What are the origins of the eight traditional festivals?

The origins of the eight traditional festivals are:

The origin of the Spring Festival: According to legend, in ancient times, ancestors were threatened by one of the fiercest beasts, Nian. It catches all kinds of animals as food. In winter, when food is scarce in the mountains, it will break into villages and hunt people and animals, and the people are very afraid. Many years later, people found that Nian was afraid of three things, red, fire and noise.

In winter, people hang red boards on the doors, make fires at the doors, stay up all night and knock at the doors. That night, Nian broke into the village, saw every household glowing with red light, and heard a deafening noise. He ran back to the mountains in fear and never came out. As the night passed, people congratulated each other and celebrated the victory by decorating, drinking and feasting.

Lantern Festival: Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and animals everywhere that hurt people and animals, so people organized to beat them. A god bird landed on the earth because it got lost, but was accidentally shot by a hunter. The Emperor of Heaven was very angry when he learned that. He immediately issued a decree, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the land on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all the people, livestock and property. The daughter of Emperor Tiandi was kind-hearted, and could not bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she risked her life and secretly told the people the news.

It took people a long time to figure out a way after hearing the news. It is decided that on the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, every household should set off lanterns, set off firecrackers and set off fireworks. Then the Emperor of Heaven will think that people have been burned to death. In order to commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month to commemorate this day.

Tomb-Sweeping Day: The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Tomb-Sweeping Day is first of all a very important solar term. As soon as Tomb-Sweeping Day arrives, the temperature rises, which is a good season for spring ploughing and planting. Therefore, there is a saying that "melons and beans are planted before and after Qingming". Agricultural proverb "Planting trees is not as clear as Qingming". The days of Qingming and cold food are approaching, and cold food is the day when people ban fire and sweep graves. Gradually, cold food and Qingming became one, and cold food became another name of Qingming, and it also became a custom of Qingming. Qingming does not move fireworks, but only eats cold food.

Dragon Boat Festival: According to legend, after the death of Qu Yuan, the people of Chu were very sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor. People followed suit after seeing it.

An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds. Since then, on the fifth day of May every year, there has been the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

Valentine's Day in China: The evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is called "Qixi". China folk legend Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet at Tianhe Bridge tonight.

Double Ninth Festival: According to the records of Wu Jun, a native of A Liang in the Southern Dynasties, there was a man named Huan Jing in runan county in the Eastern Han Dynasty. A great plague suddenly occurred in his place of residence, and Huanjing's parents died of illness, so he went to the southeast mountain to learn from his teacher. The fairy Fei Changfang gave Huanjing a demon-reducing dragon sword. Huan Jing gets up early and goes to bed late, wears a Dai Yue, studies hard and practices hard. One day, Fei Changfang said, "On September 9, the plague will come again, so you can go back and kill pests." And gave him a bag of dogwood leaves and a bottle of chrysanthemum wine, so that the elders in their hometown could climb high to avoid disaster. On September 9, he led his wife, children and fellow villagers to a nearby mountain. Take the dogwood leaves with you, but the plague demon is afraid to go near them. Then pour out the chrysanthemum wine, and everyone took a sip to avoid catching the plague. He fought the plague demon and finally killed it. Up to now, people on both sides of the Ruhe River are still telling stories about climbing mountains to avoid disasters and waving swords and stabbing demons on September 9. Since then, people celebrate the Double Ninth Festival and have the custom of climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival.

Mid-Autumn Festival: August 15th of the lunar calendar, which is in the middle of autumn, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival". Autumn is crisp, the blue sky is clear, the full moon is hanging, the earth is clear, and Gui Xiang is floating, which is intoxicating. Su Shi wrote in the poem "Yangguanqu": "When the dusk clouds gather, the layers overflow with cold, and the silver and the Chinese turn to the jade plate silently. This night is not long. Where will the bright moon look next year? " Expressed the beauty of the mid-autumn moon night. The old custom is to have a family reunion in the evening, and sometimes have fruit and cooked food, feasting and enjoying the moon, laughing and enjoying the moon in Gui Xiang, and getting together to celebrate the festival.

Winter solstice: It is an important solar term in the China Lunar calendar and a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The solstice in winter is usually called Winter Festival, Long Festival and New Year's Eve. As early as more than 2,500 years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, China had observed the sun with the earth, and determined the winter solstice, which was the earliest of the 24 solar terms, and the time was between 0 and 23 in Gregorian calendar 65438+February 265438. In the north of China, there is a custom of slaughtering sheep and eating jiaozi and wonton on the winter solstice, while in the south, there is a custom of eating dumplings and long noodles on the winter solstice. There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors in winter solstice in various regions.