The biggest and most celebrated festival in China and part of East and South East Asia. It is as important to the Chinese as Christmas is to Westerners.
The Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Festival (15th day of the 1st lunar month)
This day features lantern
displays, lion and dragon dances, and eating yuanxiao (ball-shaped sweet rice dumplings with delicious stuffing.). The Lantern Festival also marks the end of the Chinese New Year season.
Qing Ming/Tomb-Sweeping
Festival(Pure & Bright in Chinese) (early spring, 5th of the 24 Solar Terms, one day off；similar to the Japanese Obon, the Golden Week from April 29-May 5))
Originally it was a celebration of spring. People used to customarily go out on an excursion to \"tread grass\". Later it became day dedicated to the dear departed. Visiting the grave of the dead or tidying up ancestors' tombs is its major big event.
Duan Wu (Dragon Boat) Festival (5th day of the 5th lunar month， one day off)
Said to be in memory of a great patriot poet of the then State of
Chu during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), Qu Yuan (Ch'u Yuan), who drowned himself to protest his emperor who gave in to the bully State of Chin. For fear that fish may consume his body, people of Chu threw launched their boats and started throwing rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river where he was drowned to feed the fish. Now the big event of dragon boat contest may be a legacy of such activity. People today still eat the
bamboo-leave rice dumplings on the occasion today.
The Seventh Eve/Double Seventh Day (7th day of the 7th lunar month)
It is a traditional holiday almost lost to the younger generations
today. It originates from a
beautiful legend about a cowboy and a fairy who were cruelly separated and reunited once each year on this happy sad occasion. A more detailed story is forthcoming.
Mid-Autumn Festival/the Moon
Festival (15th day of the 8th lunar month, one day off)
It is second only to the Chinese New Year in significance. The moon on this day is the fullest and largest to the eye. Viewing it by the whole family while feasting on good wine, fruits and moon-cakes features the night event. There is also a beautiful story behind it.
Children are told that there's fairy on the moon living in a spacious but cold crystal palace with her sole companion, a jade rabbit. A heavenly general and friend would occasionally pay her a visit, bringing along his fragrant wine. She would then dance a beautiful dance. The shadows on the moon made the story all the more credible and fascinating to the young imaginative minds.
Chongyang Festival 重阳节/ Elders' Day/Double Ninth Day (9th day of the 9th lunar month)
According to the famous Chinese classic Yi Jing (I Ching), six and nine are both yang, or positive, numbers. Therefore, the nineth
day of the nineth lunar month is a day to be celebrated as a Double Yang Festival. It is marked by family outing, particularly going up to the top of a hill. Viewing and admiring juhua (chrysanthemum flowers), decorating houses with zhuyu (cornus officinalis plants), eating double-yang cakes, and drinking chrysanthemum wine are part and parcle of the festival. In 1989, the Chinese government made the festival the Elders' Day to encourage young people to respect their parents.
Laba Jie (8th day of the 12th lunar month)
Most Chinese treat it as a reminder of the approaching
Chinese New Year, hardly aware of
its Buddhist background. This day is to celebrate Sakyamuni释迦穆尼, founder of Buddhism. As he achieved revelation by practicing asceticism, surviving merely on a meal of congee粥 a day, eating a particular type of congee called labazhou腊八粥 is the most
important event of this festival.
Jizao Festival祭灶节 or Kitchen God Festival (23rd day of the 12th lunar month)
China has a long history of worshipping fire. After zao
(kitchen stove) was invented, the belief in Zao Wangye灶王爷
(Kitchen God) began. Kitchen God is supposed to watch the household where he resides and reports its deeds or misdeeds to Yuhuangdadi
(Jade Emperor of Heaven) on the day of the Jizao Festival, a week before the eve of the Chinese New Year. Around the Jizao Festival, people would try to bribe Kitchen God with maltose candy so that, with his sweetened mouth, he would put in a good word for them before Jade Emperor.
Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (22nd of the 24 Solar Terms) 每年的阳历12月22日或23日之间；2010年的冬至为12月22日 solstice n.[天]至, 至日, 至点
This festival originated from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.—A.D. 220). It used to be treated as more important than the Chinese New Year. Today its importance has greatly decreased, and it is celebrated only in parts of the
country. The day is celebrated with the eating of huntun (soup dumplings) in North China and mituan 米团(rice-ball dumplings) in the south. The festival is also marked by the worshiping of heaven and ancestors.
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