What are the traditional Chinese festivals?

The main traditional Chinese festivals are the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Head Lifting Festival, Shangsi Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Tanabata Festival, Mid-Yuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang Festival, Haoyuan Festival, Winter Solstice Festival, Lunar New Year's Day, Xiao Nian, and New Year's Eve.

Chinese New Year:

Chinese New Year, the first day of the year in the lunar calendar, and the Spring Festival, which is also known as the New Year's Eve, is one of the grandest, liveliest, and most important ancient traditional festivals in China, and a festival unique to the Chinese people.

Originality:

There is a legend about the origin of the Spring Festival, which says that in ancient China there was a monster called "Nian", which had a long tentacled head and was ferocious. One New Year's Eve, from outside the village came a begging old man. Villagers a rush panic scene, only the east end of the village, an old woman gave the old man some food, and advised him to quickly go to the mountains to avoid the "year" beast, the old man stroked his beard and laughed: "Granny, if you let me stay at home for a night, I must be the 'year'! The old man smiled with his beard and said, "If you let me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive away the 'Year' beast. The old woman still continue to persuade, begging old man smiled but did not say. In the middle of the night, the Beast of the Year came into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from that of previous years: the old woman's house at the east end of the village had a big red paper on the door, and the candles in the house were burning brightly. "The beast shivered and gave a strange cry. Near the door, the yard suddenly came "bang bang pop" sound, "year" trembling, and do not dare to come forward. It turns out that Nian is most afraid of red color, fire and explosions. At this time, the door of the mother-in-law's house was wide open, only to see an old man wearing a red robe in the yard laughing. "Nian was so shocked that he fled in disarray. The next day was the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and the people who had returned from their refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. It was then that the old woman came to her senses, and hurriedly told the townspeople about the old man's promise to beg. This story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew the way to drive away the "New Year" beast. (Hakka legend) from then on every New Year's Eve, home red couplets, firecrackers; Household candlelight, keep watch for the year. Early in the morning on the first day, but also to visit friends and relatives to say hello. This custom is more and more widely spread, and has become the grandest traditional festival of Chinese folklore.

Lantern Festival:

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Festival of the first yuan, the night of the first yuan, the Festival of Lights. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, the ancients called the night "night", so the first month of the fifteenth for the "Lantern Festival". It is one of the traditional Chinese festivals.

History:

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival, the formation of the Lantern Festival has a long process, according to general information and folklore, the 15th day of the first month of the Western Han Dynasty has been attached importance to the first month of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "on the night of the first month of the Xin," in the Ganquan Palace to worship the "Taiyi" activities, by later generations, the first day of the first month of the Han Dynasty, "on the night of the Xin" in the Ganquan Palace. The activity of "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty on the first day of the first month was regarded as the precursor of the first day of the first month of the festival to the God of Heaven by the later generations ("Records of the Grand Historian - Book of Music": "The Han family often used the first day of the first month of the Shangxin Shrine to worship Taiyi Ganquan at the time of twilight and the night, and then ended up at the end of the morning.) The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty was an important impetus to the formation of the Lantern Festival. In order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Mingdi of the Han Dynasty ordered that on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, lanterns be burned in palaces and temples to show the Buddha's face. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the 15th night of the first month gradually expanded in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the later addition of Taoist culture.

Dragon Carrying Heads:

The second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the Dragon Carrying Heads, the Green Dragon Festival is also known as the Spring Dragon Festival, Spring Plowing Festival, the All Saints' Day, the birth of the God of the Land.

Originality:

Chinese folk believe that the dragon is auspicious, and wind and rain master, and the lunar calendar "February 2" this day is the day of the dragon wants to ascend to heaven. From the festival, the lunar calendar, the beginning of February, is in the "rain", "hibernation" and "spring equinox" between many places in our country has begun to enter the rainy season, will be held in honor of the dragon to pray for rain, release, in order to seek a year of good luck and abundant harvest. In many places in China, the rainy season has already begun, and they will honor the dragon to pray for rain and release the animals, in order to have an auspicious year and a good harvest. Dragon-raising is a reflection of ancient Chinese farming culture for the season, and the origin of the phrase is said to be related to ancient astronomy's understanding of the movement of the stars and agricultural festivals.

Shang Si Festival:

Shang Si Festival, commonly known as the third of March, is a traditional festival of the Han Chinese people, the festival in the Han Dynasty, before the first half of March is set to the Si Day, and later fixed in the summer calendar on the third day of March.

Originality:

Shang Si Festival can be pushed to memorial Fuxi. Fuxi and his sister Nuwa Tuan soil to create people, reproduction of offspring, the Yu Dong area honored Fuxi for the "human ancestor", in Huaiyang (Fuxi built the capital) built Tai Hao Mausoleum Temple, by the lunar February 2 to March 3 for the Tai Hao Mausoleum Temple, men and women of faith, the South and the North Ma, are gathered in the mausoleum area, pilgrimage to worship the human ancestor. March 3 of the lunar calendar, or the day of the legendary Queen Mother's Peach Fair. There is a Beijing bamboo poem describes the Peach Palace temple fair: "the third day of March spring is long, the Peach Palace to see the burning incense; along the river along the wind is slightly up, ten feet of red dust ramp raised."

Legend has it that the Queen Mother of the West was originally the protective deity of a primitive tribe in western China. She had two magic treasures: an elixir of immortality that she could live forever, and the peach of immortality, Pandanus, that she could prolong her life. And added the content of the water banquets, trekking. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, on the Si Festival was changed to March 3, followed by future generations, and then became the Han Chinese waterfront banquets, countryside tour of the spring festival.

Qingming Festival:

Qingming Festival, also known as the Festival of Green, line Qing Festival, March Festival, Ancestor Festival, etc., is generally in the calendar on or around April 5th.

Origin:

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Prince of Jin, Chong Er, went into exile to escape persecution. On the way to exile, in an uninhabited place, he was so tired and hungry that he could no longer stand up. After half a day of searching, the ministers could not find anything to eat. When everyone was very anxious, the minister, Jie Zi Tui, went to a secluded place, cut a piece of meat from his own thigh, and cooked a bowl of broth for the duke to drink, which gradually restored the spirit of Chong Er, who was moved to tears when he realized that Jie Zi Tui cut the meat from his own thigh. Nineteen years later, Chong Er became the king of the country, the historical Duke Wen of Jin. After his accession to the throne, Duke Wen rewarded all the ministers who had accompanied him into exile, except for Jie Zi Tui, who was forgotten. Many people were angry with Jie Zi Tui and urged him to face the king to ask for rewards, but Jie Zi Tui despised those who competed for rewards. He packed his clothes and went to Mianshan Mountain with his mother to live quietly. When Duke Wen of Jin heard about it, he was so ashamed that he went to invite Jie Zi Tui in person, but Jie Zi Tui had already left home and went to Mianshan Mountain. Mianshan mountain high and dangerous, dense trees, looking for two people how easy, some people offer a plan, from three sides of the fire Mianshan, forcing out the jie zi push. The fire burned all over the Mianshan Mountain, but did not see the figure of the meson push, after the fire went out, people realized that the back of his mother's meson push has been sitting under an old willow tree died. Jin Wendong see, mournful. When the coffin, from the tree hole found a piece of lapel, written on it: "cut meat to serve the king's heart, but I hope that the Lord is always clear." In order to commemorate Jie Zi Tui, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to designate this day as the Cold Food Festival. The next year, Duke Wen of Jin led his ministers to climb the mountain to pay homage to him and found that the old willow tree had risen from the dead, so he gave the old willow tree the name of "Qingming Willow", and informed the world that the day after the Cold Food Festival would be designated as the Qingming Festival.

Duanwu Festival:

Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival), on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, is an important traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The Dragon Boat Festival was originally a summer festival to drive away the gods of plague and sacrifice to the dragon, which was offered by the ancients to the dragon family, but also in honor of Wu Zixu, Cao E and Jie Zi Tui.

History:

The formation of the custom of sacrificing dragons at the Dragon Boat Festival is related to primitive beliefs, sacrificial culture, the stem-and-branch calendar, as well as the celestial phenomenon of the Canglong's seven constellations being located in the south center of the sky. In the "I Ching", based on the gossip and two and two overlap and constitute sixty-four hexagrams; hexagrams Qian by the upper and lower two dry hexagrams overlap and become, its trigrams by the six lines of the yang lines; lines are to be counted from the bottom to the top, and the yang lines and the "nine" pronouns, so from the bottom of the number of the fifth line is called "nine five! "; Ancient Yue people to the dragon as a tribal god of protection, than the descendants of the dragon, they not only have "broken hair body" to "like the dragon child" custom, and in the annual midsummer Dragon Boat Festival held a grand totem sacrifice. The celestial phenomenon of "flying dragons in the sky" was given multiple meanings and trust, the formation of the dragon sacrifice to thank the dragon ancestor's benevolence, the pressure of evil and disaster, praying for blessings and good fortune of the rituals and customs, which has evolved into the "Dragon Boat Festival".

The Tanabata Festival:

The Tanabata Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, is held on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year, and is also known as the Seven Charms Festival, Seven Sisters' Festival, Daughters' Festival, Begging for Coquettishness Festival, Seven Nyonya's Meeting, Tanabata Festival, Oxen and Oxenwomen's Day, and Coquettishness Festival, etc. It is a traditional Chinese festival.

History:

The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the Valentine's Day for us Chinese, and some people call it Begging for Qiaoqiao Festival Tanabata or Daughters' Day, which is the most important day for the daughters. The reason why the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is called the Begging for Tricks is because folklore says that on this day the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden will meet in the Heavenly River, and the daughters of the family will worship with melons and fruits towards the sky at night to beg for tricks from the goddess. Apart from begging for the knitting girl's skill, they also beg for a skillful match in marriage. Therefore, countless sentimental men and women in the world will pray to the starry sky for a happy marriage on this night, in the quiet of the night. The ritual of begging for coincidence originated from the ancient primitive beliefs of the goddess of the weaver sang this belief combined with the cow long weaving maiden, every year on the seventh day of the seventh month to meet the saying, became our present day Tanabata seven coincidence folk beliefs.

Midwinter Festival:

Midwinter Festival, commonly known as the Ghost Festival, also known as the half of the seventh month, the Day of the Dead, the Bon Festival in the lunar calendar on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the folk people will be the harvest of the new rice out of the offerings, offerings, and sacrifices to their ancestors, which is the inheritance of filial piety.?

Originality:

On the origin of the Ghost Festival, legend has it that Jizo Bodhisattva, his mother died to the netherworld, was locked up in a cell, no less than eighteen layers of hell by all kinds of torment, Jizo Bodhisattva is a filial daughter, to see her mother suffer from the heart of the heart intolerance, on the fifteenth of the seventh month of the day, even favoritism, so that the guards of the cell of the little ghosts secretly open the door to open his mother out, who knows that this open! Do not matter, the cell in the small ghosts swarmed out of the cell to run to the earth for the people, so there is a "half of July, ghosts run amok," said. Those ghosts have to run home to their families to ask for money to go back to use to live and get through the joints in the hope of an early life. Later, this day was designated as the Mid-Yuan Festival.

Mid-Autumn Festival:

Mid-Autumn Festival, the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar every year, also known as the Festival of the Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Moon Festival, Reunion Festival and so on.

History:

The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of heavenly phenomena, and evolved from the moon festival on the eve of autumn in ancient times. Initially, the "Moon Festival" festival is in the dry calendar 24 "Autumn Equinox" this day, and later transferred to the summer calendar (lunar calendar) August 15, there are some places will be the Mid-Autumn Festival in the summer calendar August 16th.

Chongyang Festival:

Chongyang Festival, the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, is a traditional festival of the Chinese people, also known as the "Festival of the Elderly". Because the "I Ching" in the "six" as the number of yin, the "nine" as the number of yang, September 9, the two nine overlap, so it is called Chung Yeung, also known as Chung Kau.

Originality:

Legend has it that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a plague in the River Ru, as long as it appeared, every family would be sick, and even every day, people died, the people in the area suffered from the plague of the devil's ravages, a terrible sight. At that time, there was a young man named Hengjing in Runan County, one year the plague took away his parents, and he himself almost lost his life. Hengjing recovered from the disease, he left his beloved wife and folks, determined to go out to visit the immortal to learn the art, for the people to get rid of the harm. Hengjing finally found an immortal in an ancient mountain, who was touched by his spirit of removing evils for the people and decided to take him as his disciple, gave him a sword to subdue evils and taught him the art of subduing evils. Hengjing was sleepless, practicing day and night, and finally developed an extraordinary martial art. One day, the immortal called Hengjing to him and said, "Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth lunar month, and the plague demon is going to come out to do evil again, now that you have accomplished your skill, you should go back to get rid of the evil for the people." . At this time, the immortal gave Hengjing a pack of cornelian cherry leaves, a bottle of chrysanthemum wine, and gave him the secret of avoiding evil spirits, so that Hengjing immediately rode a crane and rushed back to his home. Hengjing returned to his hometown, and on the morning of September 9, he led the townspeople to a nearby mountain according to the immortal's instructions, and gave each of them a piece of cornelian cherry leaf and a cup of chrysanthemum wine. At noon, the wind was furious, the north wind suddenly rose, the sky was dark, with a few mournful roars, the plague demon rushed out of the River Ru, swooped down to the mountain. Just at this time, the plague demon suddenly smelled cornelian cherry and chrysanthemum wine mellow fragrance, face suddenly changed, shivering, do not dare to move forward. When it was too late, Hengjing ran down the mountain with a sword in his hand, and after several rounds of fierce fighting, Hengjing stabbed the demon to death, and the plague was eliminated. Since then, every year on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the custom of ascending the mountain to avoid the plague has been passed down year after year. It is said that in the traditional concept of the Central Plains people, the double nine means long life, health and longevity, so people call the Chongyang Festival also known as the Festival of the Elderly.

Haoyuan Festival:

October 15 of the Lunar Calendar is the 15th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar, which is a traditional Chinese folk festival, the Haoyuan Festival, also known as the "Haoyuan Day" and "Haoyuan".

Origin:

The origin of the festival is related to Taoism. There are three Taoist officials, the Heavenly Official, the Earthly Official, and the Water Official, which are said to bestow blessings on the Heavenly Official, pardon sins on the Earthly Official, and relieve misfortune on the Water Official. The birthdays of the three officials are the 15th day of the first month, the 15th day of the 7th month and the 15th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar, and these three days are known as the "Festival of the Upper Yuan", the "Festival of the Middle Yuan" and the "Festival of the Lower Yuan".

Winter Solstice:

The winter solstice is one of the twenty-four solar terms, and is also an important traditional festival, which is also known by many aliases, such as the "Winter Festival" and "Long Solstice Festival", "Winter Festival", "Short Solstice Festival", "Yayo", "Yiyang Festival", "Hewang Festival", "Fat Winter", "Hei Dong", "Cui Chang Festival", "Bean Curd Festival", etc. Each name has its own meaning. The name of each festival has its own meaning.

History:

The winter solstice, which appeared in the Zhou Dynasty, began to become a festival in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and continues to this day. According to records, the day of the winter solstice, the sun's shadow is the longest, the ancients believe that the winter solstice, heaven and earth yang qi began to rise gradually strong, representing the beginning of the next cycle, is a day of great good fortune. Therefore, the Zhou Dynasty to winter November for the first month, the winter solstice for the first year of the New Year. This custom was followed until the Han Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was called the "Winter Festival".

Lapa Festival:

Lapa Festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Lapa".

Originality:

Since ancient times, Lahai is used to worship ancestors and gods (including the god of the door, the god of the stove, the god of the well ...) The ritual is for praying for a good harvest and good luck. According to "Rituals - Suburban Special Adoption", the "Lunar Sacrifice" is "the twelfth month of the year, gathering all things together and offering food to them." Xia Dynasty, called the wax day for "Jia Ping", the Shang Dynasty for "clear sacrifice", the Zhou Dynasty for "big wax". Waxing was held in December, so it is called the month of waxing, and the day of waxing is called the day of waxing.

Small Year:

The 23rd and 24th days of the Lunar Lunar New Year are the traditional days of the Chinese folk festival of the cook stove, also known as the "Small Year". It is a prelude to the Spring Festival and a traditional festival.

Originality:

Legend has it that Master Zao was originally a commoner, Zhang Sheng, and after marrying his wife, he spent all his time drinking, and lost his family's fortune and was reduced to begging on the streets. One day, he begged to his ex-wife Guo Dingxiang home, ashamed, head to the bottom of the stove pot burned to death. When the Jade Emperor found out about it, he thought that Zhang Sheng could come back to his senses and hadn't been bad to the end, and since he died at the bottom of the pot, he made him King of the Stove and reported to heaven on the 23rd and 24th of the Lunar New Year every year, and then returned to the bottom of the Stove on the 30th of the Lunar New Year. The people felt that the king of the stove must be honored, because he had to go to heaven to report. Thus, the folk have the lunar month 23, 24 of the sacrificial stove "small year", praying for peace and prosperity in the coming year.

New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve, also known as Lunar New Year's Eve, is the evening of the last day of the year in the lunar calendar, that is, the evening before the Spring Festival, and is therefore also known as New Year's Eve.

Originality:

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called "Xiu", specializing in harming people, especially beautiful girls. The "sunset" ghost, only in the sun after sunset out, after midnight and disappeared, no one knows where it lives. No one knew where it lived. The people hated it with a passion, but there was nothing they could do about it. A hunter named Shichiro, who was very powerful and could shoot arrows without fail, and his hunting dogs were also very powerful, saw that the townspeople had been victimized by the Yu, and was determined to get rid of the Yu. He took his dog with him and searched for Yuki for a year. It was the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, he came to a town, saw people are happy to prepare for the New Year, thought to himself, this town is big, many people, many girls, maybe "Xiu" to come. He found people in the town to discuss, said, "Xi" is most afraid of loud noises, told everyone not to sleep in the dark, find some more knocking things in the house, a movement will be knocking vigorously, so that the "Xi" scared out of the elimination. This night, "the evening" really came, he just broke into a house, the family knocked up pots and pans, and then the whole town also followed the knock up. "He was so scared that he ran around and was seen by Shichiro. "Yuki fought with Shichiro and the dog. "He was unable to do so and tried to run away, but his hind legs were bitten by the hounds, and Shichiro took the opportunity to kill him with an arrow. Since then, people called the 30th day of the Lunar New Year "New Year's Eve". On this night, every family should keep watch, firecrackers, said to drive away bad luck, to meet the happy and auspicious.