China Traditional Festival Ranking

Most important traditional festivals in China are related to the calendar. The new book "China Festival-Illustrated Folk Traditional Festivals" (Fujian People's Publishing House, June, 2005) by Ms. Li Lulu, a researcher at the National Museum of China, classifies the statistics of the more important traditional festivals in China into 20, of which 16 come from the seasonal intersection of the sun and the moon, or are related to them: Spring Festival, beginning of spring, Lantern Festival, Zhonghe Festival. Shangyuan Festival (March 3), Tomb-Sweeping Day, Lantern Festival (June 6), summer festivals, Valentine's Day in China, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival and winter festivals are all closely related to the rhythm of the weather. On the surface, it has nothing to do with the weather, such as Dragon Boat Festival, Laba Festival (the eighth day of December), Kitchen Festival (December 23rd) and New Year's Eve Festival. Folk beliefs believe that May is a poisonous month and the fifth day is a poisonous day. There are five poisons, namely snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards and toads. This month is full of disasters, even the baby will die. Therefore, we must take various measures to prevent it. Avoiding the five poisons is the original intention of the Dragon Boat Festival. Laba, offering sacrifices to stoves and New Year's Eve are all "companion festivals" of the Spring Festival, which are naturally related to the times, while the other four festivals are "Man Victory Festival" on the seventh day of the first month, "Bathing Buddha Festival" on the eighth day of April, "Ghost Festival" on July 15th and "Xia Yuan Festival" on October 15th. Lantern Festival (June 6th), summer season, China Valentine's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Winter Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Laba Festival (1February 8th), Kitchen Festival (1February 23rd) and New Year's Eve. Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Laba, New Year's Eve. 1, Spring Festival: The concepts of Spring Festival and New Year originally came from agriculture. In ancient times, people called the growth cycle of the valley "year". Hebe: "in the year, the grain is ripe." . During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the Xia calendar came into being, with the full and short moon as the month, and a year was divided into twelve months. Every month, the day when the moon can't be seen is the new moon, and the first day of the first month is called the beginning of a year, also known as the year. The title of the year began in the Zhou Dynasty and was officially set in the Western Han Dynasty, which continues to this day. However, in ancient times, the first day of the first month was called "New Year's Day". Until the victory of the Revolution of 1911 in modern China, in order to conform to the farming season and facilitate statistics, the Nanjing Provisional Government stipulated that the people would use the summer calendar, and institutions, factories, mines, schools and organizations would adopt the solar calendar, with the Gregorian calendar 1 month 1 day as New Year's Day and the first lunar month 1 day as the Spring Festival. 1949 On September 27th, New China was founded. At the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference, the international use of the Gregorian calendar era was adopted, and the Gregorian calendar 1 month 1 day was designated as New Year's Day, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar year. The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is usually when spring begins, so the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is designated as the "Spring Festival", which is usually called the Lunar New Year. In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival refers to the La Worship sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, a traditional festival, the Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in China will hold various celebrations. Most of these activities are mainly about offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and praying for the new. The forms of activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics. 2. Lantern Festival: Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, which began in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Lantern Festival viewing began in the period of Emperor Han Ming in the East. Ming Di advocates Buddhism. It is said that there are Buddhist monks who observe the Buddhist relics and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first month. He ordered lanterns to be lit in palaces and temples that night, so that all the gentry and the people could hang lanterns. Later, this Buddhist ceremonial festival gradually formed a grand folk festival. This festival has experienced the development process from the court to the people, and from the Central Plains to the whole country. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ordered the 15th day of the first month to be designated as the Lantern Festival. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial activities of "Taiyi God" were scheduled for the 15th day of the first month. Taiyi: the God who rules the universe. When Sima Qian created the taichu calendar Law, he had already identified the Lantern Festival as a major festival. Another way of saying it is that the custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival originated from the "ternary theory" of Taoism; The fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July is Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October is Xiayuan Festival. The officials in charge of the upper, middle and lower elements are heaven, earth and man respectively. The celestial officials are happy and the Lantern Festival should be lit. 3. Dragon Boat Festival: Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Dragon Boat Festival has many origins and legends. The following are just four examples: in memory of Qu Yuan; From commemorating Wu Zixu; From commemorating the filial daughter Cao E; Totem festival originated from the ancient Yue nationality. 4. Tanabata: Qiqiao is on Tanabata and originated in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing in the Eastern Jin Dynasty records that "women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles on July 7 in the building, and everyone wears them", which is the earliest record of begging for cleverness in ancient literature we have seen. 5. Mid-Autumn Festival: The name of the Mid-Autumn Festival originated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and it is also called "Ghost Festival" or "Orchard Club". On this day, Buddhism also held a meeting to transcend the Dharma, that is, the Magnolia Meeting. The meaning of the basin is hanging upside down. The pain of life is like a bat hanging upside down from a tree, which is very miserable. In order to save all living beings from the suffering of hanging upside down, we must recite scriptures and give ghosts food. This coincides with the worship of ghost moon in China, so the Mid-Autumn Festival and Orchid Festival are handed down at the same time.