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Traditional Chinese
Festival Culture
Boasting
rich
cultural
meaning
and
a
long
history,
traditional
Chinese
festivals compose an
important and brilliant part of Chinese culture.
The
formation
of
traditional
festivals
is
a
long
process
of
historical
and
cultural accumulation in a nation or a
state. Festival customs passed down
to
today still show signs of ethnic group struggles.
Festival activities always
reflect
primitive
sacrifice,
superstitious
taboo
and
earthly
life,
people's
spirit
and
religious
influence.
Sometimes
historical
figures
become
the
focus
of
a
festival,
showing
people's
commemoration
for
them
and
endowing
some historical sense to it.
Moreover, traditional Chinese festivals
were often connected with ancient
astronomy,
calendars
and
mathematics.
Jieqi,
or
the
24
seasonal
division
points,
is
a
key
factor
in
forming
traditional
festivals.
According
to
the
traditional
Chinese
calendar,
a
year
is
divided
into
24
points,
which
can
accurately show seasonal
changes and acts as a basic guidance system for
agricultural production. The 24
seasonal division points came into being in
the Warring States Period (475 BC-221
BC).
Most traditional
festivals took shape during the Qin Dynasty
(221-206 BC),
the
first
unified
and
power-centralized
dynasty
of
China.
By
the
Han
Dynasty
(206
BC-AD
220),
China
had
experienced
a
great
development
period and major traditional festivals
were fixed. In the most prosperous
Tang
Dynasty (AD 618-907), traditional festivals
liberated themselves from
primitive
sacrifice,
taboo
and
mystery
and
became
more
entertaining.
From then on,
festive occasions turned more brisk and exciting
and more
and
more
folk
customs
were
developed.
Some
festivals
and
customs
we
still
follow today, but others disappeared into the
mists of time.
As China is
a vast land and has many ethnic groups, different
ethnic groups
have different festivals
in different places. Even on the same festival,
they
follow
different
customs.
Here
we
introduce
some
important
and
commonly
celebrated
festivals.
In
fact,
these
traditional
festivals
have
absorbed nourishment
from different regions and various ethnic cultures
and are a precious cultural heritage
for the whole Chinese nation and its
guests.
Spring Festival
The
Spring
Festival
is
the
most
important
festival
for
the
Chinese
people
and
is
when
all
family
members
get
together,
just
like
Christmas
in
the
West. All people living
away from home go back, becoming the busiest time
for transportation systems of about
half a month from the Spring Festival.
Airports, railway stations and long-
distance bus stations are crowded with
home returnees.
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.
On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month,
many families make laba porridge,
a
delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous
rice, millet, seeds of Job's
tears,
jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and
gingko.
The
23rd
day
of
the
12th
lunar
month
is
called
Preliminary
Eve.
At
this
time,
people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now
however, most families
make delicious
food to enjoy themselves.
After the
Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the
coming New Year.
This is called
Store owners are busy then
as everybody goes out to purchase necessities
for the New Year. Materials not only
include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken,
duck, fish and meat, but also fruit,
candies and kinds of nuts. What's more,
various decorations, new clothes and
shoes for the children as well as gifts
for the elderly, friends and relatives,
are all on the list of purchasing.
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