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. )

International Women's Day

March 8

China began to commemorate the March 8th Festival on 1922. 1924 China women's first large-scale commemoration of March 8th was held in Guangzhou.

From 1949 to 12, the State Council, the central people's government, has designated March 8 as Women's Day every year. The United Nations celebrated International Women's Day from 1975, which confirmed the tradition of ordinary women striving for equal participation in society. 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution inviting countries to choose a certain day every year as the United Nations Women's Rights and World Peace Day according to their own history and traditional customs. For the United Nations, International Women's Day is designated as March 8th.

Arbor day

March 12

Arbor Day in China is scheduled for March 12. In February, the 6th meeting of the 5th the NPC Standing Committee in China decided to designate March 12 as China Arbor Day. 19811February, the fourth session of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted a resolution on launching a nationwide voluntary tree planting campaign, and the State Council promulgated the specific implementation measures for the nationwide voluntary tree planting campaign in the following year. Around Arbor Day, all parts of the country should focus on afforestation activities.

Qingming Festival

The eighth day of the third 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. )

International Workers' Day

May 1 day

After the founding of New China, the State Council, the Central People's Government, designated May 1 in February, 949 as a national legal holiday. On this day every year, the whole country celebrates. People wear festive costumes and happily gather in parks, theaters and squares to participate in various celebration gatherings or cultural and recreational activities to commend workers who have made outstanding contributions.

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. )

International Children's Day

June 1 day

People's Republic of China (PRC) has designated June 1 day as International Children's Day every year. 1949 65438+On February 23rd, the State Council, the central people's government, designated Children's Day on June 1st as Children's Day in China, and announced that the stipulation of April 4th as Children's Day implemented by the Kuomintang government would be abolished from 193 1. The first Children's Day in China was on April 4th in the 21st year of the Republic of China (1932). In the 20th year of the Republic of China (193 1), the "Shanghai Chinese kindness society" initiated a proposal, hoping that the government would designate April 4th as Children's Day every year. Subsequently, the Ministry of Education formulated a method to commemorate Children's Day, which was implemented on April 4 of the following year.

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 were some customs, such as women asking Vega for a needle 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, climbed the mountain and drank 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. )

National Day

October 1st

(1949 10 October 1 is the anniversary of the founding of New China. What needs to be pointed out here is that in the impression of many people, the founding ceremony in People's Republic of China (PRC) was held in Tiananmen Square on the L day of 1949, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians attending. In fact, this impression in people's minds is not accurate. Because the ceremony held in Tiananmen Square on June 1949 10 1 was founding ceremony of the Central People's Government of People's Republic of China (PRC) (People's Republic of China (PRC)), not founding ceremony. In fact, as early as the week before 10+0, the "founding of People's Republic of China (PRC)" was announced, that is, the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC). At that time, it was called "founding ceremony" instead of "founding ceremony". The time is 1949 September 2 1. On this day, Mao Zedong, director of the Preparatory Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference, announced the birth of the new China in his opening speech at the first session of CPPCC. )

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. )