Chinese Traditional Festivals

Shaorong Huang

China is a country with an ancient oriental civilization. Its long

history and fine tradition have provided it with the most fertile soil
for the growth of the traditional festivals. As early as the Shang Dynasty
(c.16th-1lth century B.C.), Chinese people were already able to determine
the four main solar terms-the Spring Equinox, the Summer Solstice,
the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Then, during the time
of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.) the unique 24 divisions of the solar
year in the traditional Chinese calendar were fully developed. With the
invention of the ten Heavenly Stems in the Xia Dynasty (c.2lst-c.16th
century B.C.) and the twelve Earthly Branches in the Shang Dynasty,
the ancient Chinese people could designate years, months, days and hours
quite adequately. These early civilizations made it possible for the birth
and development of Chinese traditional festivals.
Festivals are the mirrors of a nation’s history and civilization. Their
birth is the inevitable and natural outcome of certain developments of
human society. Their growth reflects the process of human beings’
recognition of nature and the endless struggle against nature. In primitive
society when the level of productivity was very low, festivals could in
no way come into being. Only when society developed to a certain stage,
the standard of people’s material and cultural life was somewhat
improved, and the country achieved certain degree of unity and stability,
could festivals start their growth healthily. In China’s history, the nation
suffered temporal splits and wars in the Spring and Autumn Period
(770-476 B.C.), Warring States (475-22 B.C.), the Three Kingdoms (220-
265), the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) and the Five
Dynasties (907-960). However, Chinese people, quite fortunately,
experienced a lot of unity and prosperity in the past several thousand
years. Especially in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) and the Tang
Dynasty (618-907), the quickly developed economy and tranquil social
environment stimulated greatly the formation and development of
festivals and festival activities.

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Being a nation of multiple nationalities, China’s festivals are rich
and varied. As a Chinese saying goes, “If you travel 100 Lz (equal to
half a kilometer) away, you’ll experience a totally different custom.”
The differences caused by the various geographical regions, natural
environments and nationalities have created different festival customs
and different activities of a festival in the long history. But as a natural
law, festival customs, like anything else, are constantly changing with
the trend of the history. In their development, some have died, and the
others have survived. And, since China has basically been a united nation
in its history, some common festivals which are celebrated by all the
people and all the nationalities have been gradually developed. They
are the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Pure Brightness, the
Dragon Boat Festival, Q z x i , the Moon Festival and the Double Ninth
Festival.

The Spring Festival

Chinese New Year’s Day is on the first day of the first lunar month,
in later January or early February according to the Gregorian calendar.
Because i t is the end of winter and the beginning of spring and because
it has been a long custom of Chinese people to celebrate the coming
of new spring, it is also called the Spring Festival.
Like ancient Egyptians who told time by observing the coming and
going of the Nile tides, the ancient Chinese had noticed the changes
in the shape of the moon, the cold and warm weather, and the growth
and ripening of different crops. By and by, they developed the concept
of year and month. Many historians find that as early as the Xia Dynasty,
the ancient Chinese could already decide the months by observing the
changes in the shape of the Plough and other stars. During the Shang
Dynasty, people began to have the specific names for the twelve months
in a year. But in ancient times, different dynasties had different times
for the new year, because the emperors of each dynasty believed that
they were sons of heaven so that they had the duty to change the order
of the months to begin their dynasties. For example, according to Han
and Go, the Xia Dynasty had January (lunar month) for its first month,
while the Shang Dynasty had December, the Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-
256 B.C.) had November, and the Qin Dynasty (221-207B.C.) had October
(Han and Go 42). Then in the Han Dynasty, Emperor W u ordered some
historians and scholars to revise the calendar. The revision was based
on Xia calendar which named January the first month. Since then, the
calendar has been used for more than two thousand years without major
changes, and people today still call i t “Xia Calendar.”
The Spring Festival is the most important holiday for every Chinese
and over-seas Chinese. Its celebration is rich and ceremonious. The festival
activities are varied and colorful. Yutang Lin, a famous Chinese scholar,
 Chinese Traditional Festivals 165
once gave a very good description of the festival: “The old Chinese new
year, of the lunar calendar, was the greatest festival in the year for the
Chinese people, compared with which every other festival seemed lacking
in completeness of the holiday spirit. For five days the entire nation
dressed in its best clothes, shut up shop, loafed, gambled, beat gongs,
let off firecrackers, paid calls, and attended theatrical performances. It
was the great day of good luck, when everybody looked forward to a
better and more prosperous new year, when everybody had the pleasure
of adding one year to his age and was ready with an auspicious luck-
bringing word for his neighbors.” (Lin 162)

Znuiting the Kitchen God and the Door God

The Kitchen God is regarded as the ambassador of the Jade Emperor
(the Supreme Deity of Taoism) to each family. It is said that on the
twenty-fourth of the twelfth month of each lunar year, the Kitchen God
166 Journal of Popular Culture

The Gate God, Shen T’u or Ch’in Ch’iung

 Chinese Traditional Festivals 167
from each family should go to heaven to report the family’s deeds of
the year. So, on that particular day, every family should send its Kitchen
God to heaven by burning its picture. Hoping the God to make a positive
report to the Jade Emperor, the family tries to bribe him by cooking
him a good meal. On New Year’s Eve, the Kitchen God returns to the
earth, so each family welcomes him by pasting a new picture of him
in the kitchen.
During the time of bidding farewell to the outgoing year, the most
important thing is to forbid any devil to enter the family. So, on New
Year’s Eve, each family would invite the Door God by pasting its picture
on the front door as a talisman. The most popular Door God is Zhong
K u i . According to a myth, Emperor Xuanzhong of the Tang Dynasty
once saw in a dream a small ghost who came to steal his belongings.
The frightened emperor ran desperately, hoping to escape. Just then,
a big ghost appeared in the palace who caught and devoured the small
ghost in front of the emperor. Emperor Xuanzhong asked the big ghost
surprisingly: “Who are you?’’The big ghost answered: “I’m Zhong Kui,
your loyal servant.” After he had waked, the emperor asked an artist
to paint the picture of Zhong Kui according to his description and ordered
his people to enshrine and worship the ghost.
Besides Zhong Kui, a couple of ancient generals such as Qin Shubao
and Y u Chigong also have served as Door Gods in different parts of
China. Though the names of these gods are different, their duty is the
same-to protect the family from the devils’ attack. Related to the tradition
of pasting Door God’s picture on the front door, people also have the
habit of pasting scrolls with nice words on both sides of the door, forming
a couplet.

New Year’s Eve

In most parts of China, especially in the south, people are used
to having grand family banquets to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. Because
it is the last meal of the year, all the family members must sit together
to enjoy the delicacies and everybody, men and women, adults and
children, is allowed and even encouraged to drink. But before the banquet,
each family must offer a sacrifice to its ancestors, usually three or four
generations of the dead. The family must set a table with various dishes
and provide a seat for each ancestor. Then, the eldest member of the
family should pour drinks for them. After burning some joss sticks and
candles, the ancestors are supposed to begin to eat, so the whole family
should worship them on bended knees and kowtow. This has been a
long tradition in China. According to Eichborn, the worship of the
ancestors started in the Shang Dynasty and was enlarged “into a
thoroughly well organized system” and “became the distinguishing mark
of the ruling social class” in the Chou Dynasty (Eichborn 49). The ancient
168 Journal of Popular Culture
Chinese, as well as many Chinese today, firmly believed that the dead
must be treated as equally as the living. In fact, the dead are superior
to the living because the former are respected and worshiped by the latter.
After the grand family banquet, the family sit together, maybe around
the fire place, chatting, singing, laughing or playing cards. They will
stay up very late, some to midnight, many to the dawn of the next morning.
This custom is called shousui which means to stay up late or all night
on New Year’s Eve, symbolizing the living of two years in one night.
In recent years, the Chinese Central T V Station organizes big shows
on each New Year’s Eve, so almost all the families just sit in front of
T V sets watching the wonderful performances. At midnight, when the
big clock on T V screen strikes twelve, the youngsters of all the families
throughout the nation rush out of their houses and apartments to let
off firecrackers.
Chinese firecracker had been invented long before the invention of
gunpowder. According to an ancient myth, there was a wicked devil
of a foot or so in height who dwelled in western mountains. Anybody
who came across i t would fall ill. Fortunately this devil feared the sound
of bursting bamboo very much. So, on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s
Day, people would burn bamboo to make the sound to keep the devil
out of their houses. Today, people still have the habit of letting off
firecrackers on New Year’s Eve night and New Year’s Day morning,
but their purpose is to have fun rather than to scare devils or ghosts.

N e w Year’s Day
New Year’s Day is the day of family reunion. In history, even prisoners
were allowed to leave the jails to spend the festival with their families.
The breakfast of the day is called family reunion meal. Families in the
north usually have jiaozi (a kind of dumpling with meat and vegetable
stuffing), while families in the south usually have tuanyuan (small round
thing made of glutinous rice flour). After eating the family reunion meal,
people start to pay New Year calls to their neighbors, relatives and friends.
In the countryside, youngsters visit every family in the village to give
a happy New Year wish to anyone they know and come back with all
the pockets filled with candies. Frequently, a group of people come to
a family to perform lion dance and sing good wishes, while the host
pleasantly feed them with cookies and cakes.

Money Gift and Money Tree

Money gift is the money given to children by adults as a New Year
gift. In ancient time, Chinese money is the round copper coin with a
square hole in the middle. On New Year’s Eve, the adults would thread
copper coins with pieces of colorful thread to form the shape of dragon.
Then, they would put the money somewhere beside their sleeping
 Chinese Traditional Festivals 169
children’s beds. This custom is quite similar to Christmas gifts in western
countries. Of course, people today no longer use copper coins. They
simply give certain sum of money to their children on New Year’s Day.
Money tree is a legendary tree that sheds coins when shaken. Before
the festival, people used to cut some pine branches and put them in
a vase. Then they would tie some copper coins, artificial shoe-shaped
gold or silver, and pomegranate flowers to the tree. The money tree
is somewhat similar to the Christmas tree in western countries, though
this custom is rarely found in China today.

The Lantern Festiual

The Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month,
the first full moon night of the new year. On that particular night,
with the silvery full moon shining above, people light thousands of
thousands of colorful lanterns to enjoy themselves. That’s why the festival
is called the Lantern Festival.
The festival originated in the Han Dynasty. Early around 112 B.C.,
Emperor Wu who believed in gods piously ordered to build large temples
and altars to offer sacrifice to the superior god. The offerings were given
several times a year, and the most ceremonious one was on the 15th
of the first lunar month. The grand ceremony, brilliantly illuminated
by hundreds of lanterns, lasted for the whole night, from dusk to dawn.
Then in 67 A.D., India’s Buddhist doctrine began to spread to China.
In order to propagate Buddha dharma, Emperor Ming of the East Han
Dynasty ordered to light lanterns in his palace and the monasteries on
the 15th night of the first lunar month. Again in 71 A.D., the same
emperor was said to order the Buddhist monks and the Taoist priests
to have a competition on supernatural power. As a result, the monks
won “with letting off bright five colored light to the sky which caused
the rain of colorful fire.” (Han and Go 112) So, by and by, to light
lanterns on the 15th night of the first lunar month became a festival.
On that night, many emperors in history would give orders to lift a
curfew so that people could have fun for the whole night.
For about two thousand years, Chinese people have developed the
festival lanterns into hundreds of kinds and shapes, resembling vegetables,
animals, fish, men, and numerous other objects. Today, the display of
festival lanterns on the Lantern Festival is still very common. Several
days before the festival, almost all the parks in all the cities throughout
the country should be beautifully decorated with various kinds of lanterns.
People pour there days and nights to feast their eyes on the different
ingeniously constructed lanterns. In the city of Xian, which has been
richly endowed by history, there is a high wall around the old city.
Every year during the Lantern Festival, the wall is decorated with
hundreds and thousands of colorful lanterns, and for as many as ten
170 Journal of Popular Culture

A Lantern Market in Xian during the Lantern Festival.

Photo by Wei Wang-Xiang
days around the festival, the top of the wall is filled with people watching
and appreciating the lanterns.
During the festival, many families like to hang lanterns in front
of their houses. The most excited celebrators are children, who can hardly
wait the dusk to come before they light their own lanterns and carry
them out of doors. Besides lanterns, people also let off fireworks in
celebration. It was invented in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).Today, the
displays of fireworks are usually grand, and they always attract a lot
of watchers.
The recreational activities during the festival are rich and varied.
In addition to walking on stilts, land boat dance, lion dance and dragon
dance, the most popular game is lantern riddle. As early as the Song
Dynasty, some people began to write riddles on lanterns so that the others
 Chinese Traditional Festivals 171
could try to work out the solution while at the same time appreciate
the craftsmanship. The answers of the riddles were words, lines of poems
or certain subjects. Today, the lantern riddles are more interesting and
tricky and people have a lot of fun in solving them.
The popular food for the festival is called yuanxiao, sweet round
dumplings made of glutinous rice flour. The meal also symbolizes family
reunion.

The Pure Brightness

Originally, the Pure Brightness is the fifth of the 24 solar terms
which mark the 24 divisions of the solar year in the traditional Chinese
calendar. It is fifteen days after the Spring Equinox, another solar term.
It occurs in the first ten-day period of the third lunar month, around
April 5 of the Gregorian calendar. When the Pure Brightness comes,
the temperature rises, the rainfall increases, the air becomes fresher and
purer, and the sky looks brighter. It is the season of spring ploughing
and spring sowing.
The Pure Brightness is the only solar term which becomes a festival.
The most notable custom related to the festival is called grave sweeping-
paying respects to a dead person at his tomb. In ancient times, to offer
sacrifice to gods and to worship ancestors were regarded as the most
important affairs of the country. Filial piety and fraternal duty were
highly advocated. Ancestral temples and ancestral graves were almost
the symbols of the country and the hometown.
In China, a grave is usually a conical cone shaped mound over
the coffin with a lump of earth in round shape serving as the cap. When
the day of the Pure Brightness comes, the grave yard is filled with people,
each clearing his own ancestor’s grave, hoeing up weeds, mending
damaged parts and making a new cap for it. Then, he/she puts a piece
of yellowish square paper under the new cap, places some food and
dishes in front of the grave, sheds three glasses of wine into the grave
earth and burns some nether world money-yellowish paper made to
resemble money as an offering to the dead. On the Pure Brightness,
if there is not any yellowish square paper under a grave’s cap, that must
be a deserted grave, which means that the dead has no descendants. In
some places, people have the habit of doing grave sweeping for those
deserted graves after sweeping their own ancestor’s graves. In some other
places, the husband also had the duty to sweep his parents-in-law’s graves.
The newly married couple should go together to do grave sweeping.
Of course, the Pure Brightness is not merely the festival of ghosts.
Since the weather in mid-spring is warm and nice, people would like
to go outing with their families and enjoy the beauty of the nature.
The activity is called taqzng which means to go for a walk in the country
fields when the grass has just turned green. This tradition can trace
172 Journal of Popular Culture

back to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, people also engaged in some
other activities such as football, polo, tug-of-war, cockfight and swing
during the festival.

T h e Dragon Boat Festiual

The Dragon Boat Festival is on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
The main customs Chinese people have during the festival are to eat
zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped
in bamboo or reed leaves, to wear perfume bag and to have dragon-
boat races.
Originally, the real meaning of the festival is to have a thorough
cleaning during summertime so that people can have a good health for
the busy farming season of the year. As early as in the Shang Dynasty,
the emperors would send their ministers to "travel through the country
during early summer, urging the peasants to get ready for the summer
harvest" (Fan 77). They would also pursue the peasants to prepare
different herbal medicines because people could get sick very easily during
the season. Zongzi which appeared in the Han Dynasty carried no special
meaning at first. It was regarded only as a kind of seasonal food which
with its cool and refreshing nature had certain antipyretic function to
Chinese Traditional Festivals 173

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174 Journal of Popular Culture
prevent acute febrile diseases. There is a saying in China, “After eating
zongzi of the fifth lunar month, you can put all the winter clothes into
closet.” This shows that zongzi, as well as the festival itself, actually
signals the turn-point of the two seasons.
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month was not celebrated as a festival
in ancient times. Instead, people regarded it as the double evil, for the
fifth month was the evil month and the fifth day was the evil day. In
order to prevent evil, people had the custom of tying five-colored (green,
red, yellow, white and black) thread which was called “longevity thread”
on their arms and hanging the same five-colored peach wood charms
on their gates on the very day. These five colors might have certain
relations with the ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin-yang and the five
elements (yellow-earth, in charge of the center; green-wood, in charge
of the east; white-metal, in charge of the west; black-water, in charge
of the north; red-fire, in charge of the south). Later, the five-colored
thread was developed into a work of art named perfume bag, like a
necklace. The most common design of it was the image of the five
poisonous creatures (scorpion, viper, centipede, house lizard and toad),
symbolizing ancient Chinese philosophical and medical idea of
combating poison. Today, people still have the habit of taking realgar
wine and painting it on the foreheads, noses, and ears of small children,
to ward off poisonous creatures. They also put up the leaves of calamus
and mugwort at the sides of gates to avert what is unpropitious. This
is a survival from the ancient belief that the mugwort leaves look like
a tiger, and the calamus leaves like a sword.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589),the double-evil
day was evolved into a happy holiday with festive celebrations. Moreover,
the festival also began to serve as a memorial day for Qu Yuan (340-
278 B.C.), the great patriotic poet of Chinese history. It is said that Qu
Yuan drowned himself in the Jiulu River on the fifth day of the fifth
lunar month. Because he was very popular, people were gathered with
their boats on the river, trying to save him. That incident led to the
dragon-boat race which became a tradition of the festival. Today, dragon-
boat races are held during the festival in many parts of China, especially
in the south where there are a lot of rivers and lakes. Of course, zongzi
is still the festival food for every Chinese family. In some places like
Beijing, people also have “cherries, mulberries, water-chestnuts, peaches,
apricots, cakes of the Five Poisonous Creatures, and rose-cakes” (Tun
41).

Qixi, the Ancient Art Festival

Qzxz means the seventh evening of the seventh lunar month. The
festival is based on the story of the Weaver Maid who “is identified
with the Vega and two stars of Lyra” and the Cowherd who “consists
 Chinese Traditional Festivals 175
of three stars of the constellation of Aquila” (Hodous 175). According
to a legend, it is the night when the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid
meet in Heaven. On this particular night, ancient Chinese women would
take the chance begging the Weaver Maid to give them skill and
craftsmanship in spinning, weaving, knitting and embroidering.
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid first appeared
in the Han Dynasty. The Cowherd was an orphan, living and working
with an old cow who was actually the god of golden cow. One day,
the old cow told him that a lot of fairies would come to bath in a nearby
river and that he could steal the clothes of one of them so that she had
to marry him. The Cowherd went to the river and hid himself in reed.
When all the fairies were bathing in nude, he took away the Weaver
Maid’s clothes and underwear. The other fairies all fled to heaven, and
the Weaver Maid agreed, not unwillingly, to marry the bashful youth.
The young couple lived happily on earth, and very soon, they got a
boy and a girl. But the old cow was too old to share happiness with
them. It asked the young couple to keep its skin for emergency after
its death.
The Weaver Maid was the daughter of the Jade Emperor and grand-
daughter-in-law of the Empress Dowager. Neither of them was happy
with the marriage. One day, they captured the Weaver Maid to heaven.
The sorrowful Cowherd carried the two children in two baskets, and
with the cow skin on his back as a wing, he flew to catch his wife.
The frightened Empress Dowager dug a heavenly river (the Milky Way)
with her golden hairpin to separate the loving couple. But the Weaver
Maid refused to enter the palace and the Cowherd would not go back.
They remained on the banks of each side. Later, the Jade Emperor and
the Empress Dowager had to let them meet once a year-on the seventh
evening of the seventh moon. On that night, you can seldom see a magpie
because they all fly to the Milky Way to form a bridge for the poor
couple. And, if you stand under some grapevine at the very quite night,
you can hear their loving murmur.
Though the legend appeared in the Han Dynasty, the custom of
begging for skill and craftsmanship was prevailing in the Tang Dynasty,
probably because it was then that spinning, weaving, knitting and
embroidering were popular throughout the country. The activity of the
begging was varied. Some threaded a nine-hole needle with five-colored
thread by moon light; some waited spiders to make webs on fruit; and
still others would put some spiders in small boxes to see the way they
net. But most of the activities were not “begging” but “showing off.”
“During the festival, almost all the main streets of many cities were
filled with various exquisite and ingenious handicraft articles, making
it a real art festival” (Fan 79).
176 Journal of Popular Culture
In late nineteenth century China’s handicraft industry was depressed
by foreign textile. So, most women lost gradually their interest and
enthusiasm in begging for skill and craftsmanship. Nowadays, the only
thing people still remember for the festival is the love story of the Cowherd
and the Weaver Maid.

The Moon Festival

The Moon Festival is also called the Mid-autumn Festival, because
it is on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the middle of autumn.
It is originated, probably, from the ancient custom of autumn sacrificial
offerings to gods and the primitive religion of worshiping the moon.
Though the word “Mid-autumn” appeared in early records, it was not
until the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Tang Dynasty did it become
a festival, during which people began admiring the full moon instead
of worshiping it.
As early as the Tang Dynasty, moon cake was already used as the
typical food for the festival. The custom has been carried on for over
one thousand years and is still prevailing. The shape of i t is round,
indicating the bright full moon of the festival. It also symbolizes family
reunion, for on that day, people prefer to have a family reunion dinner
and then sit together outside, admiring the full moon. In the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), people used to call the Moon Festival “the Festival of
Reunion.” According to the custom, even those wives who were visiting
their own parents must return to their husbands’ on the festival day.
Believe it or not, there is the patriotic tradition in the cake. The
story goes back to the latter part of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). At
that time “the Chinese were very closely watched by their Mongol
overlords. Mongol spies were stationed in private families; people were
not permitted to gather into groups for conversation; and no weapons
were permitted, even vegetable and meat choppers being restricted to
one for every ten families. Finally, according to the story, someone
conceived the idea of attaching papers to the moon cakes which are
universally sent to one’s friends at this festival, and of writing thereon
a message for uprising. The resulting midnight massacre of Mongols
led to the ultimate overthrow of the dynasty” (Tun 66). Since then, people
have had the habit of sticking little paper squares on the middle surface
of moon cakes.
Today, moon cakes are still the popular food for the festival. Though
their shape remains round, their sizes are varied, some as big as two
feet by diameter. According to a report in 1927, only in six tea shops
in Guangzhou, there were over 80 kinds of moon cakes displayed there
(Han and Go 258).

T h e Double Ninth Festival

 Chinese Traditional Festivals 177

(:tiuiig Ii'uei, T h e Demon Chaser

178 Journal of Popular Culture
The Double Ninth Festival is on the ninth day of the ninth lunar
month. According to T h e Book of Changes, one of the Five classics
in Chinese ancient literature, nine is a Yang (positive) number. SO the
festival is also called Double Yang Festival. The origin of the festival
may trace back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 24). At that
time, the main customs for the festival were to wear mugwort leaves,
to climb high and to drink chrysanthemum wine.
Ancient Chinese didn’t regard the Double Ninth as a lucky day,
though it was not as evil as the Double Fifth. They would wear mugwort
leaves on that day to avoid demon, climb high to escape evil, drink
chrysanthemum wine to stay away from illness. Han and Go state that
the custom of climbing high started in the Later Han Dynasty (25-220),
for there was a legend related to it: During the Later Han Dynasty there
lived a certain Fei Chang-feng, noted for his knowledge of the magical
arts, who had a friend named Huan Ching. One day Fei said to Huan:
“On the ninth day of the ninth month a great disaster will happen
in your family. But if you make a sack out of red silk gauze, fill it
with dogwood, and bind it on your arm; and if you all climb to a high
place and drink chrysanthemum wine, the calamity may be lessened.”
Following this advice, Huan Ching and his family did what Fei told,
and when they returned on the evening of the ninth day, they found
that their oxen, sheep, chickens and dogs had all suffered a violent death.
Fei told them: “The animals have suffered the disaster which would
have befallen you” (Han and Go 268).
Though the origin of the festival was coated with some superstitious
and romantic colors, with the passage of time, people seemed to forget
gradually the negative nature of the day, and they began to welcome
it as a festival. Mugwort leaves became beautiful decoration for sightseers,
climbing high a good activity under the fine mid-autumn weather,
chrysanthemum wine a tasty drink good for health.
The typical festival food is glutinous rice cake which has the history
of over one thousand years. The rice cake is pronounced as gao in Chinese
which is the homophone of the word “high.” Because Chinese have
the tradition of believing in aiming high, eating rice cakes while climbing
high carries really good meanings. Today, people still eat rice cake, drink
chrysanthemum wine and go sightseeing during the Double Ninth
Festival. However, they no longer wear mugwort leaves.

Chinese traditional festivals have a long history. Most of them took

shape before the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), and some can trace back
to three or four thousand years. The origin of these festivals might be
the primitive worships, superstitions and taboos. Like other ancient
civilizations in the world, the ancient Chinese took animals (e.g. dragon),
plants, the sun, the moon, heaven and the earth as the objects for
 Chinese Traditional Festivals 179
worshiping. Not knowing why there were four seasons, why there were
the natural disasters such as forest fire, flood and storm, and why men
and women got sick and died, they imputed these mishaps to some
superstitious force and developed some taboos. According to Chinese
culture, even numbers are auspicious. But most of the festivals are on
odd-numbered days of the odd-numbered months, New Year’s Day on
the first day of the first month, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day
of the first month, the Pure Brightness in the third month, the Dragon
Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month, Qixi on the seventh
evening of the seventh month, the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth
day of the ninth month. This fact shows that at the beginning, these
festivals were not really happy and joyous time, but rather the unlucky
days with taboos.
The prosperous Tang Dynasty brought great changes to Chinese
traditional festivals. Owing to the development of national economy and
culture, people were escaped from the superstitious and mysterious
atmosphere. They threw away taboos and invited good food, joyful
entertainments and recreational activities to the festivals, turning the
unlucky days into happy festival time. On New Year’s Day, people let
off firecrackers to have fun, not to scare devils or ghosts; during the
Lantern Festival, the colorful lanterns were displayed for people, not
for gods; on the Moon Festival, the previous worship of the moon became
the admiration of the full bright moon; on the Double Ninth Festival,
people climbed high not to escape from demons but to have a good
sightseeing.
Apart from the common nature of holidays and festivals, Chinese
traditional festivals have their own characteristics. First, they are stamped
with the brand of Chinese history. The historical figures such as Zhong
Kui, Qin Shubao and Y u Chigong serve as Door Gods during the Spring
Festival. The great patriotic poet Qu Y u a n is the object of worship during
the Dragon Boat Festival. The development of the lunar calendar was
the essential prerequisite of the festival and the invention of gunpowder
made firecracker possible. The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver
Maid reflects China’s agriculture-centered family economy of one
husband, one wife and one cow in the feudal society. Moreover, it was
the highly developed economy and peaceful social environment of the
Tang Dynasty that finally brought grand celebrations and colorful
activities to the festivals.
Secondly, Chinese festival customs reflect the traditional moral
principles and ethical concepts. There has been a long tradition for
Chinese people to respect and worship their ancestors. Almost on every
festival, they offer a sacrifice to their ancestors and worship them on
bended knees and kowtow. Chinese people also value the natural bonds
and ethical relationships between members of a family. They regard each
180 Journal of Popular Culture
festival an occasion of family reunion, especially on the Lantern Festival
and the Moon Festival when the moon on the sky is full and round,
for the word round (yuan) carries the meaning of reunion.
Thirdly, Chinese festival customs are usually combined with
etiquette. The custom of grave sweeping on the Pure Brightness Festival
can be interpreted as a posture of courtesy towards the dead, reflecting
Chinese traditional belief that the dead must be treated as politely as
the alive. During the festivals, people frequently pay visits to their
relatives, friends and neighbors, sending each other gifts and festival
food such as moon cakes, rice cakes and zongzi. Thus, the relationship
and friendship between them are improved constantly.
Fourthly, unlike many western traditional holidays, Chinese
traditional festivals have little influence from religion. Though Taoists,
Buddhists and Moslems have their own holidays, people just don’t care
very much. For example, both Taoism and Buddhism claim the fifteenth
day of the first lunar month their holiday, but people still remember
the day as the Lantern Festival.
Festivals are the reflections of the tradition and civilization of a
nation. They are the uniquely beautiful flowers in the garden of a nation’s
culture. As the portraitures and fossils of Chinese civilization, Chinese
traditional festivals have undergone a long history of growth and
development. Now, they are quite mature, and full of vitality as well.

Works Cited

Eichborn, Werner. Chinese Civilization: An Introduction. Trans. Janet Seligman.

New York and Washington: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
Fan, Maozheng. “The Folk Custom and Folk Art i n China.” Folk Craft, 1 (Oct.
1984): 71-81.
Han, Yangming and Go, Xinwen. Festival Customs in Ancient China. Xian: Shaanxi
People’s Publisher, 1987.
Hodous, Lewis. Folkways in China. London, W.C.: Arthur Probsthain, 1929.
Lin, Yutang. The Importance of Understanding. Cleveland and New York: T h e World
Publishing Company, 1960.
T u n , Li-chen. Anna1 Customs and Festiuals in Peking. Trans. Derk Bodde. Hong
Kong: Hong Kong UP, 1965.

ShaorongHuang is with the English Department, Bowling Green State University, Bowling
Green, OH.