China's traditional festivals have basically been set since the Han Dynasty, with some additions and subtractions. After the Republic of China (R.O.C.), the festivals underwent major changes due to
formal westernization, but the people still insisted on a few of them, which had not been legislated by the government
. Until the Cultural Revolution, the government cut back on the promotion of traditional festivals other than the Chinese New Year,
and even for the Chinese New Year, it was advertised as a "revolutionary Chinese New Year". After the reform and opening up of China,
some traditional festivals began to be celebrated by the public, and some publicity was given to them in newspapers and magazines. At present,
including legal holidays, folk celebrations of traditional festivals account for about one-third of all traditional festivals
.
Traditional festivals contain a lot of folk culture and traditional humanistic concepts, as well as religious factors,
For the study of culture, history and social life in ancient societies, there is a certain significance, the following
List of the main traditional festivals, in order to rate interested in this aspect of friends.
I. New Year's Day
New Year's Day, also known as New Year's Day, or the first day of the first month. The first day of the first month is the day when the year, the four seasons, and the twelve
months begin. In the Spring and Autumn Annals, the first month is called the month of the end. The rooster crows and rises, and first pops firecrackers in front of the court
to ward off the evil spirits of the mountain. Therefore, the first month of the year is a festival that has existed since ancient times
since the beginning of the calendar.
There are many customs in the first month of the year, such as the young and the old are all correctly dressed, in order to worship and congratulate, this custom is still maintained
Hold, drink pepper wine, is made of pepper flowers, or cypress wine. But some specific activities
have been abandoned, including during the Han and Jin dynasties, such as Zhou's "Records of Wind and Earth," which says, "On the first day of the month,
when a chicken is swallowed raw, it is said to be practicing the shape of the chicken." Tokyo Dreaming Records" in the Northern Song Dynasty government in the first month
to hold a great dynasty, the emperor and the hundred officials to hold large-scale reunion activities, and banquets for envoys,
special attention to the Liao, Goryeo envoys to the feast treatment. This activity has been preserved to this day.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Republic of China government legal reservation of traditional festivals only the first month, but renamed
"Spring Festival", and will be New Year's Day on January 1 of the Western calendar, only the government and the private sector are more important to the Spring
Festival, the people **** and the national government legal Spring Festival holiday of four days, but many of the current Private companies are not
the same degree of the Spring Festival to do the appropriate extension, some even including the weekend counted, extended to the 15th of January
.
Two. Lichun sacrifices to agriculture
Lichun between the first and fifteenth of January, which is an ancient traditional festival of sacrificing to agriculture, according to the East
Han Ying Shao, "General Meaning of Customs," sacrificing to agriculture was carried out in April, the Han Wendi changed to February, and
in Jin, and then changed to the Lichun. On the day of Lichun, officials should personally dress to celebrate and sit on a small spring ox
to show their support and attention to the agricultural work after the beginning of spring, and the folk also have celebrations accordingly, this festival
is actually the real welcoming of spring. Western Jin Fu Xian "Yan Fu" said: "four times to the end, respect against its
beginning. He should be lucky in the east, is set up Yan to welcome to. The wings of the [Feijun] are so light that they will fly
and have not yet risen. The lady of the house is very skillful, and her style is similar to that of the statue of a woman. The Royal Green Book is a tribute to the time, and the Yichun of
Jiazhi."
Few people today know that Lichun is a traditional festival.
Three. Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first month and is one of the most festive days of the year, because after this day,
the vast majority of people have to go to work. The Lantern Festival is grand in that there are lantern shows and fireworks. Dragon and lion dances
and social theater and juggling take place from daytime until late at night. In order to maintain with
People with the gesture of fun, this day Jingo can not help, Jingo is the Executive Jingo, is to guard the palace
near guards, Jingo can not help refers to the palace in front of the Jinshuiqiao area does not prohibit the ordinary people to visit
play. Fireworks are located near the Jinshui Bridge to cast, so as to facilitate the emperor and concubines in the Imperial City Gate Tower
to appreciate. The old fireworks were made by a variety of firecrackers on the pyrotechnic frame burned one by one
became the effect, I saw as a child, more brilliant than the Western-style fireworks, but the danger is great.
Tang Su flavor poem "fire trees, silver flowers, golden bridge, iron rope open, dark dust with the horse to go, the flow of fireflies by people."
Vividly summarizes the scene of Yuan Xi.
When Yuan Xi came, many young women confined to their concubines and the families of officials and eunuchs were exceptionally allowed to come out to watch the lanterns, which created a rare opportunity for young men and women to come into contact with each other, and performed
a lot of love stories, which were described in vernacular novels in the Ming Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu's poem
"Shengcha Zi. Last year on New Year's Eve, the lights in the flower market were like pictures, and the moon was on the top of the willow, and people were about
after dusk. On this year's New Year's Eve, the moon and the lanterns are still the same, but I don't see last year's people, and my tears fill my spring sleeves."
Writing about the encounter on New Year's Eve, I have been thinking about you for a year and I don't see you, so how can I face this feeling? Xin Qiji words "
Looking back, that person is in, the lights out of the place!", the sweetheart of the sky from the sky.
The first time I saw a woman, she came down from the sky, and her excitement was palpable.
The celebration of Yuan Xi is still maintained in the northern rural areas, the South has also been restored, most of them are only
limited to watching the song and dance programs on TV.
Four. March Qu Shui
March 3 this day, according to the "Jing Chu chronicle", "the people and out of the rivers and islets between the pools and marshes, for the flow
Cup Qu Shui drink." The "water" is where the river bends, the water slowed down, the old
Time, the tourists take the boat floating downstream, every harbor or river bends, then stop to drink
Wine and poetry. The festival originated so early that Emperor Wu of Jin didn't even know what it meant, and Zhi Yu answered
his query by saying that it had been around since the time of the Duke of Zhou, and that it turned out to be about filling wine cups with wine and floating them in the river.
Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Collection Preface" in the "Qu Shui Liu Goblet" is the meaning of this, the first reading of the ancient text and
not read the notes of the people are easily confused by the meaning of the Qu Shui confused.
V. Cold food ban on fire
Cold food in the Qingming Festival two days before the winter solstice after one hundred and five days, this day to ban the fire, from the top
to the bottom of the only eat fruits and snacks a cold food. The cold food originated from the story of the Duke of Jin burning Jie Zi Pui,
the story goes:
The Duke of Jin, Chong Er, and Jie Zi Pui fled abroad together, and when the Duke of Jin passed through the country of Wei, he was hungry and lacked food,
and Jie Zi Pui, a member of his entourage, cut the meat from his thighs and gave it to the Duke of Jin for him to eat. When Duke Wen returned to his country and became
the king of his country, Jie Zi Pui was the only one who did not receive any reward. Zi Tui wrote a song called "Song of the Dragon and the Serpent" and lived in seclusion.
So the Duke of Wen visited Zi push, but Zi push was reluctant to come out,
So the Duke of Wen set fire to the trees on the mountain where Zi push was living in seclusion, hoping to force Zi push to come out,
The Duke of Wen embraced the withered willows, and allowed the fire to burn him to death. Duke Wen mourned him and ordered the people not to
build fires on the fifth day of the fifth month, and later the fifth day of the fifth month was changed to the time written above in the two Han dynasties.
This story is not found in the records of Zuo Zhuan (左传) and Shi Ji (史记), and Hong Mai's Rong Zhai
Suibi (容斋
随笔) of the Southern Song Dynasty was devoted to examining it. Yuan Zhang Yanghao's song "Zhonglu. Concurrent Yao Folk Songs.
"The smoke is forbidden during the Qingming Festival, and the rain passes through the countryside" seems to suggest that the cold eclipse originated from the Tang Yao legend.
I don't know if the cold food festival is still celebrated in rural Shanxi today.
Six. The Qingming Festival to worship ancestors and deceased relatives, about the North and South Dynasties, because
South Dynasty Zong hours of service "Jingchu time record" has not been recorded. In the Northern Song Dynasty, every family had to insert willow branches in the doorway,
the government had to hold the so-called "drill flint fire" ceremony, which is to use elm wood to drill wood for fire, but also
held a dragon boat race, lively and extraordinary, not simply sweeping the tomb activities, the so-called: "Chingming time
Session rain have, the road travelers want to break their souls. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands dirty.
The Qingming activity is still maintained up and down.
Seven. April Buddha's Birthday
April 8 is the birthday of the Buddha, such as Christmas in the West, is the whole nation after the spread of Buddhism to the East
The religious festival. The festival came into existence around the time of the Tang. On this day, large and small Zen monasteries have Buddha-bathing
Fasting, monks with incense and medicine sugar and water to gift incense, while folk cook wine, eat spring fruits and melons to commemorate.
Nowadays, the vast majority of domestic young people who celebrate the foreign holiday of Christmas probably don't realize that in the past China
country also commemorated the birthday of a Western god.
Eight. Dragon Boat
May 5 is the annual Dragon Boat Festival, very lively, folk to organize their own dragon boat
race, eat zongzi, drink xionghuang wine, hanging wormwood in the door. This festival is rumored to commemorate the Chu
Daifu Qu Yuan worried about the people, and threw himself into the Miluo River story, the people to the glutinous rice to brown leaves wrapped
into the rice ball into the river as bait, so that the fish and turtles do not eat their respect for the Qu Daifu. But according to the Handan Chun
"Cao'e Tablet," "On May 5, when the time came to welcome Wu Jun against the waves, he was drowned by the water." This
was a custom in Wu, which was attributed to Wu Zixu and had nothing to do with Qu Yuan. The Yue Di Zhuan says that this
custom originated with King Goujian of Yue, so it seems that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the custom of Wu and Yue.
The custom of drinking xionghuang wine, hanging mugwort, and picking miscellaneous medicines may have come from the ancient times, and the picking of miscellaneous medicines, "Rituals.
Summer Xiaozheng": "This month to store medicine, in order to alleviate the poisonous gas." Early said.
Duanwu Festival celebrations at home are still very enthusiastic now, the only thing is not like before the 1960s when ten thousand
people emptied the alleys to go to the dragon boat show, and primary and secondary school students couldn't sit still in class. Overseas Chinese are only reminded of it
when they see dumplings for sale in stores.
Nine. Tanabata begging
In the evening of July 7, there has been a text contained in another, not to repeat.
Ten. The Ghost Festival
The Mid-Yuan Festival on July 15, commonly known as the "Festival of the Underworld", this day is said to burn paper money to pay the dead souls,
The temple will try to be, for the Taoist temple in order to transcend the dead souls.
This festival originated from the Buddhist scriptures, Meilian
Save Mother, so the Song Dynasty was very enthusiastic, to set up a stage in the market to sing a miscellaneous opera, Meilian to save mother,
according to the scriptures, the story says:
Meilian in the netherworld to see his dead mother in the hungry ghosts, Meilian Meilian, the mother of the hungry ghosts. He saw his dead mother among the hungry ghosts in the netherworld, and immediately gave her a bowl of rice to eat.
The rice was not eaten in the mouth, but turned into coals of fire, so that Meilian's mother was not able to get to eat, and Meilian cried out
and came back to report to the Buddha. The Buddha said, "Your mother's sins are too deep for you to deal with alone,
and it will take the power of all the monks in the ten directions. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you should prepare all kinds of delicacies and fruits for the seven generations of your parents who are suffering in the earth
prison, put them in a basin, and offer them to the high
monks of the ten directions. I will admonish all the monks to wish the seven generations of the giver's parents to enter 'meditation' and then
go and receive the food." Meilian did as the Buddha told him, and his mother was relieved of all the pain
of the Russian ghosts. Meilian then told the Buddha, "In the future, Buddhist disciples who are filial to their parents should also set up
bon offerings to the high priests and masters of the ten directions." The Buddha said, "Well said!"
So this story is actually a combination of Confucian filial piety and Buddhist scriptures, which facilitates the popularization of Buddhism
Therefore, the Mid-Yuan Festival is also known as the "Bon Festival", and there are many references to the Bon Festival in Liaozhai Zhiyi (聊斋志异)
. When I was a child, I heard many times from old people that "on the half of the seventh month, ghosts
were running around", but I didn't know what it was all about. Nowadays, most students in the United States only know about Halloween, which falls on October 31st, but not about the Chinese Bon Festival, which is much more solemn and serious than Halloween's hijinks.
The bon may have come about in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it's probably too feudal
superstitious to resume having it now only in monasteries.
Eleven. Mid-Autumn Moon Viewing
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, when the moon looks exceptionally bright and large, the commemoration of the Mid-Autumn Festival
begins. Sitting around and eating mooncakes, then stepping outside to enjoy the moon and the meaning of family reunion
may come from Su Shi's words, "When is the bright moon? Ask the sky with a glass of wine 。。。。 But I wish
people would last long, thousands of miles ****chanjuan." This is Su Dongpo miss his brother Su Ziyu in the field to write
under the words. But the origin of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is not in this sense, it is clear that the moon, but from
Tang Ming Huang in the famous Taoist monk Ye Fashan's help to travel to the moon palace of the beautiful story, but also carries
there are fairy songs "Neishang Yuyi song" of the myths and legends, I have a post to illustrate, not to mention.
As for the custom of eating mooncakes on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, it is not seen in the Southern Song Dynasty notebooks, the legend is that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty
peasant Red Turbans rose up in rebellion, with round cakes.
Mid-Autumn Festival in the two Song Dynasty is very lively, according to the "Old Wulin", the Southern Song Dynasty Mid-Autumn Festival night, are
people want to burn 100,000 parchment made of lamps, so that they drift down the Qiantang River water, is the night starry
points on the surface of the Qiantang River, like the starry night, a lot of fun.
Twelve. Chongyang ascend
September 9 is the traditional Chongyang Festival, this day coincides with the high and refreshing autumn, it is a good time for excursions to ascend to the heights and look
far away. I know from afar where my brothers climbed to the top of the mountain, and there were fewer dogwoods to be found."
Expressing his true feelings of nostalgia for his loved ones.
The "Cornucopia Grass on September 9, in the windy and sunny
days, climbed to the top of the high slope, drinking chrysanthemum wine, make people think of life and nature as one,
so think of longevity.
The Chongyang Festival is no longer celebrated after liberation.
Thirteen. Lapa cooking congee
December 8 is the day of sacrifice to the god of the stove, "Zhouli" said "Zhuanxu's son is said to be Lai, for
Zhuorong, sacrificed to think of the god of the stove."
The origin of the sacrifice of the god of the stove may be before the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The Dongguan Hanji, written by Liu Zhen and others in the Eastern Han Dynasty, says that yellow goats were sacrificed to Zao Shen.
During the Song Dynasty, the so-called "Lapa rice" was eaten during the Zaoshen ritual, which was a porridge made of
various kinds of fruits and other ingredients. This custom may have come from the infiltration and modification of Buddhism into the activities of Chinese folk witches and deities
On this day, monks saw that everyone was worshipping traditional witchcraft gods and goddesses, fearing that
The monks were afraid of the possibility that the traditional witchcraft gods and goddesses might be sacrificed. gods and goddesses, fear
in its doctrine propaganda is not favorable, is to take advantage of the bustle of a congee will give alms to the poor people
eat to offset the "cult" of the impact, but the people do not care so much, as usual, to bring,
anyhow, it is to eat is a variation of the invention of the The "Laha congee" was invented.
Buddhism against the "cult" of the action is very successful, the previous activities such as jumping from God completely eliminated,
The East Han Zhang Heng's "Tokyo Fugu" also said: "At the end of each year to hold a grand exorcism to drive away all kinds of
evil spirits. Fang Xiang Shen with weapons, wizards with camel brooms, tens of thousands of children wearing red scarves on their heads and wearing
black clothes, holding peach bows and spiny arrows, firing them aimlessly in all directions." I still see a record of this in the Jing Chu Years and Times
Record, but by the time I got to the Tokyo Dreaming Book, I could no longer see
such joyous scenes of celebration.
But the "Laha congee" has been passed down, and is still practiced in many families today, with some of the current
generation's cleverest brides doing it with great skill.
Fourteen. New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is the last day of the year, this day, ordinary people try to reunite, the whole family gathered around the
fireplace, drinking and eating food in order to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year of the meaning of the outdoor firecrackers.
Families spend a cozy last night of the year together, and so far in China
The earth is still strongly maintained, only the Spring Festival gala of the wonderful program to destroy the warm atmosphere
Atmosphere.
In "Jing Chu Yearly Records", it is recorded that:
Families prepare delicious food, to the place of the New Year's Eve, to welcome the arrival of the New Year, the family
together to have a good drink. Some of the rice is left behind, and on October 12 of the New Year, it is spread
on the side of the road or street; it is thought to mean that it is spitting out the old and bringing in the new.
It seems that people at that time had to observe the New Year in much the same way as people do now.
And in the "Tokyo Dreaming Records", we see the celebration of New Year's Eve has a new development,
It says:
To the day of the removal of the ban on the presentation of large exorcisms, and use the Imperial City of the pro-officials. The classes straight wear masks, embroidered book color clothes,
执金枪龙旗. The teaching workshop to make Meng Jingchu body class kuiwei, Guanjin vice gold shrimp bronze armor mounted generals. With the town
Temple generals two people, also medium armor, installed door god. Teaching workshop south river charcoal ugly fat, installed judge. Also installed
Zhong Kui, little sister, land, stove God and so on, **** more than a thousand people. House of the common people, around the stove group
Sitting, up to Dan do not sleep, called the "year-end".
This Nuo Yi, is a masked performance, just then can not be broadcast live, but also can not shoot a movie,
Sincerely a pity.
Attached: Tanabata words Beggar's Day
Yesterday was the seventh day of the seventh month of the old calendar, the past legend, the night of July 7, the heavenly cowherd weaving girl to be separated from the
the Milky Way stepped across the bridge composed of magpies to meet. This, of course, is not true; the length of the distance
across both sides of the Milky Way is measured in tens of millions of light-years, and crossing the Milky Way
system would never be possible overnight, even in a craft that travels as fast as light.
That said, the legend is poignant and touching, and has long been passed down among the common people of our country.
Some say July 7 should be designated as China's Valentine's Day, as it expresses the simple, sincere and time and space-tested love between men and women who fell in love in ancient times. But perhaps in today's cynical men and women
think, across a vast river in the sky neck long look, both unrealistic, picking a pair of "light bulb" children a
year once a hasty meeting, but also really boring, it is better to be in the deafening bar, twisting ah twisting, or
the It's more affordable, exciting, and irresponsible to go your separate ways in a deafening barroom, or
split up in a springtime fling.
Guaranteed, this mythological story reflects the ancient Chinese young men and women in that society of strict etiquette, the pursuit of
freedom of love and happiness of the difficult, but precisely the only hardship and obstacles, only to stimulate the tenacity and persistence, therefore,
This story will be a long time in the people in the circulation of the story, only to be attached to the seventh of July this midsummer night's night,
Looking at the starry sky and the river of the sky, the only TianSun (Vega) sparkling, to the other side of the river drum
(Cowherd star) to convey her eternal love. And that kind of "cup of waterism", in addition to the momentary enjoyment of the senses
except, really can not talk about how much spiritual value.
As early as the Han Dynasty, the "Dazai Rituals - Xia Xiaozheng" said, "It is the month when Vega is moving eastward, and it is the star that is said to be there", which means that at least in the Han Dynasty, people had already noticed the orbiting pattern of Vega in the sky, which appeared to be the most prominent in the month of July.
This is the first time that people have ever seen Vega in the sky. The Shiji - Book of Heavenly Officials states that Vega "is the grandson of the Heavenly Emperor." , which is where the grandson of Heaven comes from.
The Star Classic: then said "Altair, the name of Tian Guan." , the star Altair is Cowherd, and River Drum is later transmogrified.
The earliest origin of the story of the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden on the seventh day of the seventh month can be found in the Western Jin Dynasty writer Fu Xuan's Tianqi
, who said, "On the seventh day of the seventh month, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden will meet at the Heavenly River," which may have originated even earlier, in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
A poem by Wang Xiangqi in the late Qing Dynasty reads:
"The boy who raises his wife marries a talented woman, and the heavenly grandson marries a river drum; a pairing hastens to end in a hundred years, and the pink tears and hairpins are always silent."
He saw the problem of mismatch, and more yearning for:
"Spring comes to the river Xia as beautiful, Jinshui mandarin ducks do not fly alone."
Southern Dynasties, Zong hours of the "Jing Chu chronicle" recorded that the Jianghan region, the night of the seventh day of the seventh month,
The women of the households tied color silk thread, empty very fine needles, some people with gold, silver, brass made of needles, the
melons, fruits, etc., arranged in the courtyard, to the Weaver God to ask the wisdom of the goddess of ingenuity. If there are spiders weaving webs on the melons and fruits, it is
considered to be a sign of the descent of the Goddess of the Weaver's Star. In other words, the night of July 7 is not only for the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, but also for begging the goddess of the Weaving Star for wisdom and skill. Vega as folklore spinning
Weaving Goddess, she is a symbol of the wisdom of the ancient working women, ancient women in the evening, through the knotting
Color silk thread such as the women's red activities to worship her, I hope to get from her the source of wisdom and skill, so the night of July 7
day, also known as the "Begging for coincidences festival! ", which is a festival with enterprising spirit.
Later in the Northern Song Dynasty, Meng Yuanlao in the "Tokyo Dreaming Records" wrote about the Northern Song Dynasty when it was in full bloom, the Tanabata was exceptionally lively, "Tanabata before three
five days, carriages and horses in the city, Luoqi full of festival, spinning folding unopened lotus, all people are good at false do double-headed lotus, take play for a moment,
Ti carry and return, passers-by often contempt love."
"Seven nights, your family more colorful building in the court, known as the 'Begging for coincidences building'.
Presenting grinding and drinking music (note), flower gourd, wine moxibustion, pen and ink stone, needle and thread, or children cut poems, the girl to present the coincidence, so-called
'Begging for coincidences.'" . The Southern Song dynasty's Wu Zimu's Mengliang Records and Zhou Mi's Old Story of Wulin recorded the Southern Song
Lin'an Tanabata night and the Northern Song dynasty's celebrations as being roughly the same, and the Begging for Coquettishness Festival's activities in the two Songs
were more colorful and varied than those of the Northern and Southern dynasties.
I love the Beggar's Nest, which is not only part of the diverse folk culture of the ancient Chinese people, but also a festival that enlightens
wisdom and evokes reveries of love.
Original note: "Mādhāra" is the Buddhist scripture "Māhaura".