Major Traditional Chinese Festivals 中国主要传统节日
Spring Festival 春节(the 1st day of the 1st month on the Chinese lunar calendar)
Also known as guonian过年 (celebrating or spending the New Year or the Spring Festival), it is
China’s oldest traditional festival. Celebrations will last from the New Year’s Eve to the 15th day of
the first lunar month. People traditionally spend New Year’s Eve at home with all the family members
getting together. For the festival, people decorate their windows with paper cuts, place New Year’s
couplets on the frame of their front door, pin up Neo Year’s paintings in their living rooms, and eat
jiaozi, a kind of dumplings with meat and vegetable stuffing.
The Lantern Festival 灯节（亦称上元节）(the 15th of the first lunar month)
Also called Yuanxiao亦称元宵节Festival, it is the climax of the Spring Festival. On the night of the
Lantern Festival, people go out to parks and other places to view the often very intricate lanterns,
figure out the lantern puzzles, and eat yuanxiao, a kind of small round dumplings made of glutinous
rice flour containing sweet fillings.
Qingming Festival
The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China,
falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall
increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Qingming Festival is not
only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is more a festival of commemoration.
The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness.
This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time
offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the deceased. Also, they will not cook
on this day and only cold food is served.
The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the Qingming Festival. As our
ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined.
On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs
and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The
customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food,
flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the
memorial tablet.
The Double Ninth Festival 重阳（亦称重九）(the 9th day of the 9th lunar month)
On this day, also called Chongyang Festival, people customarily climb up mountains and
appreciate chrysanthemums. It is also the festival for the old and a time for family get-togethers.
As a famous Chinese saying goes: On festive occasion more than ever we think of our dear ones
far away. 每逢佳节倍思亲。
The Dragon Boat Festival 龙船节或五龙节(the 5th day of the 5th lunar month)
Also called Duanwu Festival亦称端午节，most people say that the day is held in remembrance
of Qu Yuan (c.340-c.278 BC), a great patriotic poet of Chu State in the Warring States period
(475-221 BC) who committed suicide in the Miluo River, Hunan Province 大都认为是悼念投湖南汨罗的战国时楚国爱国诗人屈原；others argue that the ancient Yue people held sacrifices
to the dragon totem 古越人举行的龙图腾祭俗；still others narrate that the festival has been
evolved from the Summer Solstice in the Xia (2070-1600 BC), Shang (1600-1046 BC), and Zhou
(1046-256 BC) dynasties 由夏、商、周的夏至节演变而来的。People eat zongzi, a
pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in reed leaves, compete in dragon boat
races, cleanse their homes by putting up the leaves of mugwort (Artemisia argyi) 插艾（别称家艾、艾嵩）or cattail on either side of the door, spray realgar water晒雄黄 in the room, and drink
realgar wine饮雄黄酒 (traditionally drunk during the Dragon Boat Festival to get rid of
calamities and prevent poisonous creatures避瘟逐疫).
The Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节（俗称团圆节）(the 15th day of the 8th lunar month)
It is a time for family reunions, symbolized by the full moon, which appears to be bigger and
brighter than it is at any other time of the year, and moon cakes. It is traditional to eat moon
cakes on the day drink wine fermented with osmanthus flowers and enjoy the moon at night 吃中秋月饼、饮桂花酒、赏月为乐。
It is also called the Calamus Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, on which calamus
leaves used to be hung at the door ward off evil spirits).
Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than
2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar.
There are many legends about the evolution of the festival, the most popular of which is in
commemoration of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC). Qu Yuan was minister of the State of Chu and one of
China's earliest poets. In face of great pressure from the powerful Qin State, he advocated
enriching the country and strengthening its military forces so as to fight against the Qin.
However, he was opposed by aristocrats headed by Zi Lan, and later deposed and exiled by King
Huai. In his exiled days, he still cared much for his country and people and composed immortal
poems including Li Sao (The Lament), Tian Wen (Heavenly Questions) and Jiu Ge (Nine Songs),
which had far-reaching influences. In 278 BC, he heard the news that Qin troops had finally
conquered Chu's capital, so he finished his last piece Huai Sha (Embracing Sand) and plunged
himself into the Miluo River, clasping his arms to a large stone. The day happened to be the 5th
of the 5th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. After his death, the people of Chu crowded to the
bank of the river to pay their respects to him. The fishermen sailed their boats up and down the
river to look for his body. People threw into the water zongzi (pyramid-shaped glutinous rice
dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) and eggs to divert possible fish or shrimp from
attacking his body. An old doctor poured a jug of reaglar wine (Chinese liquor seasoned with
realgar) into the water, hoping to turn all aquatic beasts drunk. That's why people later followed
the customs such as dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine on that day.
Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held all over the country. As the gun is
fired, people will see racers in dragon-shaped canoes pulling the oars harmoniously and
hurriedly, accompanied by rapid drums, speeding toward their destination. Folk tales say the
game originates from the activities of seeking Qu Yuan's body, but experts, after painstaking and
meticulous research, conclude that dragon boat racing is a semi-religious, semi-entertaining
program from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). In the following thousands of years, the
game spread to Japan, Vietnam and Britain as well as China's Taiwan and Hong Kong. Now
dragon boat racing has developed into an aquatic sports item which features both Chinese
tradition and modern sporting spirit. In 1980, it was listed into the state sports competition
programs and has since been held every year. The award is called "Qu Yuan Cup."
