Sunday, April 26, 2015

Festivals in China (WeiNing)

Chinese Dragon Boat Festival (端午节):
dragon boat festival, also known as Duanwu festival (端午节), is a traditional and statutory holiday in China. The main customs of the celebration include eating rice dumplings and dragon boat racing.


Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节):
The 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calender is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China, also known as Mooncake Festival, Chinese people will have a three-day holiday. Every year, when the festival comes people go home from every corner of the country and the world to meet their family and have dinner with them, admire the full moon and eat mooncakes.


Hungry Ghost Festival:
People are worshipping ancestors. Like people all over the world, the Chinese have special customs regarding dead people and their ghosts that are thousands of years old.
The Double Ninth Festival:
Enjoying chrysanthemum is a kind of custom in the Double Ninth Festival. The Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chongyang Festival, is held on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.


The Double Seventh Festival:
The qixi Festival, also known as the Double Seventh Festival or Chinese Valentine's Day. It falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It is also named the Qiqiao Festival, Young Women's Day.


Qing Ming Festival:
Qingming Festival, also called the Tomb Sweeping Day or Pure Brightness in English, usually falls around April 4 or 5, the beginning of one of the 24 solar terms on the traditional Chinese calendar.


Chinese Lantern Festival:
The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month, and traditonally enda the Chinese New Year period. In 2015 it falls on March. There is no public holiday for this festival.


Winter Solstice:
In Winter Solstice, eating dumplings is a kind of custom in the north part of China. In th
e Gregorian calendar, the Winter Solstice usually falls around December 21 and more often refers in particular to the day when the sun is exactly at the celestial longtitude of 270°. It marks the longest night and the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. In China, the Winter Solstice was originally celebrated as an end of harvest festival. Today, it is observed witha  family reunion over the long night, and pink and white tangyuan are eaten in sweet broth to symbolize family unity and prosperity.

The 24 Solar Terms:
The 24 solar terms, based on the sun's position in the zodiac, were created by farners in ancient China to guide the agricultural affairs and farming affairs. The 24 solar terms reflect the changes in climate, natural phenomna, agricultural production, and other aspects of human life, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation. The 24 solar terms play important roles and have greatly influenced people's basic needs in life, and they still have an important function nowadays. 

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