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Chinese Scrap Book

Topic: Traditional
Chinese Festivals

Marzuk Ahmed
Class III
Section- A

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CONTENTS
Sl No. Festival Name Page

1 Contents 02
2 Dedication 03
3 Acknowledgement 04
4 Introduction 05
5 List of Chinese Traditional Festivals 06
6 Chinese New Year/Spring Festival 08

7 Lantern Festivals 14

8 Qingming Festivals 17

9 Dragon Boat Festivals 20

10 Double Seventh Festivals 24

11 Mid-Autumn Festivals 26

12 Double Ninth Festivals 29

13 Winter Solstice 32

14 Laba Festivals 35
15 Hungry ghost Festival 37

16 Chinese Naional Day 40

16 Water Splashing Festival 42 2
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DEDICATION

This Scrap Book is dedicated to my parents and to all the

teachers of B.I.T. who are making relentless efforts in
taking online classes and providing the students with
knowledge at this challenging time.

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Acknowledgement
I am heartily grateful to my parents and teachers for
guidance and support for the final level which
enabled me to develop and understand the theme of
this Scrap Book. They have been always with me
with their wise advice, insightful criticism and
patient encouragement during the writing of the
Scrap Book in countless ways.

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Introduction
Characterized by diverse styles and
themes, traditional Chinese festivals are
an important part of the country's history
and culture, both ancient and modern. A
close relationship exists between many of
the traditional festivals and chronology,
mathematics, the Chinese Calendar and
the twenty-four solar terms. Many of the
customs connected with the traditional
festivals have links with religious
devotions, superstitions and myths. The
form which most of the festivals take
today was established around the time of
the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220) and for
many years, various eminent poets have
written countless masterpieces describing
the festivals and are still recited regularly
today.

Almost every festival has its own unique

origins and customs which reflect the
traditional practices and morality of the
whole Chinese nation and its people. The
grandest and most popular festivals are
the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival),
the Lantern Festival, the Qingming
Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the
Mid-autumn Festival, etc.

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List of Chinese Traditional Festivals

Festival Name Date Customs

1. Chinese New 1st - 15th of pasting scrolls, the character 'Fu', and paper-cuts pictures,
Year/Spring the first lunar setting-off firecrackers and fireworks, paying New Year visits,
Festival month and eating jiaozi.

2. Lantern 15th day of the watching lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles,
Festivals first lunar performing folk dances, and eating yuanxiao.
month
3. Qingming April 4th or 5th
Festivals of the solar tomb sweeping, spring outings, and flying kites.
calendar
4. Dragon Boat dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, wearing a perfume pouch
5th day of the
Festivals and tying five-colour silk thread, and hanging mugwort leaves
5th lunar month
and calamus.
5 Double 7th day of
praying for skillful hands, appreciating the stars, and eating
Seventh seventh lunar
noodles, jiaozi, and wontons.
Festivals month
6. Mid-Autumn 15th day of the appreciating and offering sacrifice to the moonlight and eating
Festivals 8th lunar month moon cakes.
7. Double Ninth eating Chongyang cake, drinking chrysanthemum wine,
9th day of the
Festivals climbing mountains and appreciating beautiful
9th lunar month
chrysanthemums.
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Festival Name Date Customs

8. Winter Dec. 21st,
Solstice 22nd or
having dumplings in northern areas and having sticky puddings in
23rd in
southern areas
solar
calendar
9. Laba 8th day of
Festivals the 12th
Eating Laba rice porridge.
lunar
month
10. Hungry 15 night of On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the
ghost the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals
Festival Chinese to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the
Month Ghost Month is veneration of the dead, where traditionally the filial
piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
11. The National 1 October The National Day of the People's Republic of China, is a public holiday
Day of China in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national day of the
People's Republic of China, commemorating the formal establishment
of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Festivities,
including fireworks and concerts (a grand military parade every
several years)
12. Water Splashing Festival April 13 Part of the cleansing ritual.

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Page#08 1. Spring Festival/ Chinese New Year

 In Chinese, 'Spring Festival' refers to the same

festival more commonly known in English as the
'Chinese New Year'. As the name suggests,
this festival celebrates both the beginning of a new
lunar year (according to the Chinese
Lunar Calendar) and the beginning of spring
commonly known as "guo nian" in Chinese
(Chinese New Year), falls on the first day of the
first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. It is the
most valued and widely observed festival in China.
 It enjoys a long history that can be traced back to
the Yin and Shang dynasties when sacrifices were
performed at the beginning of a new year.

 The Spring Festival is the most important festival

for the Chinese people and is when all family
members get together, just like Christmas in the
West.
 The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st
lunar month, often one month later than the
Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang
Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's
sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old
year and the beginning of a new one.
 Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every
year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and
will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next
year. Of them, the most important days are Spring
Festival Eve and the first three days.

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10. Spring Festival/Chinese New Year--FOOD

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10. Spring Festival/Chinese New Year

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2. Lantern Festival
According to China's various
folk customs, people get together
on the night of the Lantern
Festival to celebrate with
different activities.
As China is a vast country
with a long history and diverse
cultures, Lantern Festival
customs and activities vary
regionally, including lighting
and enjoying (floating, fixed,
held, and flying) lanterns,
appreciating the bright full
moon, setting off fireworks,
guessing riddles written on
lanterns,
eating tangyuan, lion dances,
dragon dances, and walking on
stilts.
The most important and
prevalent customs are
enjoying lanterns, guessing
lantern riddles, eating
tangyuan, and lion dances.

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3. Qingming Festival
 Qingming Festival is a traditional
Chinese festival and an important
day of sacrifice for most people to
go and sweep tombs and
commemorate their ancestors. On
this day, tomb sweeping is one of
the most important and popular
activities to show respect to
ancestors.

 The Qingming festival, also known

as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English,
is a traditional Chinese festival
observed by the Han Chinese of
mainland China, Taiwan, Hong
Kong, Macau, Malaysia,
Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand
and by the ethnic Chinese of
Malaysia and Singapore.
 Date: Sunday, April 4, 2021

 On May 20, 2006, the festival was

listed as one of the first national
intangible cultural heritage
events.

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Qingming Festival

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4. Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon boat racing is said to
originate from the legend of
people paddling out on boats to
seek the body of patriotic poet
Qu Yuan (343–278 BC), who
drowned himself in the Miluo
River.
Dragon boat racing is the most
important activity during the
Dragon Boat Festival. The
wooden boats are shaped and
decorated in the form of a
Chinese dragon. The boat size
varies by region. Generally it is
about 20–35 meters in length
and needs 30–60 people to
paddle it.
During the races, dragon boat
teams paddle harmoniously and
hurriedly, accompanied by the
sound of beating drums. It is said
that the winning team will have
good luck and a happy life in the
following year.
Dragon boat races are a
major sporting event in
many places, which
competitors train hard
for.
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 5. Double 7th Festival Page#24
The Double Seventh Festival
known in China as Chinese
Valentine's Day, falls on the
7th day of the 7th lunar
month. Also callded "Qixi Jie"
or "Qiqiao Jie", it is a
traditional festival full of
romance and important to
ancient ladies, but not as well-
known as other traditional
festivals. Not so many Chinese
people take it as a festival as
before but are all familiar with
the story behind it.
It is also known as Magpie
Festival, when the Niulang
(Cowherd) and Zhinü (Weaver
Maid) in heaven would meet at
the Magpie Bridge. On Mid-
summer Night, the sky is
dotted with stars, and people
can see the Milky Way
spanning from the north to the
south. On each bank of it is a
bright star, which sees each
The Double Seventh Festival Facts other from afar. They are the
- Chinese: Double Seventh Festival, Qixi Festival, 七夕节 Niulangand and Zhinü, and
- Other names: Daughter’s Day (女儿节), Qiqiao Festival (乞巧节) about them there is a beautiful
- Date: the seventh of the seventh Chinese lunar month love story passed down from
- Importance: it’s Chinese Valentine’s Day. It’s been listed into Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage list generation to generation.
in 2006.
- History: 2000+
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- Festival foods: fried thin paste, crunchy candy, Qiaoqiao meal, longan, red dates, hazelnuts, 24
peanuts, melon seeds
5. Double 7th Festival Page#25

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6. Mid-Autumn Festival
Chinese Moon Festival is
traditionally celebrated on the
fifteenth day of the eighth
funicular month (see Mid-
Autumn Festival Dates), which is
in September or October. Mid-
Autumn Festival 2015 is on
September 27. Chinese people
will have a two-day holiday from
September 26 to 27.
The Mid-autumn festival is
the second most important
festival after the Spring
Festival to Chinese people.
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.
Chinese people believe a full moon
is a symbol of peace, prosperity,
and family reunion. On Mid-
Autumn Festival night the moon
is supposed to be the brightest and
fullest, which is why the festival is
also known as the "Day of
Reunion" and the "Moon
Festival".
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6. Mid-Autumn Festival

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6. Mid-Autumn Festival –Must-eat on this Festival

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7.The Double Ninth Festival Page#29

The Double Ninth Festival, also known

as Chongyang Festival, is held on the
ninth day of the ninth lunar month. It is
also known as the Senior Citizens’
Festival.

In 2021, the Double Ninth Festival takes

place on 14, October, 2021.

According to records from the

mysterious book Yi Jing, the number 6
belonged to the Yin character while the
number 9 was thought to be of the Yang
character. So, on the ninth day of the
ninth lunar month, both day and month
are Yang characters. Therefore, the
festival was named the Double Ninth
Festival.
In ancient times, people believed that the
double ninth day was worth a
celebration. Since folk people had the
tradition of climbing a mountain on that
day, the Chongyang Festival is also
called the Height Ascending Festival.
The Chongyang Festival also has other
names, such as the Chrysanthemum
Festival. As "double ninth" is
pronounced the same as the word
meaning "forever," ancestors are also
worshipped on that day.
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7.The Double Ninth Festival-Honouring the senior people

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8. Winter Solstice Festival/Dongzhi Festival Page#32

The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter

Solstice Festival is one of the
most important Chinese festivals
celebrated by the Chinese,
Taiwanese, Japanese, Koreans,
and Vietnamese during the
Dongzhi solar term, some day
between December 21 to
December 23.
In some parts of Northern China,
people eat dumpling soup on this
day; while residents of some
other places eat dumplings, saying
doing so will keep them from
frost in the upcoming winter. But
in parts of South China, the whole
family will get together to have a
meal made of red-bean and
glutinous rice to drive away
ghosts and other evil things.

Date: Tuesday, December 21,

2021
Significance: Marks the winter
solstice
Observances: making and eating
of tangyuan, ancestor worship

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8. Winter Solstice Festival/Dongzhi Festival

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9. Laba Festivals

Falling on the eighth day of the

12th lunar month, Laba
Festival was originally an
occasion for people to give
sacrifices to their ancestors,
and to pray to heaven and earth
for a good harvest and good
luck for the family. Many years
later, it has become a Laba
Congee eating event - a
porridge that contains different
types of rice, beans, dried nuts,
bean curd, and meat.

The 12th lunar month is called

'La' in Chinese and eight is
pronounced 'ba', which is how
the name 'Laba' was derived. It
is not only regarded as a day of
sacrifice, but also the day on
which Sakyamuni (founder of
Buddhism) realized truth and
became a Buddha.

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10.Hungry Ghost Festival Page#37

The Hungry Ghost Festival is

celebrated on the 15th day of the
seventh lunar month. This day falls in
July or August in our Western
calendar. In southern China, the
Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated by
some on the 14th day of the seventh
lunar month. The people there are said
to have begun celebrating the festival a
day earlier during a time of long
warfare to avoid being attacked by
enemies during the inauspicious day.
The Hungry Ghost Festival is one of
several traditional festivals in China to
worship ancestors. Others include
the Spring Festival, the Qingming
Festival, and the Double Ninth
Festival. In Jiangxi Province and
Hunan Province, the Hungry Ghost
Festival is considered to be more
important than the Qingming
Festival and the Double Ninth Festival.
The Taoist name for the Hungry Ghost
Festival is the Zhongyuan Festival (中
元节), and Buddhists call it the
Yulanpen Festival.

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 National Day, holiday celebrated on
11.Chinese National Day Page#40 October 1 to mark the formation of
the People’s Republic of China The
holiday is also celebrated by China’s
two special administrative
regions: Hong Kong and Macau.
Traditionally, the festivities begin with
the ceremonial raising of the
Chinese national flag in Tiananmen
Square in the capital city of Beijing. The
flag ceremony is followed first by a
large parade exhibiting the country’s
military forces and then by state dinners
and, finally, fireworks displays, which
conclude the evening celebrations. In
1999 the Chinese government expanded
the celebrations by several days to give
its citizens a seven-day vacation period
similar to the Golden Week
holiday in Japan. Often, the Chinese use
this time to stay with relatives and to
travel. Visiting amusement parks and
watching special television programs
centred on the holiday are also popular
activities.
Date: Friday, October 1, 2021
Celebrations: Festivities, including
fireworks and concerts (a grand military
parade every several years)
Significance: The day of the
proclamation of the establishment of the
People's Republic of China in 1949
Also called: China Day, China's
birthday, PRC Day,
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11.Chinese National Day

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12.Water Splashing Festival
Time: around April
Location: Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna
Prefecture, Yunnan Province
Activities: Splashing water onto each
other
It is the most important festival observed
by the Dai ethnic people of
Xishuangbanna Prefecture, and, similar
to neighboring Thailand's Songkran
Festival, it involves three days of
celebrations that include sincere, yet
light- hearted religious rituals that
invariably end in merrymaking, where
everyone ends up getting splashed,
sprayed or doused with water. The Water
Splashing ceremony is more than just
good-natured fun; it also contains a
religious element: water is regarded by
the Dai as a symbol, firstly, of religious
purity, but also of goodwill among people.
Therefore, splashing a fellow human
being with water during the Water
Splashing Festival, whether a close
neighbor or a fellow villager, or even a
stranger, is an expression of the desire for
good luck and prosperity to that person.

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12.Water Splashing Festival

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Conclusion

Chinese Festivals have many stories , customs and

traditions connected to them.! Every festival has a
symbolism and the entire proceedings are centered
around that particular theme. Each festival has its
own significance. After learning about the
festivals, celebrations, and entertainment we can
hopefully have a better understanding of the
Chinese culture and what the Chinese believe in
and worship. Chinese traditional festival which
belong to a traditional customary culture rooted in
the farming culture in ancient China. All the festival
contain their unique culture in the long history
development, and play important roles in the
development of society.

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