What are the customs of traditional festivals in China?
1. Spring Festival
Custom: New Year greetings are centered on offering wishes and praying for blessings, and are carried out in the form of activities such as uncovering old cloth, welcoming the new year, worshipping gods and ancestors, and praying for a bumper harvest. The content is rich and colorful, lively and festive, and the annual flavor is rich. Chinese New Year has a long history. In the process of inheritance and development, some relatively fixed customs have been formed, many of which have been passed down to this day, such as holding new year's goods, sweeping dust, pasting new year's red, having a reunion dinner, celebrating New Year's Eve, celebrating New Year's greetings, dancing dragons and lions, worshipping gods and ancestors, setting off firecrackers, burning fireworks, playing god games, dating rules, boat races, praying for blessings, temple fairs, beating gongs and drums and so on. Traditional festival ceremonies and related custom activities are important contents of festival elements, bearing rich and colorful festival cultural connotations.
2. Lantern Festival
Custom: Because Lantern Festival has the custom of displaying and viewing lanterns, it is also called "Lantern Festival" among the people. Lantern Festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. In addition, folk performances such as playing with dragon lanterns, playing with lions, walking on stilts, rowing on dry boats, dancing yangko and playing Taiping drums have been added to the Lantern Festival in many places.
3. Tomb-Sweeping Day
Customs: There are rich customs, which can be summarized into two major festivals and traditions: one is to respect ancestors and pursue the future cautiously; The second is outing and getting close to nature. It is an important function of Qingming etiquette and custom culture to be cautious in ancestor worship ceremony and enjoy the fun of spring in outing, cultural inheritance and physical and mental adjustment. Qingming is an important time for the integration of solar terms and festivals in traditional society. Solar terms are "weather" and pure natural time, and festivals are "people's time", which fully embodies people's natural view of "harmony between man and nature". Tomb-Sweeping Day bears rich cultural connotations in its historical development, and there are differences in the content or details of customs in different parts of the country. Although the festival activities vary from place to place, grave sweeping and outing are the same basic custom theme. During Tomb-Sweeping Day, no matter where people are, they will return to their hometown to participate in ancestor worship activities and remember their ancestors. The culture of Qingming etiquette and custom fully embodies the humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation of respecting ancestors and cautiously pursuing the future.
4. Dragon Boat Festival
Custom: Eating Zongzi: Eating Zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional folk custom in China. Zongzi, also known as "Jiao Shu", "Zongban" and "Zongzi", has a long history and various patterns. "Artemisia argyi is fragrant; Peach branches are inserted in the grid, and when you go out, you can see that the wheat is yellow; It's sunny here, sunny there and sunny everywhere. " This is a popular song describing the ancient Dragon Boat Festival. Generally speaking, people all over the world have the same custom of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival is the same in China. Ancient zongzi appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, and was originally used to worship ancestors and gods. In the Jin Dynasty, it became the food for the Dragon Boat Festival celebration. Multicolored Silk Thread: Bao Puzi by Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty also recorded the witchcraft of hanging five-color paper in the mountains to summon five ghosts and gods, which probably symbolizes that the five ghosts and gods care for each other with five colors, and originated from the five elements concept in ancient China. In addition, it may originate from the custom of tattooing in ancient southerners. "History of Han Geography" records that the Yue people "tattooed their hair to avoid harm". Liu Yiqing, a native of A Jin, is the author of Shi Shuo and other books. In the book, rice dumplings are wrapped in five-color silk and thrown into the river, fearing mosquitoes and dragons. Although it is a legend, it reveals some interesting information. Five-color silk tied to the arm, or tattoos.
5. Chinese Valentine's Day
Custom: Valentine's Day in China is the earliest love festival in the world. It is a traditional folk custom in China to sit and watch the morning glory and the weaver girl, visit friends in the boudoir, worship the weaver girl, seek marriage, learn needlework and pray for good luck. In ancient times, countless sentient men and women in the world prayed for a happy marriage with the stars on this night. Valentine's Day in China originated in China, and it is also celebrated in some Asian countries influenced by China culture, such as Japan, Korean Peninsula and Viet Nam.
6. Mid-Autumn Festival
Custom: Mid-Autumn Festival night, full moon in Gui Xiang. In the old customs, people regard it as a symbol of reunion. People will prepare all kinds of fruits and cooked food, especially moon cakes, and enjoy the moon in the yard while eating moon cakes. The word "autumn" is interpreted as "autumn when crops are ripe" In the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, crops and various fruits are maturing one after another. In order to celebrate the harvest and express the happy mood, the Mid-Autumn Festival is regarded as a festival. Sacrificing the moon, the pre-Qin gods have been offering sacrifices to this activity, calling it "night light" or "evening moon". In ancient times, in Guangdong, people had the custom of worshipping the Moon Mother on the evening of August 15th. Appreciating the moon, as early as the early Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were folk activities of appreciating the moon. In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon. In the Song Dynasty, the night market was still open all night, and tourists kept coming in an endless stream, forming the Mid-Autumn Festival centered on enjoying the moon, which was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yue Bai is actually an ancient people's worship of "Moon God", which has been popular all over the country since the Song Dynasty. As for the specific ceremony, people usually put the "Moon God" memorial tablet at home or outdoors on the evening of the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, and then put away the offerings of fruits, pears, peaches, moon cakes and so on, and then worship and pray. Watching the tide, the custom of watching the tide in Mid-Autumn Festival; In ancient Zhejiang, besides enjoying the moon, tide watching was another Mid-Autumn Festival activity. Eating moon cakes, the eating custom of Mid-Autumn Festival; Moon cakes are round and shared by the whole family, symbolizing reunion and harmony; Ancient moon cakes were eaten as sacrifices in the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as "small cakes" and "moon groups". In addition to these, there are some places to enjoy osmanthus, drink osmanthus wine, light lanterns, guess riddles, burn towers and play with rabbits.
7. Double Ninth Festival
Customs: In the Double Ninth Festival, there were ancient customs such as climbing high to pray for blessings, enjoying chrysanthemums in autumn, planting dogwood, offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and holding birthday banquets. So far, it has added the connotation of respecting the elderly, feasting on the day of Chongyang, and being grateful for respecting the elderly. Climbing mountains and enjoying autumn and giving thanks and respecting the elderly are two important themes of today's Double Ninth Festival. Every time I go to Chongyang, people will think of Wang Wei's "Being in a foreign land, I miss my relatives twice every festive season." I know from a distance where my brother climbed, and there is one person missing from the dogwood. "This poem. Since ancient times, the Double Ninth Festival has been a day when people respect the old and love the young, miss their parents and long for reunion. Specific customs are listed as follows: climbing mountains, eating Chongyang cake, enjoying chrysanthemums and drinking chrysanthemum wine, holding chrysanthemums in dogwood and drinking chong yang wine.
8. Winter solstice festival
Custom: Many areas have the custom of offering sacrifices to the heavens and ancestors from the winter solstice, and some places celebrate this festival from the winter solstice. Every family provides genealogy, ancestor statues, memorial tablets, etc. In the upper hall of the home, an altar, incense burners and offerings are placed. In some places, while offering sacrifices to ancestors, they also offer sacrifices to gods, land gods and deities, so as to make the next year's weather favorable and the family prosperous. Today, there are still coastal areas such as western Guangdong, Chaoshan and parts of Zhejiang that continue the traditional custom of ancestor worship. Cantonese people eat barbecue and ginger rice on the solstice in winter. On this day, most Cantonese people have the custom of eating meat and "adding vegetables" during the winter solstice. In Chaoshan area, there is a folk saying that "Winter Festival Pills, once eaten, celebrate the New Year", commonly known as "Adding New Year". Hakkas believe that the taste of water is the most mellow in winter solstice, so it has become a custom for Hakkas to make wine in winter solstice. People in Hangzhou eat rice cakes on the solstice in winter. From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, people in Hangzhou liked to eat rice cakes on the solstice in winter. In winter solstice, you can cook rice cakes with different flavors, eat rice cakes in winter solstice and get old, which is auspicious. In Sichuan, it is the solstice to eat mutton soup in winter, and mutton is the first tonic in winter. In the area around the two lakes, red beans and glutinous rice must be eaten on the solstice in winter.
9. New Year's Eve
Customs: New Year's Eve mainly includes the customs of posting New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, lucky money, resigning from the year, and keeping the year. On New Year's Eve, the whole family eats a "reunion dinner" together, which smells like a family reunion in the New Year. The folk custom of keeping old is mainly manifested in turning on the lights all night on New Year's Eve. Old fire originated from the need of exorcism in ancient times. On New Year's Eve, in addition to the New Year's fire, there is also the custom of "lighting lamps to illuminate the New Year", that is, burning lamps and candles everywhere on New Year's Eve, which is called "waste", which will enrich the family's wealth in the coming year. On New Year's Eve, people should not only clean their homes and outside, but also put up door gods, Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures and hanging door cages. People will put on new clothes with festive colors and patterns. The customs of northerners are roughly the same. They make jiaozi and steamed buns during the New Year. However, in the south, customs are different, such as making rice cakes, making zongzi, cooking dumplings and eating rice. There are many different customs of the Spring Festival in different parts of the south. The shape of jiaozi is like an "ingot" and the sound of rice cakes is like "rice cakes", which are good signs of good luck.
10. Laba Festival
Custom: The main custom of Laba Festival is "drinking Laba porridge" and soaking Laba vinegar. China has been drinking Laba porridge for 1000 years. "Laba" was originally a Buddhist festival, but after several generations of evolution, it gradually became a household name. According to legend, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Sakyamuni watched the stars at night and became a Buddha. Therefore, Laba Festival is also called "Magic Weapon Festival", "Buddhist Daoism Festival" and "Daoism Society".
1 1. Dragon heads up
Due to the overlapping festivals, February 2 in some parts of the south has both the custom of raising the head of the dragon and the custom of offering sacrifices to the society. For example, in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and other regions, on February 2nd (the fifth May after ancient beginning of spring), the country (the land god) was mainly sacrificed, and dragon festival in Duanyang was called "Longxiang". According to legend, the Dragon Head-lifting Festival on February 2nd is the birthday of an ancient figure and should be attached to the festival. Because birthdays were not celebrated in ancient times, people were afraid of winning prizes, and the real birthday situation would never be revealed.
12. Social Day Festival
Also known as Native Festival (the second day of the second lunar month), it is an ancient traditional festival in China, and its social days are divided into spring social activities and autumn social activities. In ancient times, the festival of social day was determined according to the calendar of cadres and branches. Later, due to the change of calendar, festivals were decided by the lunar calendar. The Spring Festival is calculated on the fifth day after beginning of spring (e, the five elements belong to the earth), which is generally around the second day of February in the lunar calendar, and the Autumn Festival is based on the fifth day after beginning of autumn, which is about August in the lunar calendar. In ancient times, the land gods and the places where they were sacrificed were called "clubs". According to the folk custom of our country, every time sowing or harvesting season, farmers should set up a social sacrifice, pray or reward the land god.
13. Shangsi Festival
Commonly known as March 3, it is a traditional festival of the Han nationality. It was designated as the fourth day of March before the Han Dynasty, and was later designated as the third day of March in the summer calendar. Shangsi Festival has a long history. In ancient times, Shangsi Festival has become a large-scale folk festival. In spring and quiet time, people go out of their homes and gather at the water's edge to hold ceremonies to clear up the ominous. Shangsi Festival is the most important festival in ancient times. People go to the water to take a bath together, which is called "praise" Since then, sacrificial banquets, meandering water and outings have been added.
14. Cold Food Festival
The custom of easy fire existed in the pre-Qin period. "The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo": "The old valley has gone, the new valley has risen, and the period has passed." Here, Zaiyu relates the growth cycle of crops to the time of changing fire. According to the Records of the Later Han Dynasty, the initial Cold Food Festival lasted for a long time, the longest being 105 days and the shortest being 1 month. No fire is allowed in the Cold Food Festival, only cold food can be eaten. The Cold Food Festival consists of two parts, one is the official ceremony of changing fire, and the other is the prohibition of cold food among the people. Cold food reflects the lack of food experienced by ancestors, and the ceremony of changing fire marks the beginning of a new farming period. The records of folk cold food customs almost suddenly appeared in the documents of the Eastern Han Dynasty, mainly concentrated in Shanxi. Even in the Tang Dynasty, when the custom of cold food was quite popular, it did not spread out of the north.
15. Mid-Autumn Festival
It is the name of Taoism, which is called July 30 and July 14 in folk customs and ancestor worship festival in Buddhism. Festival customs mainly include offering sacrifices to ancestors, setting off river lanterns, offering sacrifices to the dead, burning paper ingots and offering sacrifices to the ground. Its appearance can be traced back to ancestor worship and related festivals in ancient times. July is auspicious month and filial month, and July 30 is a festival for people to celebrate the harvest and repay the earth in early autumn. Some crops are ripe, so people should worship their ancestors according to the law and report Qiu Cheng to them with new rice and other sacrifices. This festival is a traditional cultural festival to remember the ancestors, and its cultural core is to respect the ancestors and do filial piety.
16. Cold Clothes Festival
On the first day of October in the lunar calendar, it is also called "October Dynasty", "ancestor worship festival", "ghost festival" and "ghost head festival". In northern China, Hanyi Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day in spring and Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15 are collectively called the three "ghost festivals" in China. The Cold Clothes Festival is popular in northern China, and many northerners will offer sacrifices on this day to commemorate their deceased relatives. This is called sending cold clothes. At the same time, this day also marks the arrival of severe winter, so it is also a day to send warm clothes to parents, lovers and others who care about it. On the first day of October of the first year of Qin dynasty, I sent cold clothes. The festival food of the Qin people for the New Year is "millet", and "Chronicles of Jingchu" records: "The first day of October, commonly known as the first year of Qin Dynasty." The first day of October in the lunar calendar is called "October Dynasty". Although the Qin Dynasty died early, the customs at the beginning of the Qin Dynasty were not only used in the early Han Dynasty, but also had an impact after the taichu calendar Law in the Han Dynasty. Pu Jizhong, a poet in the Song Dynasty, compiled "Ancient and Modern Miscellaneous Fu", which included 38 poems about drinking in early winter by the poet Shen Li, among which he chanted: "My people have been Qin people for a long time, and there is still the custom of October." Thus, Qin culture remained until the Song Dynasty. Sacrifice to ancestors on the first day of the tenth lunar month, including family sacrifice and grave sacrifice. Hanyi Festival is a popular festival in the north, but few people know it in the south and other places.
17. Off-year
It doesn't mean one day. Due to local customs, the days called "off-year" are different. During the off-year period, the main folk activities include sweeping dust and offering sacrifices to stoves. In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, the sacrificial furnace was always the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, at least until the Qianlong period. "Lu" Volume 12 "Reading for Four Nights in December": "It is customary to say that reading for four nights in the twelfth lunar month means sending meals at night." According to the legacy of unofficial history Daguan and Qing Palace in Qing Dynasty, Qianlong once worshipped the Kitchen God in Kunning Palace on the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month every year. Since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperor's family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save money", they also paid homage to the kitchen god, so the folks in the northern region followed suit and celebrated the festival on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the ancient tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is still maintained.