Traditional festivals in China and their development and evolution

The first solar term of the first year: spring

The first solar term every year is "beginning of spring", and people usually call it "Da Chun". Why do you call it that? There is a custom in Chinese history. On this day in early spring every year, people will put on holiday clothes, carry a big paper cow and parade in the street singing and dancing. After the parade, the cow wrapped in paper was carried to the court of the county government, and Angel, the county official, was whipped three times, which means: Go back to the earth in spring and farm quickly. Therefore, people call beginning of spring "Da Chun". )

1 month 1 day: New Year's Day.

(The word "New Year's Day" comes from the poem "Jieya" written by Xiao Ziyun, a native of A Liang in the Southern Dynasties: "Four spirits of New Year's Day, long life from today". Yuan is the beginning, the first meaning; Dan is a knowing word. The "sun" above represents the sun and the "one" below represents the horizon. The sun rises from the horizon, symbolizing the beginning of the day. New Year's Day is the first day of the year.

Gregorian calendar 65438+ 10 month 1 is recognized as New Year's Day in the world today. The dates of the New Year in China are not consistent. For example, the Xia Dynasty is the first day of the first month; Shang dynasty is the first day of December; The Zhou Dynasty is the first day of November, and so on. 1 On September 27th, 949, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference passed the Law on the Chronology of the AD, which designated the Gregorian calendar1as New Year's Day. )

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month: Lantern Festival

(Also known as "Shangyuan Festival", that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This is an important traditional festival in China. In ancient books, this day is called Shangyuan, and its night is called Yuanye, Yuanxi or Yuanxiao. The name Yuanxiao has been used ever since. Because the Lantern Festival has the custom of decorating lanterns and watching lanterns, it is also called "Lantern Festival" among the people. In addition, there are customs such as eating Yuanxiao, walking on stilts and riddles. The ancient calendars in China were closely related to the phases of the moon. On the fifteenth day of each month, people will welcome the first full moon night of the year, which is naturally considered as an auspicious day. As early as the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month has been regarded as a day of offering sacrifices to gods and praying for blessings. Later, the ancients called the fifteenth day of the first month Shangyuan, the fifteenth day of July Zhongyuan and the fifteenth day of October Xia Yuan. At the latest, in the early Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sanyuan was the day when grand ceremonies were held. Of the three elements, Shangyuan is the most valued. Later, the celebrations in the Central Plains and Xia Yuan were gradually abolished, but Shangyuan was enduring. )

March 8: Women's Day.

March 12: Arbor Day

The day before Tomb-Sweeping Day: cold food

(A festival in old customs, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day [two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day]. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin who had been exiled for many years, returned to China and acceded to the throne [that is, Jin Wengong]. Except the introduction, all the courtiers who died with him were treated with respect. Jie Zhitui then lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan (now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). When Jin Wengong learned about it, he wanted to raise the bonus. He found Mianshan, but he couldn't find it, so he wanted to burn the mountain and force him out. But Jiezhi couldn't hold on, and both mother and son were burned to death. Therefore, Jin Wengong stipulates that people are forbidden to cook on the fire and express their condolences with cold food on this day every year. Later, the custom of eating cold food to sweep the grave at the Cold Food Festival was formed. )

April 5: Tomb-Sweeping Day

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Grave-sweeping is commonly known as going to the grave and offering sacrifices to the dead. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to the old custom, when sweeping graves, people should bring food, wine, fruit, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer food to the graves of their loved ones, then burn the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, break some green branches and insert them in front of the graves, then kowtow and worship, and finally go home after eating and drinking. The poem Qingming written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said: "There are many rains during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " Write about the special atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, according to the solar calendar, between April 4th and 6th every year, it is the season of beautiful spring and lush vegetation, and it is also a good time for people to have a spring outing, so the ancients had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming and carrying out a series of sports activities. )

May 1 day: labor day

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month: Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. The real name of "Dragon Boat Festival" is "Dragon Boat Festival", which means the beginning. "Five" and "noon" are homophonic and universal. This is an ancient festival in China. Qu Yuan, the earliest patriotic poet in ancient China.

After being exiled by slanderers, he witnessed the increasingly corrupt politics of Chu, but he could not realize his political ideal and save the dying motherland, so he threw himself into the river. Since then, in order to prevent fish and shrimp from eating their bodies, people have kneaded glutinous rice and flour into cakes of various shapes and put them in the heart of the river, which has become the source of eating zongzi and fried cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom has spread abroad. )

June 1 day: Children's Day.

July 1 day: China * * * Party Building Day.

July 7th: China People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Memorial Day.

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month: Qixi Valentine's Day

(The night on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is called "Qixi". According to China folklore, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge in Tianhe tonight. Later, some women asked Vega for help on this night and other customs. The so-called cleverness is to thread a needle through Vega with colored thread in the moonlight. It would be a "coincidence" if you could pass through seven pinholes of different sizes. The agricultural proverb goes: "On the seventh day of July, it is clear, and the sickle is used to cut rice." It's time to sharpen the sickle and get ready to harvest the early rice. )

July 13th of the lunar calendar: Respect for the Elderly Day.

August 1 day: China Army Day.

August 15th of the lunar calendar: Mid-Autumn Festival

The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which is in the middle of autumn, is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the evening, the full moon in Gui Xiang is regarded as a symbol of happy reunion by the old customs. This is a festival to prepare all kinds of fruits and cooked food to enjoy the moon. Eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. Legend has it that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to overthrow the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty, the broad masses of the people wrote the date of the uprising on a piece of paper, put it in the stuffing of moon cakes, and secretly passed it on to each other, calling on everyone to revolt on August 15. Finally, on this day, a nationwide peasant uprising broke out and overthrew the decadent Yuan Dynasty. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival has spread more widely. )

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month: Double Ninth Festival

(the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In ancient China, the ninth was the sun, and the ninth of September was the sun of the cloudy moon, hence the name "Chongyang". According to legend, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Runan people were in the shade, they heard Fei Changfang tell him that there would be a great disaster in Runan on September 9, so they quickly asked their families to sew a junior, put Cornus officinalis in it, tied it to their arms, and climbed the mountain to drink chrysanthemum wine in order to take refuge. On this day, the whole family climbed the mountain and went home at night. Sure enough, all the chickens, dogs and sheep in the family are dead. Since then, in the Double Ninth Festival, there have been folk customs such as making dogwood, drinking chrysanthemum wine, holding temple fairs and climbing mountains. Because "Gao" and "Gao" are homonyms, there is a custom of eating "Chongyang cake" on the Double Ninth Festival. Wang Weiyou, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Thinking of Shandong Brothers in the Mountain Festival": "When people are in a foreign land, they miss their relatives more than ever. I know from a distance where my brother climbed, and there is one person missing from the dogwood. " Recorded the customs at that time. Because of sincere feelings, this poem has become a household name. )

September 10: Teacher's Day

October 1st: National Day.

Lunar calendar 1 1 22nd: winter solstice.

In ancient China, people attached great importance to the winter solstice and thought it was a grand festival. There is a saying that the winter solstice is as big as a year, and there is a custom to celebrate it. "Han Shu" said: "The sun shines on the winter solstice, and you are long, so congratulations." People think that after the winter solstice, the days become longer and longer and the sun rises. This is the beginning of a solar cycle and an auspicious day, which should be celebrated. The Book of Jin records: "On the winter solstice of Wei and Jin Dynasties, people from all over the world celebrated ... its appearance was not as good as that of Zheng Dan." Explain the ancient emphasis on the winter solstice.

Now, some places still celebrate the winter solstice as a festival. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep and eating jiaozi and wonton from winter solstice, while the southern region has the custom of eating glutinous rice balls and long noodles from winter solstice on this day. There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors in winter solstice in various regions. )

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month: Laba Festival

In ancient times, the sacrifice to "God" in December was called the twelfth lunar month, so the twelfth lunar month was called the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the old custom is to drink Laba porridge. According to legend, Sakyamuni became a Buddha on this day, so every time the temple cooked porridge for the Buddha on this day, the people followed suit and became a custom, which continues to this day. )

Lunar New Year's Eve in December: New Year's Eve

(New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve. In addition, the original meaning is "go" and it is extended to "change" [alternate]; The original meaning of the word "evening" is "sunset" and it is extended to "night". Therefore, New Year's Eve means "get rid of the old year here and get a new year tomorrow". "Except" means to get rid of the old cloth and make a new one. New Year's Eve originated from the "expulsion" in the pre-Qin period. According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Dong Jiji, on the day before the New Year, the ancients used drums to drive away the "ghost of plague" so that there would be no disease or disaster in the coming year. This is the origin of "New Year's Eve" Festival. In ancient times, there were many nicknames for "New Year's Eve", such as "except the night", "except the night", "except the year" and so on. Although there are many names, they always mean to send the old to welcome the new and eliminate disasters and diseases. )

The first day of the first lunar month: Spring Festival

(It is the first year of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of about 4000 years in China. This is the most lively and grand traditional festival in China. The ancient Spring Festival refers to the "beginning of spring" season in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the Spring Festival was changed to the end of the year, generally referring to the whole spring. At this time, spring returns to the earth and everything is renewed. People regard it as the beginning of a new year. In the early years of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911, after the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the first month was designated as the Spring Festival. It was not until1September 27th, 949 that the China People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the New Year on the first day of the first month as the "Spring Festival", so many people still call it the Spring Festival. )

Year:

People often call the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year", but the original meaning of "Year" is completely different from today. It is said that in ancient times, there was one of the fiercest beasts in the world called Nian. It is bigger than a camel. Run faster than the wind and roar louder than thunder. Once out, people eat people, animals are injured, and people's lives are seriously threatened. In order to punish Nian, the gods locked it in the mountains and allowed it to come out only once a year. In the long-term practice, people find that Nian has three fears-fear of red, fear of noise and fear of fire. So, one year on the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, everyone posted red paper at the door, kept beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers, and lit lights all night in the house at night. Take a look at the evening of "Nian", and every family is brightly lit; Hearing this, the sound of shooting was everywhere, scaring it into the village. During the day, it sneaked down the mountain again, only to find that the door was still red and drums were everywhere, scaring it to turn around and run back. From then on, Nian never came again. It is said that he starved to death in the deep forest. Later, people turned the prevention of "Year" and "Drive Year" into a safe and steady New Year. "Nian" is gone, but the custom of Chinese New Year is still there. Bright red Spring Festival couplets, brilliant lights, crisp firecrackers, loud gongs and drums, year after year. )