Mid-Autumn Festival

“Bright moon,when did you appear?

Lifting my wine,I question the dark night sky.

Tonight in the palaces and halls of heaven,

what year is it,I wonder?”

The Prelude to Water Melody by Su Shi,a famous poet in the Song Dynasty (960-1279),is often recalled when the Mid-Autumn Festival is mentioned.The full moon in the sky,the people’s reunion on Earth,the round table,watermelon and moon cake under the grape arbor,as well as Chang E flying to the moon,jade rabbit pounding medicine,Wu Gang chopping down the cassia tree and other magical legends also come to mind.

Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Tuanyuan (reunion) Festival,is a major festival second only to Spring Festival among traditional Chinese festivals.The 7th,8th,9th lunar months constitute the autumn,and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is mid-point of autumn,so it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival.The reason why it is also called Tuanyuan Festival is because people will go back home to celebrate,and the daughter-in-law who has been at the parental home has to go back to her husband’s family.It is generally believed that the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival is associated with the ancient custom of moon worship.The Chinese ancient emperors had to worship the sun,the moon,the heaven and the earth throughout the year in a schedule like this: worship the sun on the Spring Equinox (around March 21),worship the moon on the Autumn Equinox (around September 22 or 23),worship heaven on the Winter Solstice (between December 21to 23),and worship the earth on the Summer Solstice (June 21 or 22).Places of worship are located in the east,west,south and north of the capital,which are called the sun altar (east),the moon altar (west),the heaven altar (south) and the earth altar (north).The four altars in Beijing were built according to this principle.

Moon worship could be found before the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC),however,as the festival,Mid-Autumn Festival was fixed by the early Tang Dynasty (618-907) and became popular in the Song Dynasty.

Eating moon cake is an important custom of Mid-Autumn Festival.Moon cake was originally used to worship goddess of the moon,and later became a festival food of Mid-Autumn Festival.The earliest record of eating moon cake can be found in the Tang Dynasty,in which Tang Xizong gave moon cakes to the successful candidates in the highest imperial examination,however,it was not called moon cake until the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).Since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),there have been numerous detailed accounts of the types of moon cake and the methods of preparation.Even now,the moon cake is still a fine gift to relatives and friends.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Like other traditional festivals,the Mid-Autumn Festival has been endowed with a number of myths and legends,of which the most famous is Chang E flying to the moon.

According to legend,Chang E and Hou Yi were a very affectionate couple in the period of Emperor Yao of ancient times.One year,there were ten suns rose in the sky,which dried up the rivers,scorched the crops and drove people into dire poverty.Hou Yi ascended to the top of the mountain,directing his superhuman strength to fullest extent,drew his extraordinary bow and shot down the nine superfluous suns one after another.To thank Hou Yi,a fairy gave him an elixir that would allow one to ascend immediately to Heaven and become a celestial being.Hou Yi,however,hated to part with his wife,so he gave the elixir to Chang E to treasure for the time being.But,a base person discovered its presence,and one day when Hou Yi was not at home,he tried to force Chang E to hand over the elixir.She had no choice but to swallow it in one gulp; immediately,her body floated off the ground,and flew towards Heaven.Unwilling to leave her husband,Chang E settled down on the Moon as the nearest planetary object to the Earth.It was on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month that all this happened.When Hou Yi returned home,he was inconsolable when he learnt what had happened.Overcome with grief,he had an incense table arranged in the courtyard.Putting on the table deserts and fresh fruits that Chang E enjoyed most,he looked up into the night sky,and he found that the moon was especially clear and bight and on it there was a swaying shadow that was exactly like his wife.

When people heard of the story that Chang E had turned into a celestial being,they arranged the incense table with fresh fruits in the moonlight one after another and prayed for good fortune and peace.

From then on,every 15th day of the 8th lunar month when a full moon rose into the sky,people both rich and poor would arrange a family dinner to celebrate reunion under the Moon.As the poet says,“May we all be blessed with longevity,though far apart,we are still able to share the beauty of the moonlight” (Su Shi’s Prelude to Water Melody),so people will also look to the Moon to send their wishes and blessings to loved ones far away.

Under the same full moon,the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month seems lively with cheerfulness of the spring,while Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month seems a bit chilly with melancholy of autumn.

Double Seventh Festival

Double Seventh Festival falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month,also known as Qi Qiao Festival or Daughter’s Festival.Some people call it a Chinese Valentine’s Day.

According to legend,the Double Seventh Festival marks the meeting date for the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid.The Cowherd,whose parents died when he was a child,was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law.So,he lived by himself herding a cow that was originally a celestial beast sent to Earth as punishment for having done something wrong.The Weaver Maid,the youngest daughter of the Queen Mother in Heaven,had clever hands and good sense.In her spare time,she would come to Earth with her sisters for fun.

One day,the Weaver Maid and her sisters were bathing in the river.The cowherd and his charge happened to pass by,and he was immediately attracted by the most adorable little fairy.The cow told the herdsman: “The youngest and the most beautiful fairy was the Weaver Maid.Take away her colorful garment,so she cannot return to Heaven without her clothes,and will stay with you and be your wife.” The cowherd did so,and the Weaver Maid finally became his wife.

The cowherd worked in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home.The Weaver Maid brought home giant silkworms from Heaven and taught everyone to breed silkworms,reel off raw silk from cocoons and weave beautiful silk fabrics.They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl.Unfortunately,the Queen Mother soon found out and personally came down to Earth and took the Weaver Maid back.

The cowherd tried to catch up with his wife,but there was no way for him to fly to Heaven.The cow told the herdsman to wear the shoes made of its leather when it died to fly to Heaven.The cowherd did as he was bid and soared skywards shouldering a basket loaded with his son and daughter.At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife,the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke and a billowy river appeared in front of him.The herdsman and Weaver Maid were separated forever and could only face the stream with their tears.Their loyalty in love touched the magpies and tens of thousands of them came to build a bridge for the two lovers to meet each other.The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month.

On the night of Double Seventh Festival,generations of grandmothers would tell their grandchildren about the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid,so that this story is widely known in China.But the two initially appeared in the form of stars rather than a pair of lovers.The Cowherd and the Weaver Maid first appeared in The Book of Songs,in which they were actually the stars Altair and Vega in the Milky Way.Not until the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) did they become gods.“Behold the cowherd star hung aloft at night,watching,with a lonely unrest,his Weaving Maid ahead.” These words in the Nineteen Ancient Poems in the Late Han Dynasty illustrated the romantic relationship between the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid and their joys and sorrows.

Double Seventh Festival

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month each year,the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid meet on Magpie Bridge.On the Earth,young men and women watched the night sky under their grape arbors in the hope of seeing the reunion and having their messages heard.Girls pray for ingenuity and smartness,a beautiful appearance and a pleasant marriage.

Many women aspire to the Weaver Maid’s ingenuity,so Qi Qiao,which means praying for ingenuity,is the most important custom of the Double Seventh Festival.When the crescent moon hung in the sky,the girls would arrange tea and wine,fresh and dried fruit in their courtyards; they would first worship the two stars,make a wish,and then throw half the offerings onto the roof for the Weaver Girl,and keep the remaining half for themselves.The girls drank and chatted,playing Qi Qiao games.Qi Qiao includes two types of games,one is Bu Qiao,which means ingenuity in predicting,to find out who was skillful and who was clumsy by throwing a needle into water and watching the shadow of the needle,or by observing whether the net woven by Xizhu (spider of happiness) on the fruit was dense or sparse.The other is Sai Qiao,which means ingenuity in racing,to see who was fastest in sewing work.This game sprang up in the Han Dynasty,and became the most prevalent in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when there was a special market for Qi Qiao appliances in the capital.

In the era of machines replacing handwork,these customs have gradually weakened and even disappeared,but Double Seventh Festival is still a romantic traditional festival,and the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid has been circulated in folklore.The concept of love - “If love between both sides can last for aye,why need they stay together night and day?” (quoted from Magpie Fairies by Qin Guan in the Northern Song Dynasty) - is deeply embedded into the bone marrow of the Chinese people.

In modern China,the concept is still so much cherished that,if two sides have true love for each other,their love will last forever though they are far apart and cannot often meet.

Dragon Boat Festival

When the fragrance of Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) wafts up from the streets and every household has mugwort inserted and gourd hung on the door,we know that Dragon Boat Festival is around the corner.

Also known as Duanwu Festival,Duanyang Festival or Double Fifth Festival,it falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.“Duan” means “beginning”,hence the name Duanwu,meaning “the beginning of the fifth”.It is said that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) was born on the fifth day of the 9th lunar month,and,in order to avoid the word taboo of “fifth”,Prime Minister Song Jing changed “Duan Fifth” into “Duanwu”.Such a change is quite appropriate,because according to the Lunar Calendar which adopts Earthly Branches to designate years,the first month is called the Yin Month,so the fifth is called the Wu Month.On the other hand,since the fifth is a yang number,Wushi (the period of the day from 11 a.m.to 1p.m.) is a Yangchen,so it is also called Duangyang Festival.

There are many legends about the evolution of the festival,the most popular of which commemorates Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan (c.340 BC-278 BC) was minister of the State of Chu and one of China’s earliest poets.At the time,Chinese territory was divided by several vassal states,of which Qi,Chu,Yan,Han,Zhao,Wei,Qin were the most powerful,known as the “Warring States”.Among them,Chu and Qin were the strongest and likely to unify the country.King Huai,the monarch of Chu,had great confidence in Qu Yuan and assigned important posts to him.Qu Yuan,of noble birth,helped King Huai promote political reform to enhance the country,carried out personnel training,and served as an envoy to Qi on two occasions.Thanks to his excellent diplomatic skills,Qi agreed to unite with Chu to fight against Qin.However,despite the many benefits,the reforms inevitably touched on the interests of the old entrenched forces who began to speak ill of Qu Yuan in front of King Huai,undermining his confidence in the former,until he was finally sent into exile.Even in exile,he still cared much for his country and people and composed immortal poems.Reinstated once,he was exiled again by King Qingxiang,and could never return.When he heard the news that Qin troops had finally conquered Chu’s capital,he plunged into the Miluo River,clasping a large stone in his arms.Qu Yuan died,but his spirit of integrity remained in people’s minds.The Saoti poetry he created occupies an important position in the history of Chinese literature,his spirit of seeking truth - “Long,Long had been my road and far,far was the journey,I would go up and down to seek my heart’s desire” and his noble purity and loneliness - “Everyone is filthy whereas I am pure.Everyone is drunk whereas I am sober.” - had an influence on generation after generation of Chinese people.

Dragon Boat Festival

The day of his death happened to be the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar.Afterwards,the people of Chu crowded to sail their boats up and down the river to look for his body.People threw into the water Zongzi to divert possible fish or shrimp from attacking his body.This later evolved into the Dragon Boat Festival custom of dragon boat racing and eating Zongzi.

In fact,Dragon Boat Festival can be dated back to the dragon totem worship amid the Wu and Yue peoples before Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC),and after the development through the Han,Wei and Six dynasties (206 BC-589),was officially established as a festival in the Tang Dynasty.Eating Zongzi,dragon boat racing,inserting mugwort,wearing a sachet,wearing colored silk,drinking realgar wine,herb collection races,archery,and so on,are among the customs adopted.

Nowadays,Dragon Boat Festival is still a very important festival of the Chinese nation,and some of its customs are still carried on.In addition to dragon boat racing and eating Zongzi,people will go to pick mugwort early in the morning and hang it on the door.Mugwort is a Chinese herbal medicine with a special aroma that can expel parasites and treat plague,and has a strong bactericidal ability.It is used in moxibustion in traditional Chinese medicine.Children or young people will wear colored silk on the wrist to exorcise evil spirits.Some places also hold a poetry competition to commemorate the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

In the lunar fifth month,the weather turns hot with mosquitoes breeding vociferously.In the eyes of the ancients,the fifth month was a “poisonous” month,while the fifth day of the month was an “evil” day,which had many taboos.Now,on this day,people will do some cleaning and give clothes a thorough airing.There is a Chinese proverb that says,“Don’t store the winter clothing away before having Dragon Boat Festival Zongzi.”

When the fragrance of Zongzi wafts up from the streets and alleyways,the annual Dragon Boat Festival will begin again.

Pure Brightness Festival

Pure Brightness Festival is a traditional Chinese festival of sacrifice - a time for ancestor worship and tomb sweeping,commonly known as tomb visiting,which falls around April 5 in the Gregorian calendar each year.Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors.Honoring the memory of the dead during Pure Brightness Festival has become an important custom inherited for a millennium in the Chinese nation.

On this day,people will visit the tombs of their deceased loved ones,pull up any weeds,add soil,place offerings,burn paper money and bow in worship.Urban residents will go to the cemeteries; if unable to go,they will draw a circle at an intersection and burn paper money with an address written on for the deceased loved ones.As a low-carbon lifestyle is being promoted nowadays,in order to avoid air pollution caused by burning paper,the habit is developing of opening a cyber mourning hall on the Internet to worship the deceased relatives and friends or mourn over the ancestors and martyrs.

A poem entitled Pure Brightness by Du Mu,a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907),says: “It drizzles thick and fast on Pure Brightness Day,I travel with my heart lost in dismay.When asked where could be found a tavern bower? A cowhand points at Apricot Village faraway,” which expresses the special atmosphere of the Pure Brightness Festival.

Pure Brightness Festival

The traditional Chinese Pure Brightness Festival can be dated back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-256 BC) and has a history of more than 2,500 years.Pure Brightness is one of the 24 lunar solar terms,as “Sui Shi Bai Wen” says: “Growing at this time things are bright and clean.So,it is called Pure Brightness.”

The custom of tomb sweeping and ancestor worship during this time is closely associated with the Cold Food Festival.This refers to the fact that cooking fires were banned so people could only eat cold or pre-cooked food.According to legend,this custom originated from the story about Duke Wen of Jin,one of the Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC).To force his faithful follower Jie Zhitui from his hiding place deep in the mountains,he ordered his men to set the mountain on fire.To his consternation,Jie chose to remain where he was and was burnt to death together with his mother lying under a willow tree.The duke was very sad and regretful and buried them under the same willow.To commemorate Jie,the duke ordered all fires in every home to be put out on the anniversary of his death.Thus began Cold Food Festival.The next year,the duke and his servants in white clothes climbed the mountain to mourn Jie and found the old willow where Jie was buried had revived.The duke broke a willow branch,made it into a wreathe to wear on his head and later hanged it on the door for commemoration; this gradually evolved into today’s custom of placing willow during Pure Brightness Festival.

Since Pure Brightness Festival is very close in time to Cold Food Festival,people gradually integrated the customs of the two festivals,and in the Sui and Tang period (581-907),they gradually became a single festival,becoming the day for tomb sweeping and ancestor worship,that is,today’s Pure Brightness Festival.Therefore,Pure Brightness Festival has a clear duality in terms of festival culture - a combination of the sentiment of reverence for ancestors and the happy atmosphere of spring admiring; a combination of bitter partings in life or death and a fresh,bright and vivid scene.It gives attention to “death”,but more praises “life”.Until today,the custom of worshiping ancestors and paying tribute to the deceased loved ones during Pure Brightness Festival still prevail.In addition to tomb sweeping and ancestor worship,people also follow the custom of spring outings,willow inserting and wearing,kite flying and swinging during Pure Brightness Festival.Pure Brightness Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly,the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively,so it is high time for spring outings,to stretch muscles and bones and feel the vibrant nature.Pure Brightness Festival sees a combination of sadness of tomb sweeping and ancestor worship and happiness of spring outings.A Chinese ancient poem saying: “There are many graveyards in northern and southern hills; on Pure Brightness Festival the mourners come and sweep their graves.Burnt paper money flies as white as butterflies; the bloodlike tears are shed and dye azaleas red.At sunset foxes come back to lie there at night; at home the mourners would laugh by the candlelight; while he is alive,a man should in wine be drowned; when dead,could he drink a drop of wine underground?” fully demonstrated the Chinese people’s conception of life and death.Pure Brightness Festival is indeed a special festival.

Lantern Festival

The first full-moon night after the Spring Festival is Yuanxiao Festival.“Yuan” means the first lunar month,“Xiao” meaning night.Yuanxiao Festival is also known as Lantern Festival for the main activity of this festival is watching lanterns at night,or the Upper Yuan Festival as it falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month,which is known as Upper Yuan (the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month are known as Middle Yuan and Lower Yuan).

If the Spring Festival is a festival for reunion,then Lantern Festival is a carnival.As the saying goes: “Celebrating Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month” highlights the whole tone of celebration.Different from Spring Festival,when people stay at home,on the day of Lantern Festival,people will throng the streets,set off fireworks,watch lanterns,take part in the Yangko dance,guess the meaning of lantern riddles,as well as walk on stilts,perform the boat,dragon and lion dance,etc.The streets are full of excitement.

There are a variety of folk legends about the origin of Lantern Festival,two of which are famous.

One is that,long time ago,a celestial goose accompanying the Jade Emperor was killed by the people for destroying their crops.The Jade Emperor was so annoyed that he ordered the troops from heaven to set fire to the Earth before and after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.The Jade Emperor’s kind-hearted daughter secretly spread the news to the Earth,allowing wise men to propose countermeasures.On the fourteenth,fifteenth and sixteenth days of the first lunar month,each household hung up red lanterns and each person carried a lantern and set off fireworks and crackers.When he saw from Heaven that the Earth was filled with light of fire,the Jade Emperor thought he had avenged the celestial goose.In order to commemorate this successful outsmarting of the Jade Emperor,the people ever since have used lanterns and streamers as decorations on every fifteenth day of the first lunar month and so the Lantern Festival came into being.

The other legend is associated with Dongfang Shuo,a courtier favored by Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD) for his sense of humor.One day,he saved a maid named Yuan Xiao,who wanted to commit suicide for she felt she had no chance to get out of the palace to see her long-missed family.Dongfang Shuo was so sympathetic he decided to help her.First,he spread the rumor that the god of fire would burn Chang’an City in order to create a panic.He then proposed to Emperor Wu to mobilize the people in the whole city to hang up lanterns,set off fireworks and crackers,and consecrate Tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) to the god of fire on the fifteenth and sixteenth days of the first lunar month.Emperor Wu adopted Dongfang Shuo’s recommendation and led the maids out of the palace and strolled around the lanterns together with the ordinary people in Chang’an city,and Yuan Xiao was finally able to meet her family.After a bustling night,the god of fire did not burn the Chang’an city as expected.Emperor Wu was so pleased that he ordered the consecrating of Tangyuan to the god of fire on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month each year and setting off fireworks and crackers on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month each year.Since Lady Yuan Xiao could make the best Tangyuan,people call it Tangyuan Yuanxiao,thus giving rise to Yuanxiao Festival.

These two legends are actually not the origin of Lantern Festival,though they have been widely circulated.According to expert research,it originated from the worship of the ancient people to Taiyi,also known as the god Polaris,which lasted from dusk to dawn.Decorating with colorful lights was a must.Thanks to the promotional efforts of the Han Dynasty emperors,the Lantern Festival finally became fixed at this time (206 BC-220 AD).

Lantern Festival

However,celebration of the festival did not prevail until the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907).Later,in the Song,Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties (960-1911),Lantern Festival holidays were increased from three to ten days,with increasing types and patterns of lanterns.In the Song Dynasty (960-1279),there appeared the practice of pasting riddles on the lanterns.It is said that the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty Wang Anshi was particularly good at making riddles,“The character ‘目’ (meaning eye) is added (meaning ‘加’ in Chinese) with two dot strokes,but the answer is not the character ‘贝’ (meaning shellfish) (the answer is the character ‘贺’,meaning congratulation)” is his masterworks.The elegant custom of guessing riddles while watching lanterns has continued for a thousand years until today.

In ancient times,women were not allowed to step out of home at random,so the Lantern Festival was a day of liberation for them and a time when they might encounter the person of their heart.In this regard,the ancients made many beautiful descriptions.For example,Xin Qiji’s “Having searched for him hundreds and thousands of times in the crowd,suddenly you turn back,and he is there by the dim light” (Qing Yu An: Yuanxi) expressed the feelings of surprise; while Ouyang Xiu’s Sheng Cha Zi: Yuanxi:“On the Lantern Festival Eve last year,with all the lanterns lit,it’s like daytime.Above the top of the willow was the moon,and a date was there when dusk was gone.On the Lantern Festival Eve this year,the moon and the lanterns are unchanged.But the one I met last year is gone,tears wet my sleeves.” expressed the distracted feelings.

Festival food,of course,cannot be excluded at any traditional event like this.Yuanxiao is a festival food shared by North and South China.It did take on this role until the Song Dynasty,and,indeed,the name of “Yuanxiao” only appeared in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when “Yuanxiao”,“Tangyuan” and “Yuanzi” were all used.Northern Chinese now call it Yuanxiao,while Southern Chinese use Tangyuan or Yuanzi.The method of preparation differs slightly between the two regions.In the North,the stuffing is prepared first,after which one sprinkles a bit of water and rolls it in dried glutinous rice flour; in the South,it is bit like making Jiaozi dumplings filling the made of glutinous rice flour with the stuffing.Also,they taste different - the outer skin of the Northern Yuanxiao is pliable,while that of the Southern Tangyuan is soft and glutinous.

The Spring Festival does not end until the Lantern Festival is over.

Spring Festival (II)

In addition to eating New Year’s Eve dinner and staying up late,the folk custom of offering a sacrifice to the Kitchen God,sweeping dust,pasting Spring Festival couplets,pasting the Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness),pasting New Year pictures,pasting door cuts,setting off firecrackers,paying a New Year call and giving “lucky” money are also practiced in the Spring Festival.

Offering a sacrifice to the Kitchen God usually occurs on the 23rd (or 24th) day of the twelfth lunar month.According to legend,the Kitchen God is sent by the Jade Emperor to the human world to safeguard and keep an eye on each family.On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month,the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the good or evil deeds of each family.To ensure the Kitchen God gives a good report,people spread his mouth in a picture with “Zaotang” (a kind of malt candy),also known as “Tanggua” or “Kanto tang”,which is made of sticky millet flour or rice flour,yellow and white,sweet and sticky.People believe that if the Kitchen God eats the sweet candy,he will give a good report about the family; and that if he wants to give a bad report about the family,his mouth would be glued shut by the candy.People in some rural areas still maintain the custom,burning joss sticks before the Kitchen God,serving offerings,removing and burning the old picture of the Kitchen God,and mumbling: “ascend to heaven and report good things and then descend to earth and protect the peace and tranquility”,which is known as “sending the Kitchen God on his trip”.On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day,people will “receive the Kitchen God back” by pasting a new picture on the northern or eastern wall of the kitchen stove.This custom is rarely found in the urban areas now,but people will eat a few pieces of Zaotang,which is crisp and sweet and with a distinctive flavor in the cold weather.

Sweeping dust means doing the cleaning.People clean their curtains,bedclothes and all their utensils,especially those for cooking.Old chopsticks will be thrown away,which means throwing away the unhappy past.Spring,a season for rebirth,is a time for the breeding of a variety of bacteria,so it is proper for people to completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes at this time.In addition,the “dust” and “obsolete” are homonyms in Chinese,so dust sweeping also implies removing the old in order to build the new and sweeping away all the bad luck.Dust sweeping must be finished before New Year’s Eve,and it is improper to use knives or scissors or do washing in the first lunar month.

Spring Festival couplets also have a long history,originating from peach wood charms against evil in the ancient times.Spring Festival couplets should have characters in yellow or black on red paper,and should be pasted on the door before New Year’s Eve.The first line is on the right,the second line on the left,the horizontal scroll on the top.You may distinguish the first line and the second line by identifying the level and oblique tones of the last characters in the lines.There are four tones in Mandarin,of which the first and the second are the level tones,the third and the fourth are the oblique tones.The last character of the first line should have an oblique tone,while the last character of the second line should have a level tone.The horizontal scroll reads from left to right under the influence of modern reading habits.

The Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness),window and door cuts are for the same purpose as Spring Festival couplets and firecrackers to drive away the monster “Year”.

Spring Festival (II)

Nowadays,New Year pictures and door cuts are likely to be found only in rural areas,while the people in urban areas generally just paste the “fu” character.

Paying a New Year call usually falls on the first day of the first lunar month.People get up early,eat Jiaozi dumplings at breakfast,set off firecrackers in front of their house,and wish their parents and relatives a Happy New Year,while the elders give the younger generation lucky money or Yasui money in Chinese.“Ya” means suppress and “Sui” means “Year”,with Yasui money given to suppress the panic caused by the monster “Year”.

After wishing their parents and relatives a Happy New Year,people then go out to pay a New Year call on neighbors.It is the best time to ease tensions if there is any unhappy influence with the neighbors.

Nowadays,making a Happy New Year call or sending a New Year greeting via SMS message on the New Year’s Eve has become popular.At the turn of the old and new years,people are inundated with SMS messages as well as the deafening sound of firecrackers outside,such that they naturally have a touch of melancholy while sighing over the speed of modern life.

On the second or third day,the married daughter will bring gifts together with her husband and children to the parental home,and her parents will prepare a table of nice food to entertain them and,of course,give the children red packets.

The fifth day is also known as “Powu”,meaning some of the taboos during the Spring Festival can be ignored from this day on.For example,women are allowed to do needlework; and the garbage is allowed to be swept outside.That day is also the day to receive the God of Wealth,so setting off firecrackers and eating Jiaozi cannot be excluded.

People usually go to work from the seventh,when they offer greetings to their colleagues.The Spring Festival does not come to an end until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is over.

Spring Festival (I)

Spring Festival is the most important traditional Chinese festival,and falls on the first day of the first lunar month.

The age-old Spring Festival originated in the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) from the people’s sacrifice to gods and ancestors,but the name of Spring Festival did not come into being until the Revolution of 1911.Spring Festival was called Yuandan in ancient times,meaning the first day of a new year.In 1912,China adopted the Gregorian calendar and “Yuandan” then specifically referred to the New Year under it.The lunar new year falls around the Beginning of Spring,one of the 24 solar terms,hence its name of Spring Festival.

The Chinese government now stipulates that the people have seven days off for the Spring Festival,from the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month to the sixth day of the first lunar month.In fact,the Spring Festival lasts much longer for many people.

In old Beijing,there was a folk song like this: “On the 23rd day,make candies; on the 24th day,make a thorough cleanup; on the 25th day,make sweet potatoes; on the 26th day,brew beef; on the 27th day,slaughter a rooster; on the 28th day,prepare dough; on the 29th day,steam Mantou; on the evening of the 30th day,stay up late; on the 1st day and the 2nd day,walk the street.”

Spring Festival (I)

the 2nd day,walk the street.” In fact,people begin to prepare for the coming new year from the start of the twelfth lunar month,pasting paper cuts on windows and doors along with the Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness).People in northern China steam sticky bean buns,while people in southern China make Niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour).Nowadays,people do not prepare all the food by themselves as they did in the past,but still have to do the cleaning and prepare necessities for the Spring Festival until the last day of the last lunar month.The last day of the last lunar month is the last day of the old year,and the evening of this day is called New Year’s Eve.Staying up late or all night on New Year’s Eve is a very important custom.No matter how busy a person is and how far he is away from home,he will try his best to get back before New Year’s Eve,have New Year’s Eve dinner and stay up late or all night on New Year’s Eve with his families.

New Year’s Eve dinner is more luxurious than usual.Dishes such as chicken,fish cannot be excluded,which mean “big fortune and great profit” and “surplus every year”.In some places,tofu (or Beancurd) is also a must,which means auspiciousness,as “fu” and the Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness) are homonyms.On this occasion,people in northern China eat Jiaozi,and people in southern China eat Niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour),because as a homophone,Niangao means “higher and higher,one year after another”.

There are a lot of interesting folk legends about staying up late or all night on New Year’s Eve,including a legend like this: A long time ago,there was a monster called “Year”,which was taller than a camel,faster than the wind and roared like a lion.Every 30th day of the twelfth lunar month,it would come out to eat large animals and people as well,and would leave at dawn.There was no way for people to deal with it,so,on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month,every household closed the door and sat together awake until dawn.But just staying up was quite boring,so people prepared something to eat and some wine to drink to help pass the night.After dawn,people went out and congratulated each other on their success in escaping the “year”.

People successfully escaped the harm in this way year after year and become increasingly careless.On one particular night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month,the “year” went to a village and ate almost all the people except for a pair of newlyweds wearing red and a group of children burning bamboos.After discovering the secret that the “year” feared the red color,flames and a spluttering sound,every household posted red couplets on the door,set off firecrackers and kept the house brightly lit by candles so the monster could no longer harm people.

Of course,people no longer believe the existence of the monster “year”,but maintain the custom of finishing their cleaning before the New Year’s Eve and have dinner together with the family then,after which they will make Jiaozi together.A clean coin is usually inserted into one of the Jiaozi,and the one who eats the dumpling with the coin is believed to have good luck.At midnight,every household will boil Jiaozi and set off firecrackers.Eating a few Jiaozi is a must on New Year’s Eve.