What is China's traditional festival culture?

China is a multi-ethnic country with a long history of 5,000 years, and in the course of its continuous forward development, it has formed a lot of unique traditional festivals with various forms and rich contents. Festivals are an important carrier of the spirit and emotions of the Chinese nation. Festival culture is y rooted in the people, has a strong and vivid vitality, through the changes of the years, and gradually become a precious heritage of the splendid culture of the Chinese nation.

The origin and development of festivals is a process of gradual formation and improvement and slowly penetrate into social life, it is the product of the development of human society to a certain stage. The progress of social productive forces, the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the emergence of religion and the frequency of its activities have provided a possibility for the emergence and development of festivals. Most of the annual festivals in ancient China were related to the continuous enrichment of astronomical, calendrical and mathematical knowledge, especially the later division of the lunar calendar into festivals was closely related to the creation of traditional festivals. By the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the twenty-four seasons of the year were basically complete. The festivals provided the preconditions for the emergence of festivals, i.e., during the year, with the change of seasons and time sequences, people engaged in production and labor formed different folk activities as well as rituals representing people's good wishes. Festivals are formed on this basis.

Most of the festivals in China have been initially formed in the pre-Qin period, such as New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, the first six months of the year, the cold food, the Dragon Boat Festival, Tanabata, Chongyang, etc. But the richness of the customary content and the richness of the festival. But the richness and popularity of the customary content of which has gone through a long process of development. The earliest customary activities are related to primitive worship, superstitious taboos, and associated with a wealth of myths and legends for the festival added a few romantic colors; religious beliefs also have a certain impact on the festival and influence; there are also some historical figures are given eternal remembrance into the festival. All of these are integrated into the content of the festivals, giving Chinese festivals a deep sense of history and a rich cultural heritage.

By the Han Dynasty, all the major traditional Chinese festivals had been basically finalized. The Han Dynasty was the first golden period after the realization of China's great unification, social political and economic stability, rapid development of science and culture, Qin culture, Chu culture and Qilu culture and other regional cultures with deep historical foundations at this time to achieve a historic fusion, the formation of a united Han culture as a symbol of the culture of the **** the same body. This provided good social conditions and cultural soil for the final formation of the festival.

Festivals developed into the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which had been liberated from the mysterious atmosphere of primitive worship and taboos, and transformed into recreational and ceremonial activities, with many sports and hedonistic elements appearing and soon becoming popular as a fashion. Since then, the festival has become joyful and colorful, and has become a real festival of good times. Due to the communication between various ethnic groups, promoting the exchange of festival culture, coupled with the development and widespread dissemination of religion, festival culture content has also been enriched. These customs have continued to develop and endure.

Traditional Chinese festivals are not only an important part of folk culture and entertainment, but also an important opportunity for economic trade and cultural exchange. Almost every festival is a day of bazaar trading and cultural exchange. In these festivals, farmers and craftsmen want to exchange various means of production, urban residents want to improve the material life, literati want to compose poems, exchange of exercises, the state will hold some large-scale rituals, to establish the moral and ceremonial norms of the people and the government, to play the propaganda and indoctrination function.

The emergence and development of traditional festivals is a process of long-term accumulation and cohesion of the history and culture of a nation and country. China has many nationalities, in addition to some major traditional festivals owned by the Han nationality, the other fifty-five ethnic minorities also have their own unique national festivals and cultural practices. Modern people can clearly see the wonderful picture of the social life of the ancient people through these festivals and customs developed from ancient times and handed down to the present day, and in the process of experiencing, participating in and creating the colorful festival culture, the excellent national culture of China can be inherited and carried forward.

As a result of the development of society and the progress of the times, people's ideological traditions, consumption concepts and life interests have also undergone significant changes. China's festival culture accordingly continue to keep pace with the times, to introduce new ideas. Today, some major traditional festivals, especially the Spring Festival, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals, are still widely practiced among the people. People not only inherit and develop the healthy contents of traditional festival culture, but also give it new forms. While a few small festivals are gradually forgotten by people and withdrawn from the daily life of the common people. In recent years, Western festivals have been quietly introduced into China, Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas and some other "foreign festivals" for the Chinese people to express their feelings to provide a new way, in large and medium-sized cities in the young people are particularly popular.

With the continuous improvement of the living standard of modern people and the gradual change of life style, the way of celebrating festivals has also changed, the pursuit of the combination of tradition and fashion. A significant portion of the general public is no longer satisfied with sticking to the traditional festival habits, and has begun to pursue a more concise and casual way of celebrating festivals. Fresh content that can reflect Chinese etiquette has also entered people's choice of vision, the Internet, SMS and so on has become a new carrier for people to celebrate with each other and express their good wishes. Chinese festivals and Chinese people's festive life are becoming more and more rich and wonderful.

China's festivals are among the most numerous in the world, and this book is limited to a selective introduction. All these festivals tell the history of national and social development, and decorate the beautiful life today.