The Four Traditions of China

The four traditional festivals in China are Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Spring Festival, that is, the Lunar New Year, refers to the folk tradition from the La Worship on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, to the 15th of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. The Spring Festival originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors at the beginning and end of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. During the Spring Festival, people stick red couplets, set off firecrackers, wrap jiaozi, pay homage to their ancestors and pray for a good harvest.

Around April 5th in the Gregorian calendar, Tomb-Sweeping Day is a day to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Tomb-Sweeping Day was originally one of the twenty-four solar terms in China, and its main activity was hiking, and later it merged the contents of the Cold Food Festival.

Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, also known as Duanyang Festival and May Festival. It is said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, people were afraid that the fish in the river would eat Qu Yuan's body, so they threw rice balls into the river, and later they had the custom of eating zongzi. People have gradually developed from rowing for rescue to dragon boat races.

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first seen in Zhou Li. August is the second month of autumn, which was called Mid-Autumn in ancient times, so it is also called Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon is full in the Mid-Autumn Festival, symbolizing reunion and eating moon cakes.