The first festival of the year is the "Spring Festival"

The first festival of the year is the "Spring Festival"

People usually call it the "Spring Festival"!

The first solar term of the year: "Beating Spring"

The first solar term of the year is "Lichun", which is often called "Beating Spring". Why do you call it that? China's history has such a custom, every year on the day of spring, people dressed in festive costumes, carrying a large papier-maché plow ox, singing and dancing on the street parade. After the parade, the papier-maché plowing ox carried to the county office of the public hall, by the magistrate of the new self-whip three, meaning: the earth back to spring, hurry to plow. Therefore, people called the spring "spring".

Eating spring cake, I like.

January 1: New Year's Day

The word "New Year's Day" first came from a poem by Xiao Ziyun (萧子云), a Liang scholar of the Southern Dynasty, "Jieya" (介雅), which reads: "New Year's Day for the four qi, and the beginning of a new day for ten thousand years". Yuan is the beginning, the first meaning; Dan is a Chinese character, above the "day" represents the sun, below the "one" represents 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 Xia Dynasty is the first day of the first month; Shang Dynasty in the first day of December; Zhou Dynasty in the first day of November, etc. 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 on, the celebrations of the middle and lower Yuan were gradually abolished, while the upper Yuan endured.

March 8: Women's Day

March 12: Tree Planting Day

The day before Qingming Festival: Cold Food

A festival in the old custom, one day before the Qingming Festival [two days before the Qingming Festival]. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Prince of Jin, Chong Er, who had been dead for many years, returned to his throne [i.e., the Duke of Jin], and rewarded the ministers who had died with him, except for Jie Zhi Tui, who 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.

Only the state officials are allowed to set fire, not the people are allowed to light lamps. It is about this festival.

April 5: Qingming Festival

The Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in China, and the most important festival of worship, is the day of ancestor worship and sweeping tombs. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as visiting the graves, an activity to honor the dead. Most of the 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, it is the bright and beautiful spring grass and trees spit out the green season, but also it is the people of the spring tour [called trekking in ancient times] a good time, so the ancients have the Qingming trekking, and to carry out a series of sports activities of the custom.

Anciently, prostitutes in the south of the songstresses also mourned the lyricist Liu Yong on this day.

May 1: 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". 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 was banished by slander, witnessed the growing political corruption in Chu, and could not realize their own political ideals, unable to save the dying motherland, so he threw himself into the Bioluo River 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.

Duanwu Festival, but also bushels of hairpins door, the tiger's symbol to tie arms, because of poor sanitation in ancient times, the summer plague epidemic, bushels of grass and mugwort are to remove moisture and detoxification. Tiger is a numbered colorful thread, it will be tied to the arm of the child, blessing the child a year of peace. Some places use peppercorns to make a purse and wear it on the body, which has the same function as dandelion and mugwort. Some places also give small children to wear embroidered with five poison (green snake, centipede, scorpion, gecko and toad) of the bib.

June 1: Children's Day

July 1: the founding of the Chinese ****anufacturing party

July 7: the anniversary of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

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

The evening of the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, called the "Tanabata". China's folklore is that the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden meet on this night at the Bridge of Magpies in the Heavenly River, and there are customary ways for women to beg for coquettish things by threading needles to the Weaving Maiden star on this night. This day is probably the most lively and open day of the ancient women, during the day with a water tank, put in the sun. At night under the moonlight to the Weaver Star to the water tank to throw their embroidery needle, according to the needle in the water shadow judgment of the person's hand tricky or not, some like auspicious clouds, some like flowers, some but like a stick hammer as thick.

A farmer's proverb says, "On the seventh day of the seventh month, when it is clear and bright, the sickle is sharpened to cut the rice." This is again the time to sharpen the sickle in preparation for the early rice harvest.

The 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar: Zhongyuan Festival

Commonly known as the Ghost Festival. Legend has it that the King of Hell opens the gates of the ghosts on July 15, so on this day every family puts on river lanterns and burns paper money. People with small children are not allowed to go out as soon as it gets dark, because on this day all the lonely ghosts (unnatural deaths) come out to look for replacements.

August 1: China's Army Day

August 15: Mid-Autumn Festival

August 15 on the lunar calendar is 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 been more widely spread.

Families reunite in the evening on this day and sit together under the vine of grapes (a symbol of fertility and good fortune) to eat mooncakes, drink osmanthus wine and look for Chang'e, the Jade Rabbit, Wu Gang and the osmanthus tree in the moon.

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month: Chung Yeung Festival

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month. China's ancient to nine for 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, quickly asked the family sewing small generation, filled with cornelian cherry, tied to the arm, climbed the mountain, 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 in the Chongyang Festival insert dogwood, 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 the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "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 that the brothers are climbing up to the top of the mountain, inserting dogwoods all over the place, less one person." The poem records the customs of the time. The poem is still popular today because of its sincerity of feeling.

September 10: Teachers' Day

October 1: National Day

The 22nd day of the 11th lunar month: Winter Solstice

In the ancient times of our country, winter solstice was treated as a big festival, and there was a saying that "winter solstice is as big as a year", and there was a custom of celebrating 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

Anciently, 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 is to drink Laha congee. Legend has it that Siddhartha Gautama attained Buddhahood on this day, so temples cook congee for Buddha every day, and then folk custom until today.

Lunar Lunar month 23: sacrificial stove

Sacrifice stove, is a very influential in China's folk customs, widely spread. In the old days, almost every family had a "Zao Wang" god in the stove room. People call this god "Sifu Bodhisattva" or "Zaojun Sifu", and legend has it that he is the Jade Emperor's "Nine Heavenly East Kitchen Sifu Zaowangfujun", responsible for the management of the family's stove fire, was worshiped as a family's protective deity. Most of the Zaowang niches are located on the north or east side of the stove room, with the statue of Zaowang in the center. For those who do not have a Zaowang niche, there are also those who put the idol directly on the wall. Some of the idols depicted only one person, Zao Wang, while others had two persons, a man and a woman, and the goddess was called "Zao Wang's grandmother". This is probably an imitation of the image of an earthly couple. Most of the statues of Lord Zao also have the calendar of the year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Kitchen", "Supervisory God of the Earth", and "Head of the Household" to indicate the status of the God of Vesta. On both sides of the posters are couplets that read "Good things are said in heaven, and peace is guaranteed in the world below" to bless the whole family.

Since the New Year's Eve of the previous year, Zao Wang Wang has been staying at home to protect and monitor the family; on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, Zao Wang Wang will ascend to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor in the sky on the family's good or bad deeds, and the ceremony of sending Zao Wang to the Jade Emperor is known as "sending Zao" or "resigning from Zao". Based on the report of the Zaos, the Jade Emperor will then hand over to the Zaos the fate of the family in the new year, which should be good or bad. Therefore, for the family, the report of the Zaowang master is really of great interest.

Thirtieth day of the Lunar New Year in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar: New Year's Eve

The night of the thirtieth day of the Lunar New Year is called New Year's Eve. The original meaning of the word "除" is "to go", which is derived from "易"[交替]; the original meaning of the word "夕" is "sunset". The original meaning of the character "夕" is "sunset", which is derived from "night". Therefore, the night of New Year's Eve contains the meaning of "the old year will be removed here, and the new year will be replaced tomorrow". The word "New Year's Eve" means to get rid of the old and bring in the new. New Year's Eve first originated in the pre-Qin period, "by removing". According to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals - The Record of the Seasonal Winter", the ancients used to beat drums on the day before New Year's Eve to get rid of "epidemics and plague ghosts", so that the coming year would be free from diseases and calamities. This is the origin of the "New Year's Eve" festival. "New Year's Eve" in ancient times there are many other names, such as in addition to the night, in addition to the year, in addition to the year, in addition to the big, big end and so on. Although there are many names, but it is always the meaning of sending the old and welcoming the new, to get rid of the disease and eliminate disasters.

The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar: the Spring Festival

(is the first year of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the "big year". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of about four thousand years in China. It is one of the most lively and grandest traditional festivals in China. Ancient Spring Festival, refers to the twenty-four solar terms in the lunar calendar, "spring" season, after the North and South Dynasties will be the Spring Festival at the end of the year, and refers to the entire spring, when the earth back to spring, everything is renewed, people will take it as the beginning of a new year. In the early years of the Republic of China after the Xinhai Revolution, the first day of the first month of the year was designated as the Spring Festival after the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian [solar] calendar. It was not until September 27, 1949, that the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the first day of the first month of the New Year as the "Spring Festival," and many people still call the Spring Festival the New Year.

Everyone often refers to the Spring Festival as the "New Year," but the original meaning of "New Year" was quite different from today's. It is said that in the very ancient times, the Chinese people had the right to celebrate the New Year. It is said that in ancient times, there was the most vicious beast in the world called "Nian". It grew bigger than a camel. It ran faster than the wind and roared louder than thunder. When it came out, it ate people and hurt animals, and people's lives were seriously threatened. In order to punish the "year", the gods locked it into the mountains, only allowed it to come out once a year. People in the long-term practice, found that the "year" has "three fears" - afraid of red color, afraid of loud noise, afraid of fire. So, one year, on the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, people put red paper on the door, and constantly beat the gongs and drums, firecrackers, and light up the house all night long. "Year" came at night to see, bright lights in every house; listen, everywhere the sound of firecrackers, scared it did not dare to enter the village. During the day, it sneaked down the mountain, see still red on the door of every house, everywhere thud, scared it scared, turned around and ran back. Since then, the "year" has not dared to come back, it is said to starve to death in the mountains and old forests. Later on, people turned the prevention of "Nian" and "Nianxuan" into a peaceful and stable New Year. There is no more "Nian", but the custom of celebrating the New Year still remains. Bright red spring couplets, brilliant lights, crisp firecrackers, loud gongs and drums, every year.