Traditional festivals and customs in China

Before the Revolution of 1911, China always adopted the lunar calendar (also known as summer calendar, lunar calendar and old calendar). Although the Gregorian calendar (also called solar calendar) has been adopted since the Republic of China, people are still used to celebrating festivals according to the lunar calendar, which has been handed down for thousands of years. With the changes of the times, some festivals have faded away, while others have survived to this day. These festivals mainly include:

Spring Festival, Shangyuan Festival, Cangtian Festival, Dragon Head Rise, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, June 6th, Chinese Valentine's Day, Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Han Festival, Almanac, and Winter Solstice.

the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

Traditionally, New Year's Day on the first day of the first lunar month in China is called "Chinese New Year", commonly known as "Spring Festival". This is a grand national traditional festival. During the Spring Festival, according to the custom, there are generally sacrifices to the gods for good luck. Worship each other and visit relatives and friends; Visit the temple ruins in Xiantan, have fun and improve your life. The specific contents include Laba, sweeping houses, offering sacrifices to stoves, shopping malls, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, worshipping the god of wealth, opening markets, "People's Day" and Shunxing.

Association of laboratory animal breeders

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional festival of the Han nationality. Zhang Tang kept the festival "Justice in Historical Records" and said: "The twelfth lunar month is also ... hunting animals and animals sacrifice their ancestors at the end of the year, because this day is also established." In the Han Dynasty, the third day to the day after beginning of winter was regarded as "La Ri", and in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was changed to1the eighth day of February as "Laba Festival". In fact, the ancient Spring Festival began on this day. The folk song says, "Don't be sad, old lady. After Laba, it is the New Year. Laba porridge, how many days? Ber Ber La La 23rd ... "Among Buddhists, Laba is called" Daocheng Festival ". There are folk customs of cooking porridge for Buddha, feeding relatives and friends, and eating food, as well as the custom of soaking "Laba garlic".

In ancient times, the Spring Festival cleaning was called "Sweeping the Year Festival", which originated from a religious ceremony of the ancient people to drive away the epidemic. Later it gradually evolved into a year-end cleaning. According to Song's Dream of Liang Lu, "at the end of December ... everyone, big or small, sweeps out the house, cleans the house ... and prays for peace in the new year." Old Beijing nursery rhymes say: "Twenty-three, cantaloupes stick; 24, house cleaning day ... "

After cleaning the house, the whole family began to prepare new year's goods. Please type wax paper, offer gifts, write couplets, cut window grilles, buy hanging money, New Year pictures, firecrackers ... to prepare for the new year.

Kitchen God, commonly known as "Kitchen God". According to Zhu Nanzi, Huangdi and Yan Di "died as kitchen gods" and were responsible for the good and evil on earth. Since the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, there have been so-called good books in Beijing. Among them, Kitchen God said: "Kitchen God left a volume of classics to read with good men and women. My god's surname is Zhang Ming, and the Jade Emperor asked me to cook. " I came to this world to investigate good and evil, and I didn't do anything until I found out. "There is a saying among the people:" Kitchen God's real name is Zhang, and a bowl of cold water smells three times. "People think that Kitchen God is a god sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise good and evil. Every year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, he will go to the court to report the good and evil words and deeds of the residents he lives in. Therefore, on the 23rd night, he would stick sugar made of rice or malt on his mouth, "meaning to fill his mouth, so that God can't say much" ("China National Customs"), or put a couplet on it, asking Kitchen God to "tell the good things from heaven".

Sacrificing a stove is a signal of the arrival of the old calendar, which is called "Chinese New Year" by old Beijingers. As a nursery rhyme says, "honeydew melon sacrifices stoves, New Year sacrifices stoves, Chinese New Year, girls want flowers, boys want guns ..."

A few years ago, the store

Since the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month of the previous year, the streets have generally entered the festive state of the Spring Festival. "Kyoto Customs Records" records: "There are many people selling new year's goods in the city. For example, when people write books, they will sell bright colors and thousands of strings of Spring Festival couplets, then they will sell paintings, sell reed sheds, sell scales, stand on each other, and then they will worship Buddha flowers and Chu Jiu's cups and pots. " Everything used for daily sacrifice to God is piled up everywhere. There are all kinds of businesses to decorate and render the festive atmosphere. Every painting shed sells New Year pictures; Write and sell couplets, cross-criticism, door hearts, pillars, fights, spring strips, and Buddha pairs for sharing; Buy hanging money, sell gold ingots, sell flowers, sell velvet flowers, silk flower, sell pine branches, sesame stalks, sell lanterns, sell kwantung sugar, sell miscellaneous seeds, sell fireworks, ...

New Year's Eve

December 30th is New Year's Eve, commonly known as New Year's Eve. People's main activities to send the old and welcome the new are concentrated on this day, and the Spring Festival reaches its climax, which is the most solemn and lively.

In order to decorate the scenery and set off the atmosphere of "accepting blessings and welcoming the new", every household should post Spring Festival couplets, door hearts and invitations, and write in red paper "Days are getting older, people are getting longer, spring is full", "Another year's grass is green, apricot flowers are still ten miles red", "Beautiful people are outstanding", "Looking up to see happiness" and "The whole hospital is shining". )

In the past, 90% families in old Beijing provided shrines or statues all the year round. On New Year's Eve, they are enshrined in shrines and statues. Offerings include honey, cakes, fresh noodles, fruits, ginkgo, flower cakes, rice cakes, steamed foods such as vegetarian jiaozi or steamed bread, and vegetarian cooking. The six gods in the house, such as the kitchen god, the god of wealth, and the earth god, should be worshipped and burned incense. Because the Kitchen God was incinerated in the sky on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, a new portrait of the Kitchen God should be posted on this day to ensure peace all the year round.

There is also the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors on New Year's Eve to reflect the traditional virtue of "filial piety first".

Have a family dinner on New Year's Eve. Old Beijing New Year's Eve dinner is to eat and drink, and the staple food and dishes have traditional fixed sets. The staple food is mainly jiaozi. Families should get together for New Year's Eve dinner, which is called "reunion dinner". Vegetarian rice should be as rich as possible, indicating that there will be plenty of food and clothing in the coming year. When eating, we should say more blessings to each other, which is full of happy atmosphere. This meal can be eaten slowly, and some can be eaten late into the night, and then "retirement".

According to the traditional custom, after dinner, you can't go to bed until the New Year's greetings, and you have to "watch the old age" until the early morning of the next day, which means that old people have the meaning of cherishing time when bidding farewell to their old age, while young people have the meaning of wishing the old people a long life. Anyone whose parents are alive must keep his age.

The next step is to hold a reception and worship activities.

When you enter the school (after midnight), you can meet God and be presided over by the oldest generation in the family. According to the directions of the Western God, the God of Wealth, the God of Yang and the God of Yin recorded in the Constitution book on New Year's Day, the host held incense and led everyone to the yard to kowtow to all parties in turn, indicating that they could visit the gods. After completing a set of ritual procedures for worshipping God, the whole family made a collective worship, kowtowing to the ancestors first, and then the elders.

New Year's Day

The first day of the first month is New Year's Day, and the "official guests" (men) among relatives, friends and colleagues pay New Year greetings to each other. "Tangke" (women) can't go out to pay New Year's greetings until the sixth day of the first month.

In the Qing Dynasty, it was an unwritten etiquette for officials to greet each other on New Year's Day, and it was also an opportunity to meet their superiors and contact colleagues. In order to reduce travel expenses, a "collective worship" was held. Qing Yilansheng's "Tan of Crossing the Border Hat" said: "At the beginning of the year, the capital worshiped in groups as usual, and made friends with the Spring Festival, which was sincere and cordial. Book a guest with the annual book every year and hold a banquet to celebrate the day. " After the Republic of China, "group worship" of government organizations became more popular.

People pay New Year greetings to each other in a wide range and in various forms. For example, when they visit relatives, they must go to their parents-in-law's house on the first day, and other close relatives are not limited. Courtesy visits to colleagues and friends, grateful visits to others, and "congratulations on getting rich" to neighbors who communicate frequently.

Sacrifice to the god of wealth

The god of wealth is widely believed by many classes. On the morning of the second day of the first month, residents and businesses in old Beijing will offer sacrifices to the God of Wealth.

open the market

From the first day to the fifth day, shopkeepers on the street will hang window grilles and some curtains with cartoons of Liangshan in Shui Bo, Sanjieyi in Taoyuan and loyalty to the country. , to represent the China New Year holiday. After the "Breaking Five" (the fifth day of the first month), the New Year's Eve dinner was basically over. Some shops held "God-sending" ceremonies, set off firecrackers, opened windows and doors in a warm atmosphere of wishes, revealing the red couplets of "All the best, all the best" posted in advance, and began to formally open their business.

man-day

On the seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it is called "People's Day", "People's Victory Day" or "Seven Yuan". This ancient festival has a history of at least two thousand years.

Taoism believes that "Mr. Heaven and Earth, chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep and horses are the ancestors." Dong Fangshuo, a Han Chinese, wrote in the gauntlet: "On the first day of the first lunar month, chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cows, horses, people and valleys are occupied." . It is considered that the sunny weather on the seventh day of the first month is auspicious, the main year is smooth and the population is safe. If it is cloudy, it will be a disaster. In the Qing Dynasty, Beijingers began to measure the weather on the seventh day of the first month. On People's Day, they will eat spring cakes (a kind of double-layer lotus leaf cakes), roll "box dishes" (cooked meat dishes such as sauced elbows and stomachs) and cut cakes in Yuan Geng, which is called "smoked days". However, the spread of this custom is getting smaller and smaller, and it is rare in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.

Shunxing

Shunxing is also called sacrificial star. On the eighth night of the first month, no matter whether people go to the temple to burn incense to worship the star king (Shunxing), every household will hold a ceremony to worship Shunxing after the stars appear in the sky. When offering sacrifices to the stars, you should put a "golden lamp" (yellow snuff) on the desk, stove, threshold, pot and so on, and light it, which is called "dispersing snuff", which means avoiding evil. After the sacrifice of the stars, the whole family got together for the Lantern Festival.

Shangyuan

"Lantern Festival is played on the fifteenth day of the first month" and "Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month". The fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar should be the traditional "Shangyuan Festival", also known as "Lantern Festival" and "Lantern Festival". As early as 2,000 years ago in the Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was regarded as the "Lantern Festival". "Historical Records" yue said: "Han people often worship Taiyi Ganquan on the first day of the first month, and worship it when they are unconscious at night until the end of the Ming Dynasty." In the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was regarded as the state religion, and a festival was held on the fifteenth day of the first month to celebrate the birthday of Taoism, "Shang Yuan blessed the heavenly official Wei Zi Dadi". The Lantern Festival adds a Taoist color and becomes a festival with Buddhist and Taoist characteristics. Activities include lanterns, fireworks and eating Yuanxiao.

Putting and watching lanterns is a main content of the Lantern Festival. The thirteenth day of the first month is "lighting"; 14 is "light test"; 15 is "positive light"; 17, the lights went out. There was a so-called "Lantern Festival" in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, dengshikou in Dongcheng was a combination of lanterns and cities. In the Qing dynasty, lanterns and cities were separated, but they were still used to being called Lantern Festival. In fact, it was a Lantern Festival, which was entertaining. At that time, the Lantern Festival night market was very particular about decorating lanterns. Shoppers compete with each other to hang lanterns of different sizes, heights and Fiona Fang. There are all kinds of tulle, glass and horns, and figures are painted on them, such as the Nation, The Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, Shen Feng and Liaozhai. Painted flowers, orchids, chrysanthemums, plums, cinnamon, Xuan, bamboo, peony and peony; There are paintings of animals, dragons and tigers, horses, cows, cats, dogs, insects, crabs, fish and shrimp, which are colorful, lifelike and varied. Since the 13th day of the first month, there are many different forms of lanterns on the market. "The Story of Yanjing Times" contains: "People who walk with lights, take paper-cutting as a wheel, and hiss with candles; Then the car will gallop, the horse will stop, and the lights will stop. "From this day on, the children played around with lanterns in droves, all with joy.

On the night of last Yuan, thousands of people went to the streets to watch the lights. "You don't even know that your elbows and feet are touching each other, and the cloth dust pollutes the noble mink." (Du Men Zhu Zhi Ci) describes the prosperity of watching lanterns at that time.

Setting off fireworks is also one of the main contents of the last Yuan Night. Qing Xie Wenqiao's "Doumen New Year's Words" said: "Firecrackers started all night, fireworks came from Shengjing, precious silver flowers were noisy in the middle of the night, and the six streets were full of songs and music."

Solve riddles on the lanterns activities have always been held in the Lantern Festival, commonly known as playing the lantern tiger. This activity is very attractive. Solve riddles on the lanterns can increase people's knowledge, exercise their flexibility and enliven the festive atmosphere. Zhao Junlie, a poet in A Qing, wrote in "Zhi Zhu Ci of Yanjing Lantern Festival": "Lantern riddles are ingenious and magical, and they are not afraid of being rare and wine red." Most talented people compete for prizes, boasting long races and short walks in hutongs. "Explain the charming and warm atmosphere of the Lantern Festival at that time.

The food that should be served on the Lantern Festival is Yuanxiao, which every household should eat on this day. "Yanjing Years Old" says: "The city sells grain, which is both dry and fresh, with Yuanxiao as the bulk. This is why it decorates festivals. " Up to now, Beijingers still keep the custom of eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month.

Put some grain in the barn as a sign of good luck/wish (good harvest)

Old Beijing says that the 23rd day of the first month is a "small irrigation" and the 25th day is a "big irrigation". In the Qing Dynasty, every grain merchant and rice vendor in Beijing had to offer sacrifices to God at this time, and citizens also had to buy some rice flour and coal to enrich their living reserves. The Qing Dynasty's "Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jing" said: "The granary is empty after the new festival, so it should be resumed and realized, so it is called filling the warehouse."

In fact, the real "replacement" activity is in the countryside. There is a saying among farmers in the suburbs that "fill the warehouse, fill the warehouse, and make noodle soup with millet dry rice". Usually, farmers have a hard life, so it's good to eat some millet dry rice noodle soup on the filling festival. At dawn on the 25th day of the first month, every household in the countryside scatters circles with sifted cooking ashes in the yard or on the threshing floor, symbolizing the meaning of hoarding grain.

Dragon Head Lift Festival; February 2; Longtaitou Day

On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon looks up. Celebrity Dong Liu's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" said: "On February 2, the dragon looked up and fried the leftover cakes of the New Year, smoked kang and smoked insects; If you attract a dragon, the bug won't come out. "As the saying goes,' If the dragon doesn't look up, it won't rain'. "The dragon is auspicious and the master of wind and rain." Spring rain is as expensive as oil. "People pray for the dragon to raise its head to make rain and nourish everything. At the same time, February 2 is just before and after the fright, all kinds of insects are ready to move, which is prone to diseases. People pray that the dragon will look up and stop poisonous insects.

At that time, the old Beijingers said, "On February 2nd, as the beams were illuminated, the scorpion centipede had nowhere to hide." . People try to use dragons to refer to food and various activities on February 2, in the hope that dragons will fall from the sky and turn clouds into rain. For example, eating cakes is called eating "dragon skin", eating jiaozi is called eating "dragon ears", eating noodles is called eating "dragon beard" and eating rice is called eating "dragon son". Children shaving on this day is called "scraping the tap", while women don't do needlework on this day, saying it is to avoid hurting "longan".

Qingming Festival

Qingming is an important solar term in the old calendar. The custom of sweeping graves to worship ancestors in Qingming has a long history. The custom of sweeping graves existed before the Qin Dynasty, but it was not necessarily in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and it became popular from the Tang Dynasty. "Qing thomas lee" said: "Eat cold food on New Year's Eve, celebrate the first frost festival, and offer sacrifices to sweep the graves. At the end of the year, you should wear white clothes, bring wine and tools for cutting vegetation to serve the grave. You shut up the tree and cut down Cao Jing, which is called sweeping the grave. " The Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" contains: "On the Qingming Day in March, men and women went to the grave, carried coffins and statues, and hung ingots behind the sedan chair. The road was full of embarrassment." The custom of sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day has been passed down from generation to generation. In the old society, the grave-sweeping ceremony of Beijingers was not held in Tomb-Sweeping Day, but on Singles Day near Tomb-Sweeping Day. Due to different family economic conditions, there are many different ways of offering sacrifices. Going to the countryside to sweep the grave, some people sit around for dinner, some people fly kites, and some people tie wicker in a circle on their heads, saying, "If you don't wear willow in Qingming Festival, the dog will turn yellow in the afterlife." This is not only a grave-sweeping, but also a spring outing. It is both a mourning for our ancestors and a spring outing for ourselves.

Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of May in the old calendar is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is commonly known as the May Festival in old Beijing. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called Duanyang Festival, and "Duan" is synonymous with "Chu". "noon" and "noon" are interlinked. According to the geographical branch, May is the "noon" month, so the fifth day of the first day is called "Dragon Boat Festival", and because noon is called "Yang Chen", it is also called "Duanyang".

Duanyang Festival began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and originated in the south of the Yangtze River. There are many stories about its origin. The most popular and influential story among the people is to commemorate the great patriotic poet Chu Dafu and Qu Yuan. In the Song Dynasty, in order to commend Qu Yuan's "loyalty and righteousness" and make him a "loyal man", the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5 was formally endowed with the significance of commemorating Qu Yuan. War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression also designated May 5th as "Poets' Day".

On the Dragon Boat Festival, a "dragon boat race" was held in the south, and Beijing paid attention to "traveling to avoid disasters" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. On the morning of the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people flocked to the Temple of Heaven to "avoid poison". The Temple of Heaven is a holy place to pray for the New Year. It can not only rely on the divine power of heaven to avoid drugs, but also have fun from it. After noon, some people go to fish ponds or sorghum bridges, Man Jing, Caoqiao, Jishuitan and other places to "drink and swim".

The food of Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi, usually jujube zongzi dipped in sugar. Seasonal fresh products are cherries and mulberries. A cake shop sells a round cake with patterns of snakes, centipedes, scorpions, spiders and toads carved in the mold, which is called "Five Poisons Cake". People use these fresh seasonal cakes to entertain or give gifts to each other.

Beijingers say "the first month is good, but May is bad". Because of the warm climate in May, viruses and plagues are prone to occur, so the statues of Fu and Zhong Kui are used to ward off evil spirits. In the Qing Dynasty, Chai Sang wrote in Yanjing Ji: "A few days before the Dragon Boat Festival, the four rooms were covered with yellow paper, or painted with statues of Zhong Kui, or in the form of five poisons. People buy them and stick them on doors to drive away evil. " Since the beginning of May, every household has planted calamus and wormwood on both sides of the door and written "Pu Jian" and "Ai Hu" to ward off evil spirits and avoid epidemics. In order to ward off evil spirits, during the Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing, people will also buy sandals to wear for the holidays.

There is also a saying of "throwing disasters" in the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the festival, skillful women made colorful silk into tigers, gourds, cherries, mulberries, melon beans, onions and garlic, strung them with colorful threads and tied them to children's hair heads or backs and chests on the first day of May. The little girl also folded a diamond-shaped "Zongzi" with a piece of hard paper, wrapped it with colorful silk thread and put it on her body, commonly known as "gourd" and "longevity line". Picking it after noon on the fifth day of May, together with the paper-cut gourd stuck on the lintel, is called "throwing disaster".

During festivals, people also drink yellow wine and draw the word "Wang" on children's heads with realgar. Some even draw children's ears and nostrils with realgar, saying that this can prevent poisonous insects such as centipedes from getting into their ears and nostrils in summer.

June sixth

The sixth day of the sixth lunar month is not a holiday, because things are moldy and damaged in the midsummer heat. Therefore, people in old Beijing, from the royal family to the Li people, have the habit of sunbathing.

On June 6th, when the weather is fine, calendars are held in palaces, ceremonies, classics and temples. People hang clothes, take a bath and wash their hair. According to folklore, on this day, clothes are not eaten, books are not smoked, domestic animals do not have lice when taking a bath, and domestic animals such as cats and dogs have to rush to the river to take a bath. Before Guangxu 10 (1884) in the former Qing Dynasty, the Yi Yiwei Elephant Training Institute held a ceremonial ceremony on this day all the years, led by drum music, to drive the elephants to take a bath on the west shore outside Xuanwu Gate. The audience is like a tide, which is quite spectacular.

Around June 6, most suburban farmers paid attention to the growth of crops and said, "See Gu Xiu on June 6". Some people even call this day "Insect King Festival", offering sacrifices to those who burn in fields and courtyards, hoping to prevent insect disasters and ensure a bumper harvest.

Chinese Valentine's Day; Qixi Festival

On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is commonly known as "Qixi". Legend has it that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the sky meet once a year across the Milky Way. In the old society, there was a folk custom of "begging for cleverness", which was called "begging for cleverness festival". Weaver girl is unique. She once taught women on earth the skills of knitting and embroidery. On the evening of July 7, women met mortals in the courtyard or garden, burned incense and worshipped the Milky Way and the Double Star, silently praying for their wishes, hoping that they would be lucky and ingenious. Girls want to be more beautiful or marry a Mr Right. Young women want to have children early, or get the favor of their husbands and in-laws.

In the early years, on Tanabata, the Pear Garden (Theater) would stage the Queqiao Club or the Kunqu Opera "Palace of Eternal Life" and "Tianhe Match".

Ghosts'Festival

The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, just like the Shangyuan Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month and the Xiayuan Festival on the fifteenth day of October.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a Taoist festival. Taoism believes that "Sanyuan" is another name for "Three Officials". Shangyuan Festival, also known as Shangyuan Tianguan Festival, is the birthday of Emperor Wei Zi blessed by Shangyuan. The Mid-Yuan Festival, also known as the Mid-Yuan Officials' Day, is the birthday of officials who pardoned sins in the mid-Yuan Dynasty. Xiayuan Festival, also known as Xiayuan Shuijie, is the birthday of Xiayuan Shuiguan Cave. The Taoist Sutra of Three Officials in Taishang says: "Heaven protects the people, local officials forgive sins, and water officials relieve Eritrea", and "all beings are under the control of heaven and earth water officials". On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Taoist temples, such as the Fire Temple in Di 'anmen and the Baiyun Temple outside Xibianmen, routinely hold "Dojo for Good Luck" to pray for "good weather, peace and prosperity".

Buddhists will hold grand bonsai on this day, also called bonsai, bonsai. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were more than 840 temples in Beijing, such as Guangji Temple, Fayuan Temple, Nianhua Temple, Guanghua Temple, Jiaxing Temple and Changchun Temple. Where conditions permit, Yulan Club and Zhongyuan Law Club of different scales are held. Since the Republic of China, Beihai Park, Zhongshan Park Concert Hall and other places have held "memorial ceremonies for fallen soldiers" at this time over the years. Fan (Lama), Tao (Taoist) and Zen (monk) are used to worship the memorial tablet of "soldiers killed in the land, sea and air" for public sacrifice.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, old Beijing will hold activities such as building boats, setting off lotus lanterns, playing lotus lanterns, worshipping ancestors and singing "Yingjing Jing".

Mid-Autumn Festival

August 15th of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Mid-Autumn Festival and Reunion Festival, commonly known as August Festival. August 15th of the lunar calendar is in Sanqiu, hence the name "Mid-Autumn Festival". "Zhou Li" said: "In mid-spring, drummers advocate elegance to meet the summer heat; Mid-autumn night, like a cloud to meet the cold. "It is said that the Mid-Autumn Festival took shape in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, activities such as enjoying the moon on the stage, boating and drinking on the moon were promoted. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, August 15 was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. During festivals, the capital has the custom of offering sacrifices to the moon, Yue Bai, enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes, which has been inherited since the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is full of fruits, and some old Beijingers directly call it the "Fruit Festival". Mid-Autumn Festival has the traditional habit of eating moon cakes for every household. Before the festival, all major pastry shops in Beijing sold Mid-Autumn moon cakes in time, mainly including "natural invitation to red" and "natural invitation to white", with a wide variety. The custom of eating moon cakes as holiday gifts to increase relatives and friends has been passed down from generation to generation.

Double Ninth Festival

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month, commonly known as "Double Ninth Festival". The ancients thought that nine was a positive number, so this day was also called Double Ninth Festival. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, the name of Chongyang appeared. Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Double Ninth Festival has become a festival that China people attach great importance to.

In ancient times, the activities of the Double Ninth Festival were very rich, such as climbing mountains, enjoying chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine and inserting dogwood. In the Ming dynasty, the imperial palace began to eat flower cakes together in early September, and the emperor personally climbed Wanshou Mountain in early September. Folk people are also scrambling to follow suit. On the Double Ninth Festival, people will take wine and tea sets to Xiangshan or Lingxian Palace, hold banquets and sit on the high shelf of the national security temple.

In the Qing Dynasty, residents of North City boarded the King Kong throne of the five towers of Zhenjue Temple. Residents of Cheng Nan often go to the Tomita of the Fazang Temple in Zuo 'anmen to climb mountains. In addition, more tourists are Diaoyutai outside Fuchengmen. After the Double Ninth Festival, the weather is getting colder and colder, and the flowers and trees will soon die, so people call this move "to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new".

When climbing the mountain, we will have a picnic as usual, mainly burning pine branches and pine cones, sitting around eating barbecue and drinking white wine and chrysanthemum wine to add fun. Scholars and poets have improvisers.

After the Republic of China, this custom gradually faded. In the 1930s and 1940s, there were only legends of the old people, and there were no practical activities among the people. Before and after the Double Ninth Festival, the folk only left the custom of eating roast mutton, instant-boiled mutton and flower cakes.

Winter clothing festival

The first day of October in the lunar calendar is the Cold Clothes Festival, also known as Ghost Festival, which is one of the three major Ghost Festivals in a year. As usual, old Beijingers will "send cold clothes" to their deceased ancestors.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, most Beijingers followed the old customs and went to Nanzhi Store to buy cool clothes paper before the first day of October. It is a kind of colored wax paper, pink with white pattern, white with purple pattern and yellow with red pattern, and it is very common. In short, it is just a symbolic thing. Generally, they are cut into the shape of cloth strips, some are cut into clothes and trousers, some are not cut, and they are directly wrapped in paper money and banknotes to make a fire.

yearbook

In the old society, on the first day of October, Qin granted the calendar. Chronicle of Yanjing: "After the calendar was issued in October, constitutional books were sold in large and small bookstores, and there were also negative box sellers between Qu and Xiang."

The imperial calendar is a "constitutional book", also known as a "master program book". At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the so-called "New Year Calendar" was sold on the market, which was printed with "All Orders of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty" and "All Orders of the Republic of China".

The part outside the calendar of the book is called "preface", and some preface is more than the text.

Even the three-character classic, hundreds of surnames, thousands of words and Zhu Xi's family instructions are attached. After the Republic of China, there were portraits of contemporary great men and pictures of civilized wedding ceremonies.

On the header of the calendar part, there is a train table (arranged in order of station names only) and a Christmas date table of the Buddha. Calendars are based on the lunar calendar.

After people bought this encyclopedia, they first wrote on the cover with a brush: "You can see everything at night under the light".

This "general book" has been published until 1949.

Winter solstice

The winter solstice (Gregorian calendar1February 2 1 day or 22nd) is the beginning of September in the lunar calendar. The ancients thought that it was auspicious to lengthen the day and increase the yang. Therefore, it is worth celebrating. Emperors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had ceremonies to worship heaven, which was called "the suburb from winter to the sun". In the palace, there was a ceremony in which hundreds of temples congratulated the emperor. They also threw thorns at each other and congratulated each other, just like the New Year. However, people do not regard the winter solstice as a festival, but have some timely activities.

On the day of winter solstice, a grand ceremony was held on a boulevard in Shi Jing. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Taoist took a kiss and went to the table to celebrate the Buddha's birthday. Taoism believes that the Buddha in the early Yuan Dynasty symbolizes chaos, and the Taoist spirit did not appear in the first century. Ancient people had the custom of eating wonton. In fact, "wonton" and "chaos" are homophonic. The ancients extended eating wonton to break the chaos and open up the world.

On the solstice of winter, there is the custom of pasting "1999 map for dispelling cold". The map of dispelling cold records that the weather turns cloudy and sunny after nine years to predict the abundance and shortage in the coming year.