The origins of traditional festivals in China include New Year's Eve, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival.
The first solar term every year is "beginning of spring", and people usually call it "Da Chun". Why do you call it that? There is a custom in Chinese history. On this day in early spring every year, people will put on holiday clothes, carry a big paper cow and parade in the street singing and dancing. After the parade, the cows wrapped in paper were carried to the court of the county government, and the county officials personally whipped them three times, which means: spring back to the earth and hurry to farm. Therefore, people call beginning of spring "Da Chun". )
New Year's Day
1 month 1 day
(The word "New Year's Day" comes from the poem "Jieya" written by Xiao Ziyun, a native of A Liang in the Southern Dynasties: "Four spirits of New Year's Day, long life from today". Yuan is the beginning, the first meaning; Dan is a knowing word. The "sun" above represents the sun and the "one" below represents the horizon. The sun rises from the horizon, symbolizing the beginning of the day. New Year's Day is the first day of the year.
Gregorian calendar 65438+ 10 month 1 is recognized as New Year's Day in the world today. The dates of the New Year in China are not consistent. For example, the Xia Dynasty is the first day of the first month; Shang dynasty is the first day of December; The Zhou Dynasty is the first day of November, and so on. 1 On September 27th, 949, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference passed the Law on the Chronology of the AD, which designated the Gregorian calendar1as New Year's Day. )
the Lantern Festival
the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar
(Also known as "Shangyuan Festival", that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This is an important traditional festival in China. In ancient books, this day is called Shangyuan, and its night is called Yuanye, Yuanxi or Yuanxiao. The name Yuanxiao has been used ever since. Because Lantern Festival has the custom of hanging lanterns and watching lanterns, it is also called Lantern Festival among the people. In addition, there are customs such as eating Yuanxiao, walking on stilts and riddles. The ancient calendars in China were closely related to the phases of the moon. On the fifteenth day of each month, people will welcome the first full moon night of the year, which is naturally considered as an auspicious day. As early as the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month has been regarded as a day of offering sacrifices to gods and praying for blessings. Later, the ancients called the fifteenth day of the first month Shangyuan, the fifteenth day of July Zhongyuan and the fifteenth day of October Xia Yuan. At the latest, in the early Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sanyuan was the day when grand ceremonies were held. Of the three elements, Shangyuan is the most valued. Later, the celebrations in the Central Plains and Xia Yuan were gradually abolished, but Shangyuan was enduring. )
An outdated festival (Qingming Festival) that started one or two days ago in Tomb-Sweeping Day, when only cold food is served for three days.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, the day before.
(A festival in old customs, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day [two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day]. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin who had been exiled for many years, returned to China and acceded to the throne [that is, Jin Wengong]. Except the introduction, all the courtiers who died with him were treated with respect. Jie Zhitui then lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan (now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). When Jin Wengong learned about it, he wanted to raise the bonus. He found Mianshan, but he couldn't find it, so he wanted to burn the mountain and force him out. But Jiezhi couldn't hold on, and both mother and son were burned to death. Therefore, Jin Wengong stipulates that people are forbidden to cook on the fire and express their condolences with cold food on this day every year. Later, the custom of eating cold food to sweep the grave at the Cold Food Festival was formed. )
Qingming Festival
The eighth day of the second lunar month
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Grave-sweeping is commonly known as going to the grave and offering sacrifices to the dead. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to the old custom, when sweeping graves, people should bring food, wine, fruit, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer food to the graves of their loved ones, then burn the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, break some green branches and insert them in front of the graves, then kowtow and worship, and finally go home after eating and drinking. The poem Qingming written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said: "There are many rains during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " Write about the special atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, according to the solar calendar, between April 4th and 6th every year, it is the season of beautiful spring and lush vegetation, and it is also a good time for people to have a spring outing, so the ancients had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming and carrying out a series of sports activities. )
Dragon Boat Festival
the 5th day of the fifth lunar month
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. The real name of "Dragon Boat Festival" is "Dragon Boat Festival", which means the beginning. "Five" and "noon" are homophonic and universal. This is an ancient festival in China. After being exiled by slanderers, Qu Yuan, the earliest patriotic poet in ancient China, witnessed the increasingly corrupt politics of Chu State and was unable to realize his political ideal and save the endangered motherland, so he threw himself into the river. Since then, in order to prevent fish and shrimp from eating their bodies, people have kneaded glutinous rice and flour into cakes of various shapes and put them in the heart of the river, which has become the source of eating zongzi and fried cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom has spread abroad. )
Qixi Valentine's Day
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month
(The night on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is called "Qixi". According to China folklore, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge in Tianhe tonight. Later, there was a custom that women asked Vega for needles on this night. The so-called cleverness is to thread a needle through Vega with colored thread in the moonlight. It would be a "coincidence" if you could pass through seven pinholes of different sizes. The agricultural proverb goes: "On the seventh day of July, it is clear, and the sickle is used to cut rice." It's time to sharpen the sickle and get ready to harvest the early rice. )
Mid-Autumn Festival
the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month
The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which is in the middle of autumn, is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the evening, the full moon in Gui Xiang is regarded as a symbol of happy reunion by the old customs. This is a festival to prepare all kinds of fruits and cooked food to enjoy the moon. Eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. Legend has it that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to overthrow the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty, the broad masses of the people wrote the date of the uprising on a piece of paper, put it in the stuffing of moon cakes, and secretly passed it on to each other, calling on everyone to revolt on August 15. Finally, on this day, a nationwide peasant uprising broke out and overthrew the decadent Yuan Dynasty. Since then, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival has spread more widely. )
Double Ninth Festival
September of the lunar calendar
(the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In ancient China, the ninth was the sun, and the ninth of September was the sun of the cloudy moon, hence the name "Chongyang". According to legend, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Runan people were in the shade, they heard Fei Changfang tell him that there would be a great disaster in Runan on September 9, so they quickly asked their families to sew a junior, put Cornus officinalis in it, tied it to their arms, and climbed the mountain to drink chrysanthemum wine in order to take refuge. On this day, the whole family climbed the mountain and went home at night. Sure enough, all the chickens, dogs and sheep in the family are dead. Since then, there have been folk customs such as making dogwood instead, drinking chrysanthemum wine, holding temple fairs and climbing mountains. Because "Gao" and "Gao" are homonyms, there is a custom of eating "Chongyang cake" on the Double Ninth Festival. Wang Weiyou, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Thinking of Shandong Brothers in the Mountain Festival": "When people are in a foreign land, they miss their relatives more than ever. I know from a distance where my brother climbed, and there is one person missing from the dogwood. " Recorded the customs at that time. Because of sincere feelings, this poem has become a household name. )
Winter solstice
Lunar calendar 1 1 22nd.
In ancient China, people attached great importance to the winter solstice and thought it was a grand festival. There is a saying that the winter solstice is as big as a year, and there is a custom to celebrate it. "Han Shu" said: "The sun shines on the winter solstice, and you are long, so congratulations." People think that after the winter solstice, the days become longer and longer and the sun rises. This is the beginning of a solar cycle and an auspicious day, which should be celebrated. The Book of Jin records: "On the winter solstice of Wei and Jin Dynasties, people from all over the world celebrated ... its appearance was not as good as that of Zheng Dan." Explain the ancient emphasis on the winter solstice.
Now, some places still celebrate the winter solstice as a festival. The northern region has the custom of slaughtering sheep and eating jiaozi and wonton from winter solstice, while the southern region has the custom of eating glutinous rice balls and long noodles from winter solstice on this day. There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors in winter solstice in various regions. )
Laba Festival
The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month
In ancient times, the sacrifice to "God" in December was called the twelfth lunar month, so the twelfth lunar month was called the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the old custom is to drink Laba porridge. According to legend, Sakyamuni became a Buddha on this day, so every time the temple cooked porridge for the Buddha on this day, the people followed suit and became a custom, which continues to this day. )
New Year's Eve
Lunar New Year's Eve in December
(New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve. In addition, the original meaning is "go" and it is extended to "change" [alternate]; The original meaning of the word "evening" is "sunset" and it is extended to "night". Therefore, New Year's Eve means "get rid of the old year here and get a new year tomorrow". "Except" means to get rid of the old cloth and make a new one. New Year's Eve originated from the "expulsion" in the pre-Qin period. According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Dong Jiji, on the day before the New Year, the ancients used drums to drive away the "ghost of plague" so that there would be no disease or disaster in the coming year. This is the origin of "New Year's Eve" Festival. In ancient times, there were many nicknames for "New Year's Eve", such as "except the night", "except the night", "except the year" and so on. Although there are many names, they always mean to send the old to welcome the new and eliminate disasters and diseases. )
the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year
The first day of the first lunar month.
(It is the first year of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of about 4000 years in China. This is the most lively and grand traditional festival in China. The ancient Spring Festival refers to the "beginning of spring" season in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the Spring Festival was changed to the end of the year, generally referring to the whole spring. At this time, spring returns to the earth and everything is renewed. People regard it as the beginning of a new year. In the early years of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911, after the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the first month was designated as the Spring Festival. It was not until1September 27th, 949 that the China People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the New Year on the first day of the first month as the "Spring Festival", so many people still call it the Spring Festival. )
People often call celebrating the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year", and the original meaning of "Year" is essentially different from today. It is said that in ancient times, there was one of the fiercest beasts in the world called Nian. It is bigger than a camel. Run faster than the wind and roar louder than thunder. Once out, people eat people, animals are injured, and people's lives are seriously threatened. In order to punish Nian, the gods locked it in the mountains and allowed it to come out only once a year. In the long-term practice, people find that Nian has three fears-fear of red, fear of noise and fear of fire. So, one year on the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, everyone posted red paper at the door, kept beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers, and lit lights all night in the house at night. Take a look at the evening of "Nian", and every family is brightly lit; Hearing this, the sound of shooting was everywhere, scaring it into the village. During the day, it sneaked down the mountain again, only to find that the doors of every household were still red and drums were everywhere, which scared it to turn around and run back. From then on, Nian never came again. It is said that he starved to death in the deep forest. Later, people turned the prevention of "Year" and "Drive Year" into a safe and steady New Year. "Nian" is gone, but the custom of Chinese New Year is still there. Bright red Spring Festival couplets, brilliant lights, crisp firecrackers, loud gongs and drums, year after year. )
There are also several traditional festivals:
Traditional festival dining table
Unless otherwise specified, the following festivals are calculated according to the lunar calendar (also known as summer calendar and lunar calendar):
1, Spring Festival on the first day of the first month, there were more than 30 names in ancient times, such as Yuanri, New Year's Day, Jacky, Chen Yuan, Yuanshuo, Sanyuan, Sanzheng, Zheng Dan and Zhengshuo.
2, the fifth day of the first month, Shen Lu's birthday.
On the fifteenth day of the first month, Lantern Festival (Lantern Festival)
4. The Spring Dragon Festival on February 2nd is also called Dragon Head Raising and Qinglong Festival.
May and February 15 Flower Festival
6. Tomb-Sweeping Day Cold Food Festival the day before.
On the third day of March, the legendary Queen Mother held a flat peach party.
8. Tomb-Sweeping Day on the 15th after the vernal equinox (now April 5th in Gregorian calendar).
9. On the eighth day of April, Buddha's birthday, it is also called the festival of the ox. After that, the cows will go to the fields.
10, Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May
1 1, summer solstice festival
12, June 6 Sun Fu Festival "June 6, sun red and green." "Auntie's Day" and "June 6th, Please Auntie" are another festivals in ancient times, called Tiangong Festival, and June 6th is also a festival of Buddhist temples, called Fan Jing Festival.
13, July 7th, commonly known as Qixi Festival, July 7th, Begging for Cleverness Festival.
14, Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15th, also known as Ghost Festival and Arahara Festival.
15 and July 30th Dizang Festival
16, August 15 Mid-Autumn Festival
17, Double Ninth Festival on September 9.
18, the first day of October and the October dynasty, also known as ancestor worship festival.
19, 10 15 Lunar New Year.
1 1 22nd, the solstice in winter.
2 1,1February 8th Laba Festival
22. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves is commonly known as "off-year", also known as off-year, off-year and off-year festivals.
23. The last day of the twelfth lunar month is called New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, anniversary Festival, etc. People call it New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve.
24. "Semiannual Festival" is called June 15, June 14, June 6, June 5, June 1 day!
25. The first day of July, commonly known as the Interest Gate.
26. Get together Festival: A traditional festival for the Han people in China, which falls on the 25th day of the first lunar month. Also known as Tiancang Festival and Tiancang Festival, it is a festival to worship the God of Heaven.