Traditional Chinese Holidays GROUP ONE

节日的起源和发展是一个逐渐形成，潜移默化地完善，慢慢渗入到社会生活的过程。节气为节日的产生提供了前提条件，大部分节日在先秦时期，就已初露端倪， 但是其中风俗内容的丰富与流行，还需要有一个漫长的发展过程。最早的风俗活动是和原始崇拜、迷信禁忌有关；神话传奇故事为节日增添了几分浪漫色彩；还有宗教对节日的冲击与影响；一些历史人物被赋予永恒的纪念渗入节日，所有这些，都融合凝聚节日的内容里，使中国的节日有了深沉的历史感。 每一个节日都有它的历史渊源、美妙传说、独特情趣和深广的群众基础。它们反映了民族的传统习惯、道德风尚和宗教观念，寄托着整个民族的憧憬，是千百年来一代代岁月长途中欢乐的盛会。我国主要的传统节日有春节、元宵、清明、端午、七夕、中秋、重阳、冬至、腊八等等。

Date English Name Chinese Name Remarks Last day of lunar year Chinese New Year’s Eve 除夕， 大年夜 Clean the house, put up new posters of "door gods" on front doors, blow up fireworks 1st day of 1st lunar month Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) 新年,春节 More fireworks after midnight, visiting family members. 15th day of 1st Lantern Festival 元宵节 Lantern parade and lion dance celebrating the first full moon 2nd day of 2nd Zhonghe Festival, Blue Dragon Festival 中和节, 青龙节 Eating Chinese pancakes and noodles, cleaning the house. Also known as Dragon Raising its Head Solar Longitude 15 degrees, 104 days after winter solstice (around April 5) Tomb Sweeping Day/ Mourning Day/ ChingMing Festival 清明节 Visiting, cleaning, and making offerings at ancestral gravesites, spring outing

Date English Name Chinese Name Remarks 5th day of 5th lunar month Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 Dragon boat race, eat dumplings wrapped in lotus leaves Zongzi. This festival commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan; drink yellow rice wine, related to the White Snake Lady legend 6th day of 6th lunar month Bathing and Basking Festival 洗晒节 Putting books, sheets, cloth under the sun. 7th day of 7th lunar month Magpie Festival/ Qi Xi 七夕 According to legend, the goddess "Zhi Nü" (the star Vega) fell in love with the farmer boy "Niu Lang" (the star Altair), but was disapproved by her mother goddess. As punishment, they were separated by the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on this night. 15th day of 7th lunar month Spirit Festival (Ghost Festival) 中元节 Burn fake paper money and make offerings to ancestors and the dead to appease them, so they will not come and trouble the living.

Date English Name Chinese Name Remarks 15th day of 8th lunar month Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) 中秋节 Eat mooncake, family union meal 9th day of 9th lunar month Double Ninth Festival /Dual-Yang Festival/ Chung Yeung Festival 重阳节 Autumn outing and mountain climbing, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects. 15th day of the 10th lunar month Water Lantern Festival 下元节 Set flower shaped lanterns adrift in a stream or river at sundown, give offerings to deceased whose wandering spirits/ghosts may return at night to visit. Day of the winter solstice (solar longitude 270 degrees), December 21, 2009 Winter Solstice Festival/ Mid-Winter Festival 冬至 Have Tangyuan and Jiuniang and perform ancestor worship, Feast day, family gatherings, also named "Chinese Thanksgiving" 8th day of 12th lunar month Laba Festival/Congee Festival 腊八节 This is the day the Buddha attained enlightenment. People usually eat Laba congee, which is made of mixed grains and fruits.

Timetable of Chinese Traditional Festivals

Spring Festival ----(Chinese New Year) The Double Ninth Festival

Spring Festival Mythology Festivities New year cuisine Some expressions for good luck and bad luck

Mythology Festivities:

New year cuisine Good luck & Bad luck

Good luck Some believe that what happens on the first day of the New Year reflects the rest of the year to come. Chinese people will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity. It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. The night before the New Year, bathe yourself in pomelo(柚子水) leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.

Bad luck One should never buy a clock for someone or for oneself because a clock in Chinese tradition means one's life is limited or "the end," which is also forbidden.

The Double Ninth Day Mythology Festivities

九九重阳，早在春秋战国时的《楚辞》中已提到了。屈原的《远游》里写道：“集重阳入帝宫兮，造旬始而观清都”。这里的“重阳”是指天，还不是指节日。” 晋代文人陶渊明在《九日闲居》诗序文中说：“余闲居，爱重九之名。秋菊盈园，而持醪(láo)靡由，空服九华，寄怀于言”。这里同时提到菊花和酒。大概在魏晋时期，重阳日已有了饮酒、赏菊的做法。到了唐代重阳被正式定为民间的节日。 到明代，九月重阳，皇宫上下要一起吃花糕以庆贺，皇帝要亲自到万岁山登高，以畅秋志，此风俗一直流传到清代。 起源

Mythology 传说东汉时，汝南县里有一个叫桓景的人，突然发生大瘟疫，桓景的父母也因此病死，所以他到东南山拜师学艺，仙人费长房给桓景一把降妖青龙剑。桓景早起晚睡，披星戴月，勤学苦练。一日，费长房说：“九月九日，瘟魔又要来，你可以回去除害。”并且给了他茱萸叶子一包，菊花酒一瓶，让他家乡父老登高避祸。于是他便离开回到家乡，九月九那天，他领着妻子儿女、乡亲父老登上了附近的一座山。把茱萸叶分给大家随身带上，瘟魔则不敢近身。又把菊花酒倒出来，每人喝了一口，避免染瘟疫。他和瘟魔搏斗，最后杀死了瘟魔。 汝河两岸的百姓，就把九月九登高避祸、桓景剑刺瘟魔故事一直传到现在。从那时起，人们就过起重阳节来，有了重九登高的风俗 。

The Traditional Chinese holidays have been part of Chinese tradition for thousands of years; they are an essential part of Chinese culture. associated with Chinese mythology and folklore tales, but more realistically, they probably originated from ancient farmer rituals for celebrating harvests or prayer offerings.

Do you know these traditional Chinese holidays? Use Your Heads Do you know these traditional Chinese holidays?

Golden Week in the mainland of the People's Republic of China is the name given to two annual 5-day national holidays, implemented in 2000

The "Spring Festival (or Chinese Lunar New Year) Golden Week" begins in January or February. The "National Day Golden Week" begins on October 1st. On May 1st and celebrating Labour Day, existed until 2007

The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity. An estimated 28 million Chinese traveled during the first National Day Golden Week in 1999. In 2007, this number had increased to over 120 million.

The Hungry Ghost Festival 中元节又称孟兰盆会, 逐渐演变而来，也称“鬼节”

Stories of Origin One story is of a rich man who travelled selling sugar-can juice. One day a monk came to his house looking for the juice to cure an illness. The man had to leave, so he instructed his wife to give the man the drink in his absence. Instead of doing this, she secretly urinated in the monk's bowl, added sugar cane juice to it and gave it to the monk. The monk was not deceived, he poured out the bowl and left. When the wife died she was reborn as a hungry ghost.

Another such tale is of a man who was giving and kind Another such tale is of a man who was giving and kind. One day he was about to leave his house when a monk came by begging. The man instructed his wife to give the monk some food. After the man left his house his wife was overcome with greed. She took it upon herself to teach the monk a lesson, so she locked the monk in an empty room all day with no food. She was reborn as a hungry ghost for innumerable life times.

Much like Western culture's Halloween, some Eastern cultures celebrate a Fall festival where they believe the gates of hell are thrown open, releasing hungry ghosts to wander the earth in search of food and taking revenge upon those who wronged them in life. This month-long festival is known as the Hungry Ghost Festival and takes place during the 7th lunar month.

This month-long festival is known as the Hungry Ghost Festival and takes place during the 7th lunar month. Unlike other celebrations of the dead in Eastern cultures that seek to honor dead ancestors, the Hungry Ghost Festival seeks to pacify the hungry ghosts, the ghosts of strangers and the un-cared-for dead.

Purpose