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Spring Festival?The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.? ???Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.Spring Festival?Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.? ?Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.?The Chinese character &fu& (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the &reversed fu& is homophonic with &fu comes&, both being pronounced as &fudaole.& What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.Lantern Festival?The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance. This day's important activity is watching lanterns. Throughout the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Buddhism flourished in China. One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch sarira, or remains from the cremation of Buddha's body, and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day. Later, the Buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China.? ?Lantern Festival?Guessing lantern riddles&is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.?People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the &Yuanxiao Festival.&Yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. It is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed. It tastes sweet and delicious. What's more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with &tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.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.????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 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.Dragon Boat Festival?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, semientertaining program from the Warring States Period (475221 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.&?Double Festival, on the 7thFestivallunar Seventh day of the 7th The Double Seventhmonth, is a traditional festival full of romance. It often goes into August in the Gregorian calendar.?This festival is in mid-summer when the weather is warm and the grass and trees reveal their luxurious greens. At night when the sky is dotted with stars, and people can see the Milky Way spanning from the north to the south. On each bank of it is a bright star, which see each other from afar. They are the Cowherd and Weaver Maid, and about them there is a beautiful love story passed down from generation to generation.??Long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted fellow named Niu Lang (Cowhand). His parents died when he was a child. Later he was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law. So he lived by himself herding cattle and farming. One day, a fairy from heaven Zhi Nu (Weaver Maid) fell in love with him and came down secretly to earth and married him. The cowhand farmed in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home. They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, the God of Heaven soon found out the fact and ordered the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens to bring the Weaver Maid back. With the help of celestial cattle, the Cowhand flew to heaven with his son and daughter. At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke. One billowy river appeared in front of the Cowhand. The Cowhand and Weaver Maid were separated on the two banks forever and could only feel their tears. Their loyalty to love touched magpies, so tens of thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for the Cowhand and Weaver Maid to meet each other. The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th of the 7th lunar month. Hence their meeting date has been called &Qi Xi& (Double Seventh).Mid-Autumn Festival?The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in October in Gregorian calendar. Folklore about the origin of the festival go like this: In remote antiquity, there were ten suns rising in the sky, which scorched all crops and drove people into dire poverty. A hero named Hou Yi was much worried about this, he ascended to the top of the Kunlun Mountain and, directing his superhuman strength to full extent, drew his extraordinary bow and shot down the nine superfluous suns one after another. He also ordered the last sun to rise and set according to time. For this reason, he was respected and loved by the people and lots of people of ideals and integrity came to him to learn martial arts from him. A person named Peng Meng lurked in them.???Hou Yi had a beautiful and kindhearted wife named Chang E. One day on his way to the Kunlun Mountain to call on friends, he ran upon the Empress of Heaven Wangmu who was passing by. Empress Wangmu presented to him a parcel of elixir, by taking which, it was said, one would ascend immediately to heaven and become a celestial being. Hou Yi, however, hated to part with his wife. So he gave the elixir to Chang E to treasure for the time being. Chang E hid the parcel in a treasure box at her dressing table when, unexpectedly, it was seen by Peng Meng. One day when Hou Yi led his disciples to go hunting, Peng Meng, sword in hand, rushed into the inner chamber and forced Chang E to hand over the elixir. Aware that she was unable to defeat Peng Meng, Chang E made a prompt decision at that critical moment. She turned round to open her treasure box, took up the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. As soon as she swallowed the elixir her body floated off the ground, dashed out of the window and flew towards heaven. Peng Meng escaped.?When Hou Yi returned home at dark, he knew from the maidservants what had happened. Overcome with grief, Hou Yi looked up into the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife when, to his surprise, he found that the moon was especially clear and bight and on it there was a swaying shadow that was exactly like his wife. He tried his best to chase after the moon. But as he ran, as he withdrew, the moon came back. He could not get to the moon at all.Thinking of his wife day and night, Hou Yi then had an incense table arranged in the back garden that Chang E loved. Putting on the table sweetmeats and fresh fruits Chang E enjoyed most, Hou Yi held at a distance a memorial ceremony for Chang E who was sentimentally attached to him in the palace of the moon. When people heard of the story that Chang E had turned into a celestial being, they arranged the incense table in the moonlight one after another and prayed kindhearted Chang E for good fortune and peace. From then on the custom of worshiping the moon spread among the people. People in different places follow various customs, but all show their love and longing for a better life. Today people will enjoy the full moon and eat moon cakes on that day.??? ?Double Ninth Festival?The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival. It usually falls in October in the Gregorian calendar. In an ancient and mysterious book Yi Jing, or The Book of Changes, number &6& was thought to be of Yin character, meaning feminine or negative, while number &9& was thought to be Yang, meaning masculine or positive. So the number nine in both month and day create the Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival. Chong in Chinese means &double.& Also, as double ninth was pronounced the same as the word to signify &forever&, both are &Jiu Jiu,& the Chinese ancestors considered it an auspicious day worth celebration. That's why ancient Chinese began to celebrate this festival long time ago. The custom of ascending a height to avoid epidemics was passed down from long time ago. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is also called &Height Ascending Festival&. The height people will reach is usually a mountain or a tower. Ancient literary figures have left many poems depicting the activity. Even today, people still swarm to famous or little known mountains on this day In 1989, the Chinese government decided the Double Ninth Festival as Seniors' Day. Since then, all government units, organizations and streets communities will organize an autumn trip each year for those who have retired from their posts. At the waterside or on the mountains, the seniors will find themselves merged into nature. Younger generations will bring elder ones to suburban areas or send gifts to them on this day.??Winter Solstice Festival?As early as 2,500 years ago, about the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), China had determined the point of Winter Solstice by observing movements of the sun with a sundial. It is the earliest of the 24 seasonal division points. The time will be each December 22 or 23 according to the Gregorian calendar.?The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will become longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated.?In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpl while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.
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文档资料库内容来自网络，如有侵犯请联系客服。2018 Chinese Dragon Boat Festival - June 18, 2018
2018 Chinese Dragon Boat Festival
Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is on
06/18/2018
Chinese New Year, the
and the Dragon Boat Day are three major festivals in China. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month
of the Chinese calendar. Chinese call this day as Duan-Wu
beginning. Wu
Horse month in . The
Horse month usually begins on June 5th or June 6th in the Gregorian calendar.
That means Dragon Boat Festival should be held in June, unless that year has
in the Chinese lunar calendar.
The Date of Chinese Dragon Boat Festival
The 5th day of the 5th lunar month
China Time Zone
USA Pacific Time Zone
USA Eastern Time Zone
The Sad Story
China, the Dragon Boat Festival memorializes the Chinese patriotic poet
BC-278 BC or 343-290 B.C.), who committed suicide by jumping into the river after
tying himself with big rock on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
Chiu Yuan was the number one advisor of the kingdom of Chu
. But people
were jealous his position and said lots of bad words on his back. The
king wouldn't take his advice in the end and was killed by the enemy of neighbor kingdom.
The new king continued to enjoy the luxury life and didn't like Chiu Yuan
either. Later, Chiu Yuan was exiled. He wrote many patriotic poem after then.
Chiu Yuan met a fisherman, who never cared about the country and quite
satisfied his life. Chiu Yuan thought that the king wouldn't run the country,
people only cared about themselves, nobody cared the future of the country and
to live is meaningless. So he killed himself by drowning himself in the river.
Many fishermen tried to rescue him, but the body is never found. Fishermen
worried about fish would eat his body. So they threw food into the river to feed
the fish. Plus, they tried to scare fish away by splashing the water with their
paddles and beating the drums on the long narrow boats.
Then the dragon was added into the story. Fishermen believed there was a water-dragon
under the river. One man poured down a big jar of strong yellow wine (made of
rice). Later, a drunken dragon-like fish floated on the river. One piece of Chiu
Yuan's clothing was found in-between the whisker of the water-dragon.
The Dragon Boat
custom of Dragon Boat Race might begin from the southern China. They selected
the 5rh lunar day of the 5th lunar month as the totem ceremony. The dragon was
the main symbol on the totem, because Chinese thought they were son of dragon.
They also made dragon-like canoe. Later, Chinese connected this custom with Duan-Wu
festival. Since this was the event only in the southern China. This might be why Dragon Boat Race doesn't that popular in
entire China
today. But we can see yearly Dragon Boat Race events in Honk Hong and Taiwan.
The picture shows a person lies on the top of dragon head of the boat to prepare to catch
the flag of target to win the race.
Now, the Dragon Boat Race becomes an international event. This sport is popular
in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Taiwan, Honk Hong, Singapore etc. Some
organization's events
aren't held around the Dragon Boat Festival. Some are in July, August or
September. You need to check their websites for the schedules.
The Delicious Food
saying the fishermen threw bamboo-food into the river for Chiu Yuan. The
fishermen kept the custom on on the 5th day of 5th lunar month every year. Until
Late Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), one outsider came and acclaimed fisherman's behavior, but
recommended to wrap the food with leaves and tie with color silky rope, which
can scare fish away. So the Chiu Yuan can unwrap the leaves to eat the food.
Obviously, the Zong-zi, which Chinese eat on the the Dragon Boat Day
period, is like the food for Chiu Yuan. Zong-zi is make of steamed
glutinous sweet
rice mixing with meat and condiment wrapped in the bamboo leaves. There are
salty, sweet, hot or cold different variety of Zong-Zi today. You can find
Zong-Zi in Chinese restaurants providing Dim-Sum lunch or same Chinese diners in
Chinese communities in USA.
The Standup Egg
Dragon Boat Day is usually in June, which is Horse month. Horse hour in
astrology is from 11:00 AM to 13:00 PM. They said that you will be lucky for the
coming year if you can make an egg standing up during Horse hour on the Dragon
Parents like to let their children to try to make the egg standing up on the
Dragon Boat Day. Certainly, the standing up egg competition will be held at
noon in many places. They said that it's will be easier to make a standing up egg at noon. Many
try to cheat on the ground, eggshell or inside egg to in order to win the
competition.
People had looked for the scientific explanation. The egg can standup easily
is because the Dragon Boat Day is close to the summer solstice, which is the
longest day of the year. The summer solstice occurs when the Earth's axis tilts
the most toward the sun, causing the sun to be farthest north at noon. Sun
reaches to the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere on the day of summer
solstice. Before sun travels back to the southern hemisphere, it seems as if the
sun stands still. When the gravitation between sun and earth are pulled each
other to the most, an egg can stand up easier.
Actually, the Dragon Boat Day is not close to the summer solstice every year. Because the lunar leap months, the Dragon Boat Day usually is close to summer
solstice every three years.
Summer Solstice
Dragon Boat Day
5/31/2006 (Leap Month)
6/27/2009 (Leap Month)
The Auspicious Leaves
The 5th lunar month is marked as &Poison& month in Chinese Farmer's Calendar.
This is because the gem, insect, fly, mosquito, and pest are active in this summer month
and people is easy to catch infectious disease. On the Dragon Boat Day, Chinese
put the leaves of Acorus and Artemisia on the doors or windows to repel insect,
fly, flea and moth away from the house. Those leaves have anti-poison function and can
prevent an epidemic.
The leaves of Acorus are linear, sword-like, glossy, evergreen and lush.
Artemisia belongs to daisy family with fern-like leaves.
In Tan Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), Rebel Huang scouted the target village and prepared the next
attack in 5th lunar month. He saw a woman carrying a boy in her one arm and
holding the another boy's hand was running. Rebel Huang asked her why running.
She said, &We heard Bandit Huang is coming, we need to run for our lives.& Huang
asked again, &Why carrying one in the arm, but holding another with hand?&. The
woman said, &The one in the arm is the only son of my husband's elder brother. The other
one is my son. In case, I cannot run quickly enough, I will drop my son and save my
husband brother son.& Rebel Huang was very touching, then told her that
&Go home quickly and put Acorus and Artemisia on your door, then rebel forces
won't hurt your family.& She returned to the village and told some people. On
the 5th day of 5th lunar month, Rebel Huang's forces entered the village, all
the families with Acorus and Artemisia on the door were safe. The custom keeps
since then.
The Incense Bag
contagious disease and plague had found in
the 5th lunar month in the Chinese history. Besides putting the Acorus and
Artemisia on the doors or windows, Chinese make the incense bag and hang on the
neck to prevent from contagious disease and keep evil spirit away.
The incense bag are made by hand. Chinese put the powder of Acorus and
Artemisia with some other fragrance stuff into different kind of sewing bags.
Therefore the incense bag can prevent an epidemic as the leaves of Acorus and
Artemisia. The popular incense bags was 12 horoscope animals. Today, we can find
many different auspicious symbols, many other animals, fish, flower, bird, even
the cartoon characters. Long time ago, Chinese women liked to make incense bag
for children.
The Inauspicious Day
The 5th lunar month is a bad month. The 5th day of the month is an
inauspicious day, because many famous people died on this day in Chinese
history. One customary book recorded, &if a baby's born on this day, baby boy
brings bad luck to dad and baby girl brings bad luck to mom.& It happened that
parent killed the baby born on this day before.
One famous tragedy story about the 5th day of 5th lunar month happened in Han Dynasty.
A 14-yar old girl Tsao Er's father were drowned in the river.
The girl cried along the river and looked for her father for 17 days. On the
first day of 5th lunar month, the girl jumped into the river. On the 5th day of
5th lunar month, people found the girl's body and her father's body holding
together and floating on the river. People were very touching and prayed for
The Wine and Water
They said that you will become healthier to drink the spring water from the
well on the Dragon Boat Day during Horse hour (11.00 AM to 13.00 PM). The story
is from late Ming dynasty. A general brought his troop to the hill and couldn't
find the water for days. He prayed to the heaven, then struck his sword into the
ground and the water spurted out on the 5th day of 5th lunar month at noon.
Once Chinese drank Strong Yellow Wine to clean up the gem in the body on the
Dragon Boat Day. The Strong Yellow Wine is made of rice. It's a tonic wine and
not good for children. Therefore adult just wipe the children forehead with the
Strong Yellow Wine. They believe that will make children healthier and won't
catch the 5th lunar month disease.}