What are the customs of each festival and what food should be eaten?

Here are just some of the larger traditional festivals of the Han Chinese people, China is a multi-ethnic country, each ethnic group has its own cultural practices, numerous ethnic festivals, is a cultural treasure to be mined. January 1: New Year's Day

("New Year's Day" is the earliest word from the Southern Liang Xiao Ziyun "Jie Ya" poem: "four gas new New Year's Day, ten thousand life at the beginning of this day. Yuan is the beginning, the first meaning; Dan is a Chinese character, above the "day" means the sun, below the "one" means the horizon. The sun rises over the horizon, symbolizing the beginning of the day. New Year's Day is the first day of the year.

January 1, Gregorian calendar, is recognized as New Year's Day in today's world. China's New Year's Day through the ages, the date is not consistent. Such as the first day of the first month of the Xia Dynasty; the first day of December in the Shang Dynasty; the first day of November in the Zhou Dynasty, and so on. September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Association through the use of the "A.D. chronology", will be January 1 as New Year's Day on the Gregorian calendar.)

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar: the Lantern Festival

(also known as the "Festival of the New Year", that is, the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar. It is an important traditional festival in China. In ancient books, this day is called "on the Yuan", and its night is called "Yuan night", "Yuan Xi" or "Lantern Festival". The name "Lantern Festival" has been used until now. Since the Lantern Festival has the custom of opening and watching the lanterns, it is also known as the "Festival of Lights" in folklore. In addition, there are also eating Lantern Festival, stilt walking, riddles and other customs. China's ancient calendar and the phase of the moon has a close relationship with the fifteenth day of the month, people ushered in the first full-moon night of the year, this day is rightly regarded as an auspicious day. As early as the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was used as a day to worship the emperor and pray for blessings. Later, the ancients called the 15th day of the first month "Shangyuan", the 15th day of the 7th month "Zhongyuan", and the 15th day of the 10th month "Xiayuan". At the latest, in the early North and South Dynasties, Sanyuan was already a day to hold a grand ceremony. Among the three elements, the first element was the most important. Later, the celebrations of the Middle and Lower Yuan were gradually abolished, while the Upper Yuan has endured.)

The day before Qingming Festival: Cold Food

(A festival in the old custom, one day before the Qingming Festival [one says two days before Qingming]. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Prince of Jin, Chong Er, who had been dead for many years, returned to his country and assumed the throne [i.e., Duke Wen of Jin], and rewarded the ministers who had died with him, but only Jie Zhi Tui was left out. Jie Zhitui then took his mother to live in seclusion in Mianshan Mountain [now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province]. Duke Wen of Jin learned of this and wanted to reward him, so he searched for him in Mianshan Mountain and could not find him, so he tried to burn the mountain to force him to come out. However, Jie Zhi Tui insisted on not coming out, and as a result, both mother and son were burned to death. Duke Wen of Jin then forbade people to burn rice on this day every year to mourn the death of his mother and son. Later, the custom of eating cold food and sweeping graves on the day of cold food was formed.)

April 5: Ching Ming Festival

(Ching Ming Festival is a traditional festival in China and the most important festival of worship, a day for ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as visiting the graves, an activity to honor the dead. Most Han Chinese and some ethnic minorities sweep their tombs on Qingming Day. According to the old custom, when sweeping tombs, people should bring wine, food, fruits, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer the food in front of their loved ones' graves, then incinerate the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, fold a few tender green new branches and stick them on the graves, then bow down and perform rituals and worship, and then eat the wine and food and go home at last. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Qingming": "The rain falls one after another during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Where can I find a tavern? The shepherd boy points to the apricot blossom village." It writes about the special atmosphere of Qingming Festival.

The Qingming Festival, also known as the Treading Green Festival, according to the solar calendar, it is between April 4 and 6 every year, which is the time of spring when the grass and trees spit out the green, and it is also a good time for people to go on spring excursions [called trekking in ancient times], so the ancients had the custom of trekking in the Qingming Festival and carrying out a series of sports activities.)

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

(The fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is the "Dragon Boat Festival". Duanwu" is originally called "Duanwu", and "Duan" means the beginning. "Five" and "Wu" for each other as a harmonic and universal. It is an ancient festival in China. China's earliest ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan

Being exiled by slander, witnessed the growing political corruption in Chu, and not to realize their own political ideals, inability to save the perilous motherland, and then threw himself into the Bioluo River in order to martyrdom. After that, people in order not to make the fish and shrimp eat their bodies, have used glutinous rice and flour into various shapes of cakes into the river, which later became the Dragon Boat Festival to eat zongzi, fried cake source. This custom has spread abroad.)

The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar: Tanabata Lover's Day

(The evening of the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is called "Tanabata". China's folklore is that the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden meet on this night at the Bridge of Magpies in the Sky River, and then there are women who beg for coquettish things by threading needles to the Weaving Maiden star on this night. The so-called begging for coquettish, that is, under the moonlight to the Vega star with colored thread through the needle, such as can pass through seven different sizes of the eye of the needle, even if it is very "coquettish". Farmer's proverbs say "the seventh day of the seventh month is clear and bright, grinding sickle cut good rice." This is the time to sharpen the sickle and prepare for the early rice harvest.)

The 15th day of the 8th lunar month: Mid-Autumn Festival

(On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, this day falls in the middle of the autumn season, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". In the evening, the moon is full and the fragrance of laurel, the old custom people see it as a symbol of reunion, to prepare a variety of fruits and cooked food, is a good festival to enjoy the moon. Mid-Autumn Festival also eat moon cakes. According to legend, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to overthrow the brutal Yuan Dynasty, the people wrote the date of the riot on a note and put it in the mooncake filling so as to pass it secretly to each other, calling for an uprising on August 15th. Finally, on this day, a nationwide peasant uprising was baked, overthrowing the corrupt Yuan Dynasty. Since then, the custom of eating mooncakes at mid-autumn has spread even more widely.)

The ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar: the Chongyang Festival

(The ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. In ancient China, nine is Yang, September 9 is the yin and yang day, so the name "Chongyang". Legend has it that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ru Nan Huan Ying, heard Fei Changfang said to him, September 9 Ru Nan will have a big disaster, and quickly asked the family to sew a small generation, filled with cornelian cherry, tied to the arm, climbed the mountains, drink chrysanthemum wine, to take refuge. Huanjing this day the whole family mountaineering, home at night, really home chickens, dogs, sheep all dead. Since then, the folk have been in the Chongyang Festival do Cornus generation, drink chrysanthemum wine, hold a temple fair, climb high and other customs. Because "high" and "cake" sound the same, so the Chongyang Festival and eat "Chongyang cake" custom. Wang Wei, a poet of Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Remembering the Brothers of Shandong on September 9", which reads: "Being a stranger in a foreign land, I think of my relatives twice as much at festivals. I know from afar where my brothers are climbing up, and I have less Cornus officinalis to plant." The poem records the customs of the time. The poem is still popular today because of its sincerity of feeling.)

The winter solstice is a very important festival in China's lunar calendar and a traditional festival, and there are still many places that have had the custom of the winter solstice festival. The winter solstice is commonly known as the "winter festival", "long solstice festival", "YaYu", etc. As early as two and a half thousand years ago, the winter solstice festival was held on the first day of the month. As early as two thousand five hundred years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, our country has used the earth to observe the sun to determine the winter solstice, it is the twenty-four solar terms in the earliest development of a. The time in December of each year, the solar calendar. The time is between December 22nd or 23rd on the solar calendar every year.

The winter solstice is the day with the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere throughout the year, and after the winter solstice, the day will get longer day by day. Ancient people on the winter solstice is: the Yin pole of the arrival, Yang Qi began to grow, the day south to the shortest day to the longest shadow of the sun, so it is said "winter solstice". After the winter solstice, the climate around the world have entered one of the coldest stage, which is often referred to as "into the nine", China's folk "cold in the three nine, hot in three volts," said.

Modern astronomical science, the winter solstice, the sun shoots directly at the Tropic of Capricorn, sunlight on the northern hemisphere is the most tilted, the northern hemisphere, the shortest day, the longest night, after this day, the sun and gradually move north.

In our country in ancient times on the winter solstice is very important, the winter solstice is treated as a large festival, there was a "winter solstice is as big as the year," said, and there are customs to celebrate the winter solstice. The book of han said: "winter solstice yang qi up, juntao long, so congratulations." People think: after the winter solstice, the day is longer than one day, Yang Qi rise, is the beginning of a cycle of festivals, is also an auspicious day, should be celebrated. The Book of Jin" on the record "Wei Jin winter solstice day by all the countries and bureaucrats to congratulate ...... its instrument subdivided into the first day." This shows the importance of the winter solstice in ancient times.

Now, some places still take the winter solstice as a festival. Northern regions have the custom of slaughtering sheep, eating dumplings and wontons on the winter solstice, while southern regions have the habit of eating winter solstice rice balls and winter solstice long thread noodles on this day. Various regions also have the custom of sacrificing to the sky and ancestors on the winter solstice.

The eighth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar: Lunar Festival

(In ancient times, the December sacrifice to the "gods" was called Lunar, so the twelfth month of the lunar calendar is called Lunar. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the old custom to drink Laha congee. Legend has it that Siddhartha Gautama attained Buddhahood on this day, so monasteries cooked congee for the Buddha every day, and then the folk followed the custom until today.)

The Spring Festival, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year". It is one of the grandest and most lively traditional festivals in China. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated in the Yin Shang period at the end of the year to sacrifice to the gods and ancestors.