1, Lantern Festival

Origin: The formation of Lantern Festival has a long process, which is rooted in the folk custom of turning on the lights to pray. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty, but the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month really became a national folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties.

The rise of the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month is also related to the spread of Buddhism to the east. In the Tang dynasty, Buddhism flourished, and officials and ordinary people generally "lit lanterns for the Buddha" on the fifteenth day of the first month, so Buddhist lanterns were spread all over the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, Lantern Festival lighting has become a legal thing.

Custom: It is also called "Lantern Festival" because of the custom of hanging lanterns and watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival. 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.

2. Tomb-Sweeping Day

Origin: Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the belief of ancient ancestors and the custom of spring sacrifice. It has both natural connotation and humanistic connotation. It is not only a natural solar term, but also a traditional festival. Grave-sweeping and outing are the two major themes of Tomb-Sweeping Day etiquette and customs, and these two traditional themes have been passed down from ancient times to the present in China.

Custom: Go hiking, sweep graves and worship ancestors.

3. Dragon Boat Festival

Origin: According to legend, Qu Yuan, a poet of Chu Ci in the Warring States Period, committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on the fifth day of May, and later generations also took the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan. There are also sayings in memory of Wu Zixu, Cao E and meson push. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival covers the ancient astrological culture, humanistic philosophy and other aspects, and contains profound and rich cultural connotations. In the process of inheritance and development, a variety of folk customs blend with each other, and the content or details of customs are different due to different regional cultures.

Custom: Dragon Boat Festival is a dragon festival, and dragon and dragon boat culture have been running through the inheritance history of Dragon Boat Festival. Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, Long Zaitian, full of dragon spirit, do all kinds of evil. The festival customs of Dragon Boat Festival are carried out in the form of praying for blessings, restraining evil spirits and disturbing disasters, with rich and colorful contents and lively celebrations.

The customs of blessing and embracing happiness mainly include dragon boat, dragon boat festival and paper dragon. The customs of suppressing evil spirits and disturbing disasters mainly include hanging wormwood, soaking in dragon boat water, washing herbal water and tying five-color lines. Festival food mainly includes zongzi and Huang Wu.

In traditional festivals, there are numerous folk customs, or only the Dragon Boat Festival can be compared with the Spring Festival. There are all kinds of festival activities in the Dragon Boat Festival. Its customs, like the Spring Festival, contain cultural connotations such as praying for blessings and eliminating disasters, and place people's good wishes for welcoming blessings and ward off evil spirits and eliminating disasters.

4. Chinese Valentine's Day

Origin: Valentine's Day in China, also known as Qiaoqi Festival, Qijie Festival, Daughter's Day, Begging Qiaoqiao Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day Festival, Qiaoxi Festival, Niuniu Yuyan Festival, Shuangqi Festival, etc. , is a traditional folk festival in China. It is Qi Jie's birthday in the traditional sense, so it is named "Qixi" because the worship activity is held on July 7th. It is the traditional custom of Qixi to worship the seven sisters, pray, seek skillful art, sit and watch morning glory and weave stars, pray for marriage and store water on Qixi.

After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", which has become a festival symbolizing love, regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even produced the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times.

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.

5. Double Ninth Festival

Origin: There were harvest festivals, sacrifices to heaven and Mars in ancient times. "Lu Chunqiu Qiu Ji Ji" contains the activities of the ancients to offer sacrifices to the Heavenly Emperor and ancestors to thank them for their kindness during the harvest in September.

This is the original form of the Double Ninth Festival as an autumn harvest sacrifice activity. The Double Ninth Festival began in ancient times, took shape in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, spread in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished after the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was an important period when traditional festival customs were mixed and shaped, and its main part was inherited.

Chongyang ancestor worship has lasted for thousands of years and is an ancient folk custom with far-reaching significance. In the historical development and evolution, the Double Ninth Festival is a mixture of various folk customs, bearing rich cultural connotations.

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. It also adds 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.