Legal
holidays in China are New Year (January 1st), a national
one-day holiday; Spring Festival (New Year by the lunar
calendar), a national three-day holiday; International
Working Women's Day (March 8th); Tree Planting Day (March
12th); International Labor Day (May 1st), a national
one-day holiday; Chinese Youth Festival (May 4th); International
Children's Day (June 1st); Anniversary of the Founding
of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) (August
1st); Teacher's Day (September 10th); and National Day
(October 1st), a national two-day holiday.
China's major traditional festivals include the Spring
Festival, the Lantern Festival, Pure Brightness Day,
the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and
the Double Ninth Festival. Ethnic minorities have also
retained their own traditional festivals, including
the Water Sprinkling Festival of the Dai people, the
Nadam Fair of the Mongolian people, the Torch Festival
of the Yi people, the Danu (Never Forget the Past) Festival
of the Yao people, the Third Month Fair of the Bai people,
the Antiphonal Singing Day of the Zhuang people, the
Tibetan New Year and Onghor (Expecting a Good Harvest)
Festival of the Tibetan people, and the Jumping Flower
Festival of the Miao people.
Spring Festival!! Each year, when winter is
at its end and spring around the corner, people throughout
China enthusiastically celebrate the first traditional
holiday of the year, the Spring Festival. In the past,
when the Chinese people used the lunar calendar, the
Spring Festival was known as the New Year. It falls
on the first day of the first lunar month, the beginning
of a new year. After the Revolution of 1911, China adopted
the Gregorian calendar. To distinguish the lunar New
Year from the New Year by the Gregorian calendar, the
lunar New Year was called the Spring Festival (which
generally falls between the last 10-day period of January
and mid-February). The evening before the Spring Festival,
the lunar New Year' Eve, is an important time for family
reunions. The whole family gets together for a sumptuous
dinner, followed by an evening of pleasant talk or games.
Some families stay up all night, seeing the year out.
The next morning, people pay New Year calls on relatives
and friends, wishing each other good luck. During the
Spring Festival, various traditional recreational activities
are enjoyed in many parts of China, notably lion dances,
dragon lantern dances, land-boat rowing and stilt-walking.
Lantern Festival!!The Lantern Festival falls
on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the night
of the first full moon after the Spring Festival. Traditionally,
people eat sweet dumplings during this festival. Sweet
dumplings, round balls of glutinous rice flour with
sugar filling, symbolize reunion. During the festival
people display multicolored lanterns on the streets
and courtyards, and stroll around admiring them at night,
hence the name Lantern Festival. Some places also hold
evening parties for people to guess riddles written
on lanterns.
Pure Brightness Day!!Pure Brightness Day falls
around April 5th every year. Traditionally, this is
an occasion for people to offer sacrifices to their
ancestors. In recent years, many people have also been
going to the tombs of the revolutionary martyrs to pay
their respects. At this time of year the weather has
begun to turn warm, and the earth is once again covered
with green. People love to go to the outskirts of cities
to walk on the grass, fly kites and appreciate the beauty
of spring. That is why Pure Brightness Day is sometimes
also called Walking amid Greenery Day.
Dragon Boat Festival!!It is generally believed
that this festival originated to honor the memory of
the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, who lived in the State of
Chu during the Warring States Period. In despair at
not being able to halt the decline of his country, he
drowned himself in the Miluo River in modern Hunan Province
on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month after the
capital of Chu fell to the State of Qin in 278 B.C.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan君s death people living
on the banks of the river went out in their boats to
try to find the corpse. Every year thereafter, on this
day people would row their boats out onto their local
river, throwing sections of bamboo filled with rice
into the water as an offering to him. Today, the memory
of Qu Yuan lives on, zongzi (pyramid-shaped dumplings
made by wrapping glutinous rice in bamboo leaves) remains
the traditional food and dragon-boat races are held.
Mid-Autumn Festival!!The Mid-Autumn Festival
falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which
comes right in the middle of autumn, hence its name.
In ancient times, people would offer elaborate cakes
as sacrifices to the Moon Goddess on this day. After
the ceremony, the family would enjoy sitting together
to eat the pastries. The festival came to symbolize
family reunion, and the custom has been passed down
to today. On this mid-autumn night the full moon is
especially bright. The whole family sit together eating
moon cakes while admiring the moon in its perfect splendor.
The Double Ninth Festival!!This festival falls
on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. According
to Chinese tradition, the ninth day is an auspicious
day; and the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the
most auspicious day. On this day, the Chinese people
customarily ascend a hill, eat cakes, drink wine and
admire chrysanthemums. Since the late 1980s, the Double
Ninth Festival has become a festival for old people.
Various kinds of activities to show respect and concern
for the elderly are held throughout the country; old
people are also invited to attend celebration meetings
and watch theatrical performances.
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