1, Spring Festival
Ancient names: Yuanri, New Year's Day, Jacky, Chen Yuan, Yuanshuo, Suidan, Suishou, Suichao, Xinzheng, Shouzuo, Sanyuan ("Zheng" means "Zheng" in the first month).
Spring Festival is the first day of the first lunar month, also known as lunar calendar, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". This is the biggest and most lively traditional festival in China. The history of the Spring Festival is very long. From the origin, the Spring Festival evolved from the sacrificial activities at the beginning of ancient times.
Originally, the beginning of the year referred to "beginning of spring". According to the China lunar calendar, the first day of the first month is called Yuanri, Chen Yuan, Jacky, Yuanshuo and New Year's Day. , commonly known as the first day of the first month; It was changed to Gregorian calendar in the Republic of China. The first day of January in the solar calendar is called New Year's Day, and the first day of January in the lunar calendar is called Spring Festival.
The customs of the Spring Festival include setting off firecrackers, posting Spring Festival couplets, paying New Year greetings, eating jiaozi, eating sausages and bacon, and watching the Spring Festival Gala (only in recent years).
2. Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival is an important traditional festival in China. The fifteenth day of the first month is the night of the first full moon in a year, and it is also the night when spring returns to the earth.
People celebrate this festival and celebrate the continuation of the Spring Festival, so it is also called "Shangyuan Festival", that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. 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, solve riddles on the lanterns, fighting all diseases, dancing dragons, watching lanterns and dancing lions.
3. Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and the festival of harvest. 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. The time is August 15th of the lunar calendar.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a full moon in Gui Xiang. People in the old customs regard it as a symbol of happiness and 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.
4. Tomb-Sweeping Day
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also one of the most important sacrificial festivals. This is the day to visit the graves and worship the ancestors. Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ancient Spring Festival. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The name of Tomb-Sweeping Day is related to the weather and climate characteristics at this time.
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.
5. Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is an ancient traditional festival in China. "Dragon Boat Festival" is also called "Dragon Boat Festival", which means the beginning. According to more than 100 kinds of ancient book records listed in Wen Yiduo's "Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education" and archaeological research by experts, the origin of Dragon Boat Festival is a totem festival held by ancient Vietnamese in southern China, which is earlier than Qu Yuan.
The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival include hanging branches of mugwort leaves, calamus and banyan trees, dragon boat races, eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, swimming in all diseases and wearing sachets.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-China Traditional Festival