Traditional Festivals in China
By admin on 2015-03-06

The legal holidays in China are as follows:
? New Year’s Day (Jan. 1, the whole nation has one day off)
? Spring Festival (Lunar New Year, the whole nation has three days off)
? Tomb Sweeping Day (April 5, the whole nation has one day off)
? International Labor Day (May. 1, the whole nation has one day off)
? Dragon Boat Festival (May 5 on lunar calendar, the whole nation has one day off)
? Mid-autumn Festival (August 15 on lunar calendar, the whole nation has one day off)
? National Day (Oct. 1, the whole nation has three days off).
There are numerous important traditional festivals in China, such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Cold Food Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine’s Day, Mid-autumn Day, Double Ninth Festival, the Laba Rice Porridge Festival, Xiaonian and New Year’s Eve. In addition, ethnic minorities still reserve their own traditional festivals.

Spring Festival

Spring Festival, that is, the lunar New Year, is commonly known as celebrating the Chinese New Year. It begins from the Kitchen God worshipping in December 23 to Lantern Festival in January 15. Some places’ celebration lasts longer, starting from December 8 to the February 2. However, when it comes to New Year’s Eve and the first day of the lunar year, the celebration arrives to the peak. Spring Festival is the most important, ceremonious, time-honored and enjoyable traditional holiday all around China.

Tomb-sweeping Day

Qingming or Tomb-sweeping Day (meaning Pure Brightness) is one of the twenty four solar terms. After Qingming, temperatures rise and rainfalls increases, marking the best time for sowing in spring. However, as a holiday, Tomb-sweeping Day contains certain customs and memorial significance. Tomb-sweeping Day is a traditional festival as well as an important day of sacrificing for ancestors and sweeping tombs. Sweeping tomb is generally known as visiting a grave, an activity to honor and memorize the dead. Most Chinese visit graves of their families on the Tomb-sweeping Day.

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dagon Boat Festival is a traditional festival with a history of more than two thousand years. There are different versions for the origin of Dragon Boat Festival, among which the most influential and wide-spread version is to memorize Qu Yuan (339 B.C—278 B.C), a poet and statesman from kingdom Chu in the Warring States period. Dragon Boat Festival consequently got the title of “Poet Festival”. Customs of celebrating Dragon Boat Festival differ from place to place. Nevertheless most people paste the portrait of Zhong Kui (a mythological figure supposed to drive away evils), hang wormwood and calamus, have dragon boat races, eat zongzi (a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves), drink realgar wine and wear sachets on this day.

Mid-autumn Festival

The Mid-autumn Festival originates from Chinese people’s worship to the moon. During the long process of history, while worshiping the moon, the custom of enjoying the glorious full moon came into being. Since ancient time, celebration of reunion and harvest has been regarded as the main theme of Mid-autumn Festival. Therefore, Mid-autumn is also known as the reunion festival, during which family members get together and spend their time harmoniously, hence to contribute to the society and our nation’s harmony, solidarity and unity. Eating moon cakes and enjoying the full moon are indispensable in celebrating Mid-autumn Festival.