The Origin and Customs of Traditional Festivals in China

1, origin

According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wannian. Seeing that the festivals were chaotic at that time, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood up the mountain and sat in the shade to rest. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day.

Later, inspired by the dripping spring water on the cliff, he began to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every 360 days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated.

At that time, the monarch was called Zu Ti, who was often troubled by the unpredictable weather. After ten thousand years of knowledge, he went to see the monarch with a sundial and a clepsydra, and explained to Zu Ti why the sun and the moon moved. Zu Ti rejoiced and felt right. So I left for ten thousand years and built the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, as well as the sundial platform and the Leaky Pot Pavilion.

I hope I can accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time in the morning and evening, and create a calendar to benefit people all over the world. After the calendar was made, Wannian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Ti, "Now it is twelve months, the old year has passed and the new year has begun. Please make a festival for you. " Zu Ti said, "Spring is the first year of a year, so let's call it Spring Festival". It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.

2. Custom

During the Spring Festival, there are many kinds of celebrations, such as lion dancing, floating colors, dragon dancing, worshipping gods, temple fairs, visiting flower streets, enjoying lanterns, beating gongs and drums, flying flags, lighting fireworks, praying for blessings, dancing spring dance, walking on stilts, running dry boats, dancing yangko and so on.

The custom of offering sacrifices to gods (ancestors) prevails in the southern coastal areas, and it inherits the ancient customs. During the Spring Festival, there are many grand activities, such as offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and praying for the Spring Festival, which are rich in content, lively and festive, and full of flavor. During the Spring Festival, you can find it everywhere, such as posting New Year's greetings, observing New Year's Eve, having a reunion dinner and paying New Year's greetings. However, due to different local customs, the nuances have their own characteristics.

Second, Tomb-Sweeping Day.

1, origin

In its historical development, Tomb-Sweeping Day has incorporated the custom of forbidding fire and cold food in the Cold Food Festival. According to legend, the Cold Food Festival was established in the Spring and Autumn Period to commemorate the Jiexiu, a loyal minister of the State of Jin.

2. Custom

Grave-sweeping is the center of Tomb-Sweeping Day custom. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a cultural tradition of paying homage to his ancestors and pursuing the future with caution, mainly offering sacrifices to his ancestors and expressing his filial piety and yearning for them. Tomb-Sweeping Day originally belonged to "ancestor worship festival" and was named "Ghost Festival" in the development and evolution of later generations. In ancient times, people worshipped their ancestors to express filial piety and gratitude, and it was not called Ghost Festival.

Third, Dragon Boat Festival.

1, origin

Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor.

People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds. After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

2. Custom

Dragon Boat Festival is a very popular folk festival in China. This is a traditional custom of the Chinese nation since ancient times. Due to the vast territory and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names have been produced, but also different customs have been observed in different places.

The Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer is a festival to ascend to heaven, and the Dragon Boat Festival in the form of dragon boat race is an important theme of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is still popular in the southern coastal areas of China.

Fourth, Tanabata

1, source

Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a clever and honest young man in Niujiazhuang, west of Nanyang. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law, Ma Shi, is vicious, often abusing him and forcing him to do a lot of work. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle and gave him nine cows, but he was told to wait until he had ten cows, so the cowherd had no choice but to drive them out of the village.

The cowherd drove the cow to the mountains alone. On the mountain with deep grass and dense forest, he sat under the tree and was sad. He doesn't know when he can drive ten cows home. At this time, an old man with white hair and beard appeared in front of him and asked him why he was sad. When he learned what had happened to him, he smiled and said to him, "Don't be sad. There is a sick old cow in Funiu Mountain. You go and feed it well When the old cow is ready, just wait. "

The cowherd walked a long way over the mountains and finally found the sick old cow. Seeing that the old cow was very ill, he went to bundle the grass for the old cow. After feeding for three days in a row, the old cow looked up and told him that he was a great fairy in the sky, but he was sent to heaven because he broke his leg and could not move.

His injury needs to be washed with toilet water for a month. Cowherd carefully took care of old Niu Yi for a month, picking flowers for the old cow during the day and sleeping beside the old man at night. After the old cow recovered, the cowherd happily drove ten cows home.

After returning home, my sister-in-law is still not good to him. She hurt him several times and was saved by the old cow. Finally, my sister-in-law got angry and drove the cowherd out of the house. The cowherd only wanted the old cow to accompany him.

One day, the weaver girl in the sky played games with the fairies and took a bath in the river. With the help of the old cow, the cowherd got to know the Weaver Girl, and they hit it off. Later, the Weaver Girl sneaked into the world and became the wife of the Cowherd. The weaver girl also distributed wild silkworms brought from the sky to everyone, teaching them to raise silkworms, spin silk and weave bright silks and satins.

After the marriage of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, a man plowed and a woman weaved, giving birth to two children, a man and a woman, and the family lived happily. But the good times didn't last long, and it was soon known to the Emperor of Heaven that the heavenly queen herself came down to earth and forcibly brought the Weaver Girl back to heaven, and the loving couple separated from each other.

There is no way for Cowherd to go to heaven, or the old cow told him that he could wear shoes with his own skin after he died. Cowherd did as the old cow said, put on shoes made of cowhide and took his children with him. Seeing that I was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, I didn't know that the Queen Mother tore off the golden hairpin on her head with a wave of her hand.

A choppy Tianhe appeared, with Cowherd and Weaver Girl on both sides, and they could only cry bitterly. Their loyal love touched the magpies, and thousands of magpies flew to build a magpie bridge, where the cowherd and the weaver girl met. The Queen Mother has no choice but to allow them to meet on July 7th every year.

Later, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge, the girls will come to the flowers and the moon, look up at the stars and look for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, and pray to God that they will be as ingenious as the Weaver Girl and that they will have a happy marriage, thus forming China's Valentine's Day.

2. Custom

Every Tanabata, lovers often give gifts to each other.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) Mid-Autumn Festival

1, origin

According to legend, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time in ancient times, which scorched crops and made the people miserable. A hero named Hou Yi has infinite power. He sympathized with the suffering people, climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, made full use of his divine power, shot down nine suns in one breath, and ordered the last one to rise and fall on time for the benefit of the people.

Hou Yi was respected and loved by the people. He married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. Besides hunting, Hou Yi spends all his time with his wife, and people envy this beautiful and loving couple.

Many people with lofty ideals came here to study as teachers, and Meng Peng with ulterior motives joined in.

One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek truth. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a bag of elixir. It is said that taking this medicine can instantly ascend to heaven and become immortal. However, Hou Yi was reluctant to leave his wife, so he had to temporarily give the elixir to Chang 'e. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the dresser's treasure chest, but the villain Meng Peng saw it. He wants to steal the elixir to make himself immortal.

Three days later, Hou Yi led his entourage out hunting, while Meng Peng with ulterior motives pretended to be ill. Shortly after Hou Yi led the crowd to leave, Meng Peng broke into the backyard of the back room with a sword in his hand, threatening Chang 'e to hand over the elixir.

Chang 'e knew that she was no match for Meng Peng. In times of crisis, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure chest, took out the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. Chang 'e swallowed the medicine and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew into the sky. Because Chang 'e was worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.

In the evening, when Hou Yi came home, the maids cried and told what happened during the day. Hou Yi was surprised and angry, and drew his sword to kill the villain. Meng Peng escaped early. Angry and sad, Hou Yi looked up at the night sky and called the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that the moon was exceptionally bright and there was a swaying figure, which resembled Chang 'e.

He chased the moon desperately, but he chased three steps, the moon retreated three steps, he retreated three steps and the moon advanced three steps, but he couldn't catch up anyway.

Hou Yi had no choice but to miss his wife, so he had to send someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, put on a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey and fresh fruit, and offer a remote sacrifice to Chang 'e who was attached to him in the moon palace. After hearing the news that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon became an immortal, people set up an incense table under the moon and prayed for good luck and peace to the kind Chang 'e. Since then, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai has spread among the people.

2. Custom

Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, there have been customs such as offering sacrifices to the moon, enjoying the moon, eating Yue Bai, enjoying osmanthus flowers and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been passed down to this day and last forever. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a colorful and precious cultural heritage. The full moon is a symbol of people's reunion, a sustenance for missing their hometown and relatives, and hopes for a bumper harvest and happiness. Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day are also called the four traditional festivals in China.

Baidu Encyclopedia-The Origin of Traditional Festivals in China

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dragon Boat Festival