrackers and hanging lanterns.

2. Lantern Festival

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. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sacrificed "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace on the "Xin Night" in the first month, which was regarded by later generations as the first sacrifice to the gods on the fifteenth day of the first month.

Custom: The Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. In addition, folk performances such as playing with dragon lanterns, playing with lions, walking on stilts, rowing on dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums have been added to the Lantern Festival in many places.

3. Tomb-Sweeping Day

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

Customs: First, respect the ancestors, and pursue the future with caution; The second is outing and getting close to nature.

4. Dragon Boat Festival

Origin: Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, is a festival founded by ancestors to worship the ancestors of dragons and pray for blessing. The Dragon Boat Festival has a long history and evolved from the ancient dragon totem.

Customs: The customs of praying for good fortune mainly include dragon boat, dragon boat festival and paper dragon. The customs of eliminating evil and disturbing disasters mainly include hanging wormwood, soaking in dragon boat water, washing herbal water and tying five-color lines. Festival foods mainly include zongzi and Huang Wu.

5. Mid-Autumn Festival

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.