Archive for category Festival
Sweeping the Dust
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Festival on January 18, 2012
Sweeping the dust has been a traditional custom in China for a long time. Around the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every household will sweep the dust in their house.
Literally, weeping the dust means have a thorough cleaning of a house. In Chinese, dust shares the same pronunciation with the word of past and it also has the meaning of the old and past.
Therefore, sweeping the dust before the Spring Festival also means to sweep away the bad luck in the past year. Read the rest of this entry »
the March 3rd Festival
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Festival on April 5, 2011
The March 3rd Festival, also called Shangsi Festival in ancient times, falls on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month of each year. It is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated by a large number of nationalities in China.
The Shangsi Festival has a history of thousand years. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was renamed as March 3rd Festival. Originally, it was a festival for religious activities, aiming at warding off disaster and evil spirits, praying for having children, etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Paying A New Year Call
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Festival on February 15, 2011
Paying a New Year call, also called “Bai Nian” in Chinese, is a kind of traditional folk activity during the Spring Festival. When the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar comes, the most exciting thing Chinese people would like to do is to pay a New Year call.
On the first day of the first lunar month, people often get up very early and wear new clothes to welcome the New Year. And younger generations call on the older generations (grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother) as early as possible and say Chinese New Year greetings to each of them. Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Autumn Festival
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Festival on September 22, 2010
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. The moon is regarded as the brightest, the fullest and the roundest one on this day.
It is one of the most important festivals in China and on that day, all the family members will come back home no matter how far away they are. During this traditional festival, the main activities for people are to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon and eat mooncakes.
On the night of Mid-autumn day, family members and friends will gather to admire the bright moon and eat delicious food, such as moon cakes, grapefruits, pomegranates, walnuts, etc. In some ethnic minority areas in China, varieties of activities will be held, such as “Naoyue”, which is especially popular among Miao ethnic minority (one of the ethnic minorities in China). This is a good chance for young people to look for their lovers and express their affections.
Mooncake is one of the most traditional food of this festival. It was first mentioned during the period of Southern Song Dynasty (1127~1279). It was once used as sacrificial offering for the goddess of the moon. Later, it was regarded as the symbol of reunion of one’s family and eating it on this festival became a custom. There are different mooncakes with different kinds of fillings, such as the sweetened bean paste, crystal sugar, etc. Nowadays, it is also viewed as the gifts sending to relatives and friends.
There also spread different customs in different places. In Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), people must eat a famous dish called Guihua Duck. In Sichuan Province, the red lanterns will be hung outside the door. And setting off kongming lanterns will be another choice for a large number of people on this day.
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Qixi Festival
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Festival on August 16, 2010
Qixi Festival, also known as the Festival to Plead for Skills or Double Seventh Festival，is the most romantic holiday in ancient China. Nowadays, QixiFestival is regarded as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. It is celebrated on the 7th day of 7th month on the Chinese lunar calendar and this year it falls on August 16.
In ancient China, there spread a romantic love legend about the origin of the Festival. The legend goes that, Zhi Nu (a fairy) and Niu Lang (a mortal) fell in love with each other and then got married. But the God of Heaven and the Queen Mother was not satisfied with their marriage and seperated them at last. Taking their sincere feelings into consideration, the couple was allowed to meet at the Magpie Bridge once a year – on the 7th day of 7th lunar month.
The history of Qixi Festival can date back to the period of Han Dynasty (202BC~220). During the Festival, girls will prepare fruits, melons and incense as offerings to Zhi Nu, praying to master high skills in needlecraft and wishing to find ideal husbands.
In some parts of China, people celebrate it by writing wishes (especially in the form of poetry) on small pieces of paper and then hanging them on bamboos. There exists the custom of floating bamboos with wishes on the river during the midnight on that day. In the evening of that day, if you stand under the grape trellis, you could probably hear Zhi Nu and Niu Lang’s talk.
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