1、Chinese traditional festivals,Chinese traditional festivals,春节 ( 农历正月初一 ) 元宵节 ( 农历正月十五 )头牙 ( 农历二月初二 ) 寒食节 ( 清明节前一天 ) 清明节 ( 节气清明 ) 端午节 ( 农历五月初五 ) 七夕 ( 农历七月初七 ) 中元节 ( 农历七月十五 ),中秋节 ( 农历八月十五 ) 重阳节 ( 农历九月九 ) 冬至 ( 节气冬至 ) 腊八节 ( 农历腊月初八 ) 尾牙 ( 农历腊月十六 ) 祭灶 ( 农历腊月廿四 ) 除夕 ( 农历十二月卅日 ),Spring Festival The Spring
2、Festival is known as the most important festival in China. During the holiday, people go back to hometown from everywhere no matter how far the distance is. They prepare various delicious food and presents for the Spring Festival Eve. Chinese will have a happy family union in the Spring Festival Eve
3、, they believe thats the end day of last year and they will stay up for good luck until the first day of next year.,In China, the most traditional and popular Spring Festival food is dumpling, which looks like the moon with vegetables and meat mixed in it. The Chinese name of dumpling is “JIAO ZI”,
4、”JIAO” means ”cross”, ”ZI” is Chinese traditional time represents “24:00”, so the Chinese word “JIAO ZI” means “cross 24:00”, just the dividing point of last year and next year. So when it comes to 24:00, every family begins eating dumplings. Now putting up red paper on the door and setting firecrac
5、ker becomes Spring Festival customs and people believe doing these will bring their family safety.,Spring Festival is also the happiest time for children, because they can get red envelope containing money as a gift from the elder. During the Spring Festival, any unfortunate word cannot be heard bec
6、ause it will make people upset and unhappy. People also make use of this holiday to visit their relatives and bring them some presents and well-wishing.,The Lantern Festival（元宵节）The Lantern Festival is January 15 on the lunar calendar. The lunar January is the first month of a year and 15th is the f
7、irst day of full moon. During Lantern Festival, people go along the street to watch lanterns and children light their own small lanterns for some fun. The biggest and most beautiful lantern is the dragon lantern, which looks like a flying dragon, held by several young guys. One with a ball in hand l
8、eads the dragon to move.,Some lanterns have puzzles （灯谜）on them, called lantern puzzle, the one who gets the answer could receive small presents and be happy for his intelligence.The traditional food for Lantern Festival is rice glue ball. Rice glue ball is a flavor ball with filling in it, for exam
9、ple, peanut filling, sesame filling and jam filling,the rice glue balls shape is just like the full moon appearing in the sky. This kind of dessert is especially welcomed by children.,Tomb- sweeping Day（清明节）,Tombsweep Day is an ancient festival in spring, also called Qing Ming Festival. In ancient C
10、hina, the emperor worshipped heaven and earth in order to bless for harvest. People worshipped their ancestors with sacrifice and showed their missing for ancestors.,清明时节雨纷纷， 路上行人欲断魂， 借问酒家何处有， 牧童遥指杏花村.,Qing Ming Du Mu（ Tang Dynasty ）Qing Ming usually comes with rainy daysPassengers on the way are fu
11、ll of sorenessI ask a Buffalo boy for tavern tvn to release my sadnessHe points to the village covered by apricot eiprikt blossoms,Chinese Valentines Day,Chinese Valentines Day,The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is known as Qi Xi Jie or Qiqiao Jie, a traditional holiday that
12、has been recently called Chinas Valentines Day.,Legend,The 2,000-plus-year-old holiday marks the star-crossed love between a cow herder Niulang and Zhinu, a weaver of clouds and the daughter of the Jade Emperor who is the Daoist ruler of heaven. The story goes that the two fell in love and got marri
13、ed, but their bond was met with disapproval by Wangmu, Zhinus mother and the queen of heaven. Niulang is viewed as the star Altair and Zhinu as the star Vega. With a swift move of her hairpin, she separated the two with a river in the sky, known today as the Milky Way. But the queen took pity on the
14、m and gave them one night of the year to spend together. On Qi Xi Jie, the queen is said to send magpies to bridge the celestial silestjl gap between the two star lovers.,Mid-Autumn Day（中秋节）Mid-autumn Day is August 15th on lunar calendar. According to history records, Chinese emperor has tradition t
15、hat worship the Sun in spring and worship the Moon in autumn. As August 15th is exactly the middle of autumn, so it is called Mid-Autumn Day.The traditional food of Mid-Autumn Day is Moon cake, a round baked cake with fillings in it. The round shape of moon cake represents family reunion. In the nig
16、ht of Mid-Autumn Day, every family has moon cake and watches the moon.,One most famous story is Change flying to the moon. Thousands of years ago, there were 9 suns in the sky. Many people felt too hot to live. A young man called Yi was brave enough and shot 8 suns to the ground and saved people. On
17、e day Yi got a potion of elixir iliks（长生不老药） from Queen Mother and gave his wife Change to keep. A man named Peng Meng knew about the elixir and wanted to get it from Change. One day when Yi was out for hunting, Peng Meng went to rob the elixir. In order to protect the elixir, Change swallowed all o
18、f the elixir ,and then flied to the moon.,The Double Ninth Festival（重阳节）Ancient Chinese believes nine represents sun, the brightest thing. September 9th has two nine, the sun being doubled, so they call it Double Ninth Festival. Nine also means Long in Chinese words, so the Double Ninth Festival is
19、also recognized The Old Festival.In Double Ninth Festival, people go to their ancestors tombs to worship with coat for winner.,People usually:,Ascend send a height 登高 Eat Double-ninth cake Appreciate the Chrysanthemum赏菊 Drink chrysanthemum wine饮菊花酒 Carry zhuyu佩带茱萸,Other festivals,First tooth festiva
20、l&tags: worship the earth god Cold food festival: eat cold food, worship ancestors, plant willow插柳 The ghost festival: worship the dead Winter Solstice : worship ancestors, eat dumplings/wonton The Laba Rice Porridge Festival: eat laba rice porridge Chinese New Years Eve: eat family reunion dinner,
21、paste New Year paintings, set fireworks and firecrackers,When more and more young people are celebrating western festivals, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, many westerners also show great interest in the traditional Chinese festivals, such as Spring Festival and Qi Xi. It is a good thing that Chinese culture has been widespread around the world and will become a dominant role in the globalized context. So we shouldnt forget our own festivals.,Thank you for watching,
