Text/Tang Customs
China is one of the four ancient civilizations, with a long history and culture, is the world's third largest country in terms of land area, the world's largest population country, together with Britain, France, the United States, Russia and the United Nations Security Council five permanent members.
As the world's largest agricultural country, since ancient times, the working people have accumulated rich astronomical and geographical knowledge, and people change each phase into a month according to the cycle of moon phases, and the length of the year of the solar return year is used to form a lunar calendar.
The "spring ploughing and autumn harvest" centered on agriculture not only produces "24 solar terms", but also sets leap months to adapt the average calendar year to the return year. After the birth of New China, the combination of the lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar formed the current "yin-yang combination" modern calendar in China.
Therefore, on the basis of the "24 solar terms", "traditional festivals" were born, and because of the use of the Gregorian calendar, many festivals were added, which not only became the guiding direction of agricultural production, but also enriched people's daily lives, which have been passed down from generation to generation.
From ancient times to the present, why are there no traditional festivals in these months of the lunar calendar? Let's take the gregorian calendar year 2022:
1, Gregorian calendar January: no traditional festivals, there are festivals: small cold, big cold, there are international festivals: New Year's Day.
New Year's Day: Commonly known as "New Year" in most countries around the world, it is the first day of the new year in the Gregorian calendar. Yuan, meaning "first"; Dan, meaning "day"; "New Year's Day" means "first day". In Chinese history, during the Yao Shun period, people regarded the day when Emperor Shun sacrificed to the former emperor Yao as the beginning of the new year, and stipulated that the first day of the first lunar month was "New Year's Day". 2. Before the Han Dynasty, the time of the first month often changed with the change of dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty officially stipulated that the Meng Xi moon was set as the first month, and the first day of the Meng Xi moon was called New Year's Day, and this calendar lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty. 3. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the central government decided to adopt the gregorian calendar, which is common to the world.
2, Gregorian February: there are solar terms: spring, rain, there are traditional festivals: Chinese New Year's Eve, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival,
Chinese New Year's Eve : The last day of the lunar calendar. Chinese New Year's Eve this day is extremely important for the Chinese. On this day, people are ready to welcome the new, eat a reunion dinner, and also prepare to welcome the New Year. In ancient China, some prison officials even let prisoners go home to reunite with their families for the New Year, which shows how important the "Tuan Nian Dinner" was to the ancient Chinese.
Spring Festival: The first day of the first lunar month. The Spring Festival is the most grand and grand traditional festival in China, and it is a folk festival that integrates blessings and disasters, celebration entertainment and food. The Spring Festival has a long history, evolved from the first prayer of the ancient times, and carried a rich historical and cultural heritage in the inheritance and development. The Chinese New Year celebrations revolve around the celebration of the New Year, with the purpose of removing the old cloth and the new, worshipping the gods and ancestors, driving away evil spirits and disasters, and .
Lantern Festival: Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Small New Year's Day, New Year's Eve or Lantern Festival, is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar every year. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, the ancients called "night" as "supper", and the fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night of the year, so the fifteenth day of the first month is called "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist "Three Yuan", the fifteenth day of the first month is also called the "Shangyuan Festival". Since ancient times, the lantern festival customs have been dominated by the warm and festive lantern viewing customs.
3, Gregorian calendar March: no traditional festivals, there are festivals: sting, spring equinox, there are international festivals: "March 8 International Women's Day"
March is the busiest time in the countryside, and spring ploughing production begins.
On March 8, 1909, women workers in Chicago, Illinois, united States, and workers in the textile and garment industries across the country held large-scale strikes and demonstrations demanding higher wages, an 8-hour working day, and the right to vote. This was the first organized mass struggle of working women in history, which fully demonstrated the strength of working women. The struggle has been widely recognized by the masses of women throughout the country and even in other countries of the world. After the founding of New China, it was designated as: "National Working Women's Day".
4, Gregorian calendar April: there are solar terms: Qingming, valley rain, there are traditional festivals: Qingming.
Qingming: It is both a festival and a traditional festival. Qingming Festival, also known as The Qingqing Festival, the Xingqing Festival, the March Festival, the Ancestor Worship Festival, etc., is held at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. The Qingming Festival originates from the ancestral beliefs and spring festival customs of the ancient times, and is the most grand and grand festival of ancestor worship in the Chinese nation. Qingming Festival has both natural and humanistic connotations, both natural festival points, but also a traditional festival, tomb sweeping ancestor worship and green outing are the two major etiquette themes of qingming festival, these two traditional etiquette themes have been inherited in China since ancient times, and they have not stopped.
At this time, the vitality is exuberant, everything is "spitting out the old and the new", and the earth presents the image of spring and jingming, which is a good season for the suburbs to travel to youth and perform tomb sacrifices. The Qingming Ancestor Festival period is very long, there are two theories: 8 days after the 10 days before the Qingming Dynasty and 10 days before and after the Qingming Dynasty, which are all during the Qingming Ancestor Festival in the past 20 days. Qingming Festival is a traditional major spring festival, tomb sweeping sacrifice, remembrance of ancestors, is the Fine Tradition of the Chinese Nation since ancient times, not only conducive to promoting filial piety and family affection, awakening the common memory of the family, but also to promote the cohesion and sense of identity of family members and even the nation.
The Qingming Festival, along with the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, is known as the four traditional festivals in China. In addition to China, there are also some countries and regions in the world that also celebrate the Qingming Festival, such as Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and so on. On May 20, 2006, the Qingming Festival declared by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
5. May of the Gregorian calendar: no traditional festivals, there are solar terms: Lixia, Xiaoman, there are international/Gregorian festivals: Labor Day, Youth Day,
Labor Day: International Labor Day, also known as "May Day" and "International Workers' Day" (International Workers' Day, May Day), is a national holiday in more than 80 countries around the world. It is scheduled for May 1 of each year. It is a holiday shared by working people all over the world. In July 1889, the Second International, led by Engels, held its congress in Paris. The conference adopted a resolution stipulating that the International Workers would march on May 1, 1890, and decided to designate May 1 as International Workers' Day. In December 1949, the Government Council of the Central People's Government decided to designate May 1 of the Gregorian calendar as "International Labor Day".
Youth Day: On May 4, 1919, an anti-imperialist and patriotic "May Fourth Movement" broke out in China, which was a patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism once and for all, and the beginning of China's new democratic revolution. In 1939, the Northwest Youth National Salvation Federation of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region stipulated that May 4 was a Chinese Youth Day, and it continues to this day.
6. June of the Gregorian calendar: there are solar terms: Mango seed, summer solstice, traditional festivals: Dragon Boat Festival, and Gregorian calendar festivals: Children's Day
Children's Day: International Children's Day is a festival that guarantees the right to survival, health care and education of children around the world, in order to improve children's lives, and to oppose the abuse and poisoning of children. At the International Conference on Child Welfare held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1925, the International Association for the Promotion of Children's Happiness first proposed the concept of "Children's Day", calling on countries to establish their own children's memorial days. The initiative has been endorsed by many countries around the world. Most countries usually set june 1 of each year, so children's day is often called International Children's Day.
Dragon Boat Festival: Also known as Duanyang Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chongwu Festival, Tianzhong Festival, etc., it is a folk festival that integrates worship of gods and ancestors, prayer for blessings and ward off evil spirits, celebration and entertainment, and food. The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the worship of natural celestial phenomena and evolved from the dragon sacrifice in ancient times. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and the countries of the Chinese character cultural circle, and it is said that Qu Yuan, a poet of the Chu state during the Warring States period, committed suicide by jumping on the Miluo River on the fifth day of May, and later generations also regarded the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan.
The Dragon Boat Festival, together with the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, is known as the four traditional festivals in China. Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also have activities to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. In May 2006, the State Council included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists; Since 2008, it has been listed as a national holiday. In September 2009, UNESCO officially approved its inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, making the Dragon Boat Festival the first festival in China to be inscribed on the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
7. July of the Gregorian calendar: no traditional festivals, there are festivals: small summer, big summer, and there are Gregorian calendar festivals: founding day
Founding Day: July 1 is The Founding Day of the Communist Party of China. After the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 23, 1921, under the brutal rule of the reactionary warlord government, it could only remain in secret and there was no environment for public activities. During the Period of the Great Revolution, the Party was busy with cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, carrying out the workers' and peasants' movement and supporting the Northern Expedition, and had no conditions to commemorate the birth of the Party. The commemoration of July 1 as the birth anniversary of the Communist Party of China was proposed by Comrade Mao Zedong in May 1938.
In 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China designated July 1, 1921 as the founding day of the Communist Party of China. Since then, every year on July 1, the whole party will warmly celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the party.
8. August of the Gregorian calendar: there are festivals: autumn, summer, and traditional festivals: Tanabata Festival. There is a Gregorian festival: Founding Day
Qixi Festival: Qixi Festival, also known as Beggar's Festival, Daughter's Day, is a traditional Chinese festival that comes from the legend of the cowherd and the weaver girl and is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. In ancient times, whenever the seventh sister was born, women would sacrifice to the seventh sister, praying for spiritual ingenuity and a happy marriage. This is where the name "beggar" comes from. Women will also use five-colored thin threads to thread the needle to the windward of the moon, and wear it for a long time. Over time, Tanabata has also become "Daughter's Day". The Tanabata Festival uses the folklore of the cowherd weaver girl as the carrier, expressing the feelings of married men and women who do not abandon each other, white heads and old age, and abide by the commitment to love.
On May 20, 2006, the Qixi Festival was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council of the People's Republic of China
9, Gregorian calendar September: there are festivals: white dew, autumn equinox, there are traditional festivals: Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival: Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Festival of the Moon Festival, The Birth of the Moon, the Moon Festival, the Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Moon Worship Festival, the Moon Festival, the Moon Festival, the Reunion Festival, etc., is a traditional festival of Chinese folk. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from celestial worship and evolved from the autumn festival moon in ancient times. Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had folk customs such as moon sacrifice, moon viewing, eating moon cakes, watching flower lanterns, viewing osmanthus flowers, drinking osmanthus wine, etc., which have been handed down to this day and have lasted for a long time The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, fixed in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and prevailed after the Song Dynasty.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a synthesis of autumn seasonal customs, and most of the festival factors it contains have ancient origins. The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates the reunion of the people with the full moon, in order to miss the hometown, miss the love of relatives, pray for a good harvest and happiness, and become a colorful and precious cultural heritage. The original "Festival of the Moon Festival" was held on the day of the "autumn equinox" of the 24th solar term of the dry branch calendar, and was later transferred to the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the summer calendar. The Mid-Autumn Festival, together with the Spring Festival, qingming festival and dragon boat festival, is known as the four traditional festivals in China. Influenced by Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in some countries in East and Southeast Asia, especially the local Chinese and overseas Chinese. On May 20, 2006, the State Council included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Since 2008, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national holiday.
10. October of the Gregorian calendar: there are festivals: cold dew, frost, there are traditional festivals: Chongyang Festival, and there are Gregorian festivals: National Day
Chongyang Festival: On the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the 29th phase is heavy, called "heavy nine". After the middle of the Han Dynasty, the Confucian view of yin and yang had six yin and nine yang. Nine is the yang number, so the heavy nine is also called "heavy yang". Folk have the custom of ascending on this day, so chongyang festival is also known as "ascending festival". There are also heavy nine festivals, zhuyi festivals, chrysanthemum festivals and other sayings. Since the harmonic sound of the ninth "nine nine" in the first nine days of September is "long-lasting", which has the meaning of longevity, it is often on this day to worship ancestors and promote activities to respect the elderly.
The Chongyang Festival and the three festivals of Removal, Qing and Lu are also the four major festivals of ancestor worship in traditional Chinese festivals. Only in recent years, people's respect for the elderly, so this festival is also known as the Old People's Day.
National Day: The origin of China's National Day has been recorded in the Western Jin Dynasty, the ancient mainland called the emperor's ascension to the throne and the birthday as the National Day, and now the anniversary of the establishment of the country is called the National Day. On the mainland, National Day refers specifically to October 1, the anniversary of the official founding of the People's Republic of China. The customs of the National Day include lanterns, long holidays, military parades and flag-raising ceremonies.
September 21, 1949. On this day, Mao Zedong, director of the Preparatory Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, announced in his opening speech at the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that the birth of New China was October 1.
11. November of the Gregorian calendar: there are festivals: winter, light snow, no traditional festivals.
12, Gregorian Calendar December: there are festivals: heavy snow, winter solstice, no traditional festivals.
From this point of view, the people of ancient China are full of wisdom, they avoid the busiest, hottest, coldest time period, use the Chinese New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, spring festival way to record life, celebrate the New Year in a festive way, use the way of memorial to remember the ancestors, in order to let the traditional festivals carry the long and splendid traditional history and culture of the Chinese nation, but also let modern people add countless memorable days, so that these festivals can be passed down from generation to generation.
Write this article on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, let our ancestors always remember these days! Looking forward to your attention and review!