Traditional Chinese Festivals

Chinese traditional festivals which belong to a traditional customary culture rooted in the farming culture in ancient China. All the festivals contain their unique cultural connotations, reflect the strong cohesion and vitality of the culture in the long historical development. They are sometimes even related to the cultural spirit and national spirit ， and should play important roles in the development of society.

Spring Festival Lantern festival Qingming Festival Dragon Boat Festival

Chinese Valentine's Day Mid-autumn Festival Double Ninth Festival

The traditional Chinese festivals are an essential part of harvests or prayer offe

rings. Do you want to know something about traditional Chinese Festivals? Cli

ck on the logo of these festivals for more information.

Spring Festival

• Date: The dates of the Spring Festival are always on Dec.30th of lunar calendar.So they are usually not on the same day on the solar calendar.

origin

• The Spring Festival came from a myth. Long long ago,there was a monster named Nian.It will go out and eat humans on New Year’s Eve. On a New Year’s Eve, an old beggar went into the village for some food,everyone wanted to hide quickly,only a kind lady gave him some food. The old man told the lady he could help rush Nian.

• The old beggar pasted big red paper on the door of the old lady’s house,lighted some candles and set off crackers,as Nian saw them and heard the blast noise, it ran away. From then on, villagers all knew how to rush Nian. The tradition keeps on now.

customs

• Sweeping the Dust

• Pasting Spring Couplets

• Pasting Paper-cuts

• Having dumplings

• Setting off firecrackers

• New Year’s Visit and Gift Money

It shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life.

In a word, just before the festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to the old year and usher in the new.

Sweeping the Dust

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Pasting Spring Couplets

• On the eve of the Spring Festival,people will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere.

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Pasting Paper-cuts

• People often paste them on windows to express the good wishes of looking forward a good life.

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Having dumplings

• On New Year’s Eve, the family sit together to make dumplings and celebrate the festival. The shape of dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China.People eat them and wish for money and treasure.

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Setting off firecrackers

• It is used to foster a joyful atmosphere.People set off firecrackers and fireworks which are meant to bid farewell to the old year.

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New Year’s Visit and Gift Money

• On the first day of Chinese lunar year,everyone puts on their best clothes and pays ceremonial calls on their relatives and friends,wishing them all the luck in the coming year.The juniors greet the seniors,wishing them health and longevity,the seniors will give the juniors some gift money as a wish for their safety in the coming year.

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Lantern festival

• date:The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival. The day is the first day of the full moon since the beginning of the new year.

origin

• One common legend dealing with the origins of the Lantern Festival speaks of a beautiful bird that flew down to earth from heaven, which was hunted and killed by some villagers. This angered the Jade Emperor in Heaven because the bird was his favorite one. Therefore, he planned a storm of fire to destroy the village on the 15th lunar day. The Jade Emperor's daughter heard of this plan, and warned the villagers of her father’s plan to destroy their village. The village was in turmoil because nobody knew how should they escape their imminent destruction.

• However, a wise man from another village suggested that every family should hang red lanterns around their houses, set up bonfires on the streets, and explode firecrackers on the 14th, 15th, and 16th lunar days. This would give the village the appearance of being on fire to the Jade Emperor. On the 15th lunar day, troops sent down from heaven whose mission was to destroy the village saw that the village was already ablaze, and returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. Satisfied, the Jade Emperor decided not to burn down the village. From that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on the 15th lunar day every year by carrying red lanterns on the streets and exploding firecrackers and fireworks.

customs

• Eating Yuanxiao

• Guessing Lantern Riddles

• Watch fireworks

Eating Yuanxiao

• Yuanxiao is the special food for Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling. And the festival is named after the dumpling.

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Guessing Lantern Riddles

• People write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns.If visitors have solutions, they can pull paper out and go to the lantern owners to check the answers.If they are right, they will get a little gift.

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Watch fireworks

• Some local governments will organize a fireworks party.On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year,people become intoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

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