Important folk customs in China

Major traditional festivals in China include Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc. In addition, various ethnic minorities also maintain their own traditional festivals, such as the Dai Water Splashing Festival, the Mongolian Nadam Conference, the Yi Torch Festival, the Yao Danu Festival, the Bai Sanyue Street, the Zhuang Song Wei, the Tibetan Calendar and Wangguo Festival, the Miao Flower Jumping Festival, etc.

Spring Festival is the first traditional festival of the year for China people. In the past, the Spring Festival was called the "New Year" because according to the lunar calendar that has been used in China history, this day is the new moon of the first month and the beginning of the new year. According to records, China people have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4000 years. It was founded by Yu Shun. One day in more than 2,000 BC, Shun became the emperor and led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. From then on, people regarded this day as the beginning of the year and the new moon of the first month. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. After the Revolution of 1911, China adopted the Gregorian calendar, and the Lunar New Year was renamed the "Spring Festival", which lasts from late January to mid-February of the Gregorian calendar. During the Spring Festival, every family puts up Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures, and decorates their rooms. The night before the Spring Festival is called "New Year's Eve" and is an important moment for family reunion. The whole family gathers together to have a sumptuous "New Year's Eve dinner"; many people stay up all night, calling it "keeping the New Year". The next day, everyone began to "celebrate the New Year" at the homes of relatives and friends, greeted each other, and wished everything well in the new year. During the Spring Festival, the most common traditional cultural activities are lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, roller boating, and stilts walking.

The 15th day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Yuan Night, and Lantern Festival. This is the first full moon night after the Spring Festival. Legend has it that in order to celebrate Zhou Bo's expedition and suppression of the Zhu Lu rebellion on the 15th day of the first month of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty would go out to the palace to play and have fun with the people every night, and designated the 15th day of the first month as the Lantern Festival. Sima Qian created the Taichu Calendar, which listed the Lantern Festival as a major festival. Since the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, it was even more prosperous. "Sui Shu·Music Chronicles" day: "Every first month, the court comes to court and stays until the 15th in the Jianguo Gate outside Duanmen Gate. It stretches for eight miles. The opera is a drama trend. There are tens of thousands of people participating in the song and dance, from dusk to dusk, and stop at dusk. With the changes of society and the times, the customs and habits of the Lantern Festival have already changed greatly, but it is still a traditional folk festival in China. During the Lantern Festival, there is the custom of eating Lantern Festival and viewing lanterns. The Lantern Festival is made of glutinous rice flour and wrapped in fruit and sugar fillings. It is round and is a symbol of "reunion". Lantern viewing on the Lantern Festival began in the first century AD and is still popular in various places even today. On the night of the Lantern Festival, many cities hold lantern festivals, displaying various colorful lights with novel shapes and diverse shapes; in rural areas, cultural activities are held, such as setting off fireworks, walking on stilts, playing dragon lanterns, dancing yangko, swinging, etc.

Zhonghe Festival is on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the dragon holds its head. At this time, before and after the sting, spring has returned to the earth, and everything wakes up. The insects, snakes and beasts lurking in the soil or caves will wake up from hibernation. The legendary dragon will also wake up from a sweet sleep, hence the name dragon holds its head high. In ancient times, dragons were a symbol of holiness, so dragons were used to drive away pests. Smoked insects were popular in the Ming Dynasty. On February 2, people would fry the remaining cakes from the New Year's Day sacrifice in oil to smoke the beds and kang. It was called Smoked insects. In rural areas, old people use vegetation ash to wind around their houses, and then go around the water tank inside the hospital to lure the dragon back. Interestingly, most of the food on this day is also named after dragons. Eating dumplings is called eating dragon ears, eating spring pancakes is eaten with dragon scales, and eating noodles is called eating dragon whiskers. This is probably the name of the current "dragon beard noodles". Children shave their heads and get their hair cut on this day, which is called "shaving the dragon head". Women still do not needle and thread on this day, it is said that this is to avoid damaging the longan. There are also candles shining on the walls of the house. There is a saying that "February 2, shining on the beams, scorpions and centipedes have nowhere to hide." However, this festival has now been forgotten by people, but customs such as eating spring cakes still exist.

Qingming Festival is around April 5 when sweeping tombs and worshipping ancestors. Qingming Festival was also called March Festival in ancient times and has a history of more than 2000 years. Qingming Festival is around April 5 in the Gregorian calendar, which is one of the 24 solar terms. Among the twenty-four solar terms, only Qingming Festival is both a solar term and a festival. Qingming Festival was originally a festival to sacrifice sacrifices to ancestors, but nowadays, more activities are carried out on this day to sweep martyrs 'tombs and mourn martyrs. During the Qingming Festival, the weather gets warmer and the vegetation grows again. People often go to the suburbs to go hiking, fly kites, and enjoy the spring light. Therefore, the Qingming Festival is sometimes called the "Touring Festival."

Dragon Boat Festival mourns patriotic ancestors. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, originally known as "Dragon Boat Festival". Volume 31 of "Taiping Imperial Lan" quotes "The Story of the Country" with the sentence "Midsummer End Five, End, Beginning". It is generally believed that it was created to commemorate the ancient China poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan (about 340- 278 BC) was a native of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period. He could not realize his political ambitions and was unable to save the State of Chu's demise. When the State of Qin destroyed Chu, the fifth boulder threw into the Luoluo River and sank himself in the early May; When the people along the river learned of this, they drove boats to retrieve Qu Yuan's body. In memory of this great patriotic poet, posterity designated this day as the Dragon Boat Festival. During this festival, there are folk customs of bringing fragrant bags, eating rice dumplings, and racing dragon boats. The fragrant bag implies that Qu Yuan's moral integrity is like the art of posthumous title, which is lingering throughout the ages: Zongzi was originally used to prevent fish from eating Qu Yuan's body, and later became festival food, while rowing a dragon boat implies rescuing Qu Yuan.

The seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, called the "Qixi Festival", is the legendary day when the cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet every year. That night, Chen melon seeds were in the courtyard, and the girls tied colorful threads and threaded seven-hole needles. It is said that the one who wears it first is clever. "Begging for Clever Day" is called "Girls 'Day" because most girls participate.

The Chinese Yuan Festival falls on the 15th of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. It is the legendary birthday of local officials, so it is also called "Ghost Festival". On this day, Buddhists will set up an "Yulan Basin" to provide services to monks, hold religious activities such as chanting scriptures, and taste river lanterns on water and land roads. China began to establish the "Yulan Penzhai" in the first half of the sixth century during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty. Nowadays, it is rare to set up "Yulan Pen" among the people, but the custom of setting off river lanterns is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also known as the "Reunion Festival". August 15th is in the middle of autumn, hence the name "Mid-Autumn Festival." The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from the ancient emperors 'ritual of offering sacrifices to the moon in autumn. Since the Wei, Jin, Tang and Song Dynasties, it gradually evolved into the custom of appreciating the moon. The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" was first found in the book "Zhou Li", and the festival that truly formed a national festival was in the Tang Dynasty. It is rumored that the formation of this important festival of the Chinese nation is related to the story of "Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty sleepwalking in the Moon Palace". In ancient times, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, people used refined cakes to worship the Moon Goddess; after the sacrifice, the whole family shared the food, implying a family reunion and happy reunion. This custom has been passed down to this day.

The Double Ninth Festival is the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. It is a festival that rose after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The names of "Chongyang" and "Chongjiu" originated in the Three Kingdoms era. There are five main traditional customs. The first is to climb high. At this time, the autumn is crisp and the scenery is pleasant. It is a good season to travel. It can not only cultivate fun, but also be beneficial to health. The second is to insert dogwood, which can drive autumn mosquitoes and eliminate pests. The third is to drink and enjoy chrysanthemums. The ninth month of the lunar calendar is when chrysanthemums are in full bloom. Watching the colorful autumn chrysanthemums and drinking a few cups of chrysanthemum wine is also a joy for the Double Ninth Festival. The fourth is to eat Chongyang cake. People make grain into white and delicious rice cakes, which are called Chongyang Cake, and "cake" is homophonic with "Gao", which means that you can advance step by step. The fifth is to carry out activities to respect the elderly. The style of respecting the elderly in Chongyang has continued since ancient times.

The twelfth month of the lunar calendar is also known as the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as Laba. It was previously said that this day was the day when Sakyamuni became a Tao. All temples would cook porridge to worship Buddha. Later, it became a folk custom to show a bumper harvest of grain.

There is such a folk folk song: "Every year, a family is busy and sacrifices to the stove king on the 23rd. There is a table in the middle, with two plates of sugar on both sides. A bowl of water with black beans and hay will burn a fragrance in the stove. The head of the family came here to congratulate him and wish him good luck." It reflects the scene of folk offering sacrifices to the stove in the past. Because this day is particularly lively, some people even think it is a "rehearsal" for the Lunar New Year, so it is also called the New Year. Although there are now memorial stoves, the Guandong sugar sold around the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month every year is still a traditional food that people love.