Traditional Chinese Culture and Festivals

At the beginning of the year, when everything is renewed, the main activities are eating New Year's Eve dinner, making sacrifices and observing the New Year's Eve, etc. In addition, the first, second and third days of the first month of the New Year are the three days of the Great Year, when sacrifices and offerings are also made. During these three days, no work is usually done except for cooking, and it is taboo to say unlucky words and visit the closest and honored relatives. From the first to the fifteenth day of the Spring Festival, various temple fairs, social fires, and rural theater are also held in various places, making it the most lively and extravagant of the traditional festivals.

2 Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the Lantern Festival, which is also known as Yuansi Festival, Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. In the festival, there are customs such as eating lanterns, watching lanterns, playing social fires and guessing lantern riddles. In addition to eating the Lantern Festival, there are also many different food customs around the world. Shaanxi people eat "Lantern Tea", that is, in the noodle soup made of all kinds of vegetables and fruits; Henan Luoyang, Lingbao area to eat jujube cake; Yunnan Kunming people eat a lot of bean dough.

3 February 2

Commonly known as "Dragon Head Raising", also known as the Green Dragon Festival, is a year of agricultural production began to mark. Activities include spreading ashes to attract dragons, smoking insects, picking vegetables, and avoiding needles and threads (to prevent "tying up the dragon's eyes"). Records about the customs of this festival in the Tang Dynasty. As for the February 2 this day to eat and drink, a change during the Spring Festival to eat greasy wind, to move vegetarian.

4 Qingming Festival

Sweeping ancestral tombs, trekking in spring, avoid moving fireworks.

5 Dragon Boat Festival

Also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, it is said to commemorate Qu Yuan. Mainly eat rice dumplings, dragon boat racing activities, some places such as Qinghai, there is a tie rope (twisted into a thin rope with five-color silk thread, tied to the wrists of the hands and feet), inserted willows, wearing a bag of incense and other customs, in order to be used to drive away worms and pray for good luck and peace.

6 Seven coincidental festival

Also known as the Beggar's Day, legend has it that it is the day when the Cowherd and the Weaveress meet at the Magpie Bridge. Folk generally set up in the evening of the offering table, the woman begging for coincidence, in order to give a good female labor. There are also young men and women talking about love, also known as the Chinese festival of love.

7 Mid-Autumn Festival

Also known as the Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, August will be, chasing the moon festival, playing the moon festival, moon festival, worship festival, the daughter of the festival or reunion festival, the day of the family reunion to enjoy the moon, moon cakes, the original there is a "burn bucket incense", "walk the moon! "burning incense", "walking on the moon", "releasing lanterns", "tree mid-autumn festival", "lighting pagoda lamps", "fire dragon dance "Tree Mid-Autumn Festival", "Lighting Pagoda Lanterns", "Fire Dragon Dance", "Trailing Stones", "Selling Rabbits", and other festivals and activities. This festival is more emphasized by overseas travelers, and many ethnic minorities also celebrate this festival.

8 Chung Yeung Festival

Take the meaning of nine nine suns. The main activities of the festival are climbing up the mountain, enjoying chrysanthemums, drinking wine, etc. It is quite popular among the elderly, so it is also called the "Festival of the Elderly".

9 October 1

Commonly known as the "Ghost Festival", "Cold Clothes Festival", but also ancestor worship festival. As the saying goes, "October 1, send cold clothes", at dusk on this day, every family will go to the grave to pay homage to their ancestors. For some reason can not go to the grave or far from home, the field or crossroads in a circle, incineration of paper money.

10 Winter Solstice Festival

Winter Solstice, is a very important festival in China's lunar calendar, is also a traditional festival. The winter solstice is commonly known as the "winter festival", "long solstice festival", "YaYu" and so on. In the north, there is the custom of slaughtering sheep, eating dumplings and wontons on the winter solstice, while in the south, there is the custom 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 this day of the winter solstice.

11 Lapa Festival

People customarily call the twelfth month of the lunar calendar the Lunar New Year, and the first eight days of the Lunar New Year are called Lapa Day or Lapa, which is treated as a traditional festival, the Lapa Festival. Many customs related to Lunar New Year or Laha are often labeled with the word "Lah". On this day, many places eat Laha congee, Laha is actually the beginning of the preparations for the Spring Festival.