Customs and Artifacts of the Major Chinese Festivals

By Sally Yu Leung

Traditional festivals in China, also celebrated in Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities, are based on the lunar cycle, which is divided into twelve months of equal length with a thirteenth month added periodically to keep the system in balance. Hence, the festivals fall on different dates in different years of the Gregorian calendar.

Spring Festival 春節 (the Chinese New Year)

This, the most important event of the year, usually falls in late January or early February.The celebrations begin on Chinese New Year's Eve and continue throughout the first fortnight of the lunar New Year, ending with a Lantern Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, gate posts and door panels are brilliantly decorated with door gods (menshen门神), luck-bringing papers or “spring couplets” (chunlian春联) wishing “peace and harmony” as well as woodblock prints (nianhua年画). This popular custom originated more than a thousand years ago when peach wood charms were hung on the main gates of households to ward off evils. Every light in the house is switched on to keep out the mythical monster “Nian” who is frightened of noise, red color, and light. Of course, firecrackers are used to scare him away at the stroke of midnight. This ritual also serves as a farewell to the old year and a welcome to the new.

New Year's Eve occasions grand family reunions and celebration dinners, featuring chicken, duck, fish, and dumplings stuffed with pork. Traditionally, after the meal, the family change into new clothes and head out for one of the big Lunar New Year fairs where they buy peach blossom trees, narcissus, peony, plum blossoms, or Mandarin orange trees which should be bursting into bloom. It is said that the more flowers that appear on New Year’s

Day, the better one's prospects for the coming year.

On New Year's Day, children and unmarried young adults receive hongbao (红包), or “lucky money in the red envelope” Visitors are offered melon seeds which bring lots of progeny, and sticky rice cakes (niangao年糕),which symbolize progress year by year. Cheerful people say “Gong Hay Fat Choy!”“Xin Nian Hao!”or “May you have a happy and prosperous New Year!”

Lantern Festival 元宵節 (Yuanxiao Festival)

On the first day of the first full moon, lanterns are hung over the doors in honor of the star Taiyi (Great Monad) and people eat yuanxiao (元宵), round dumplings made of rice flour and stuffed with ground beans, ground dates, brown sugar, or sesame paste. The round dumplings resemble the full moon, which symbolizes family reunion, unity, affection and fulfillment.

Dragon Boat Festival 端午節

The Dragon Boat Festival takes place on the fifth day of the fifth moon, when family members eat zongzi (粽子) (sticky rice or millet wrapped in bamboo leaves, stuffed with beans, meat, or salted duck egg yolks). Bundles of reed, effigies of tigers (made of absinth grass), and images of five poisonous creatures (viper, spider, toad, centipede or scorpion) are hung above the gates to drive away evil spirits. The Chinese believe that the amount of poison generated by these five creatures together will counteract any pernicious influences.

A special ritual for this festival is the dragon boat race which honors the Dragon God, who controlled the rivers and rainfall.Historical studies indicate that the origin of the dragon boat race is associated with fertility and the growth of rice in southern China. In an agricultural society, it was crucial to use every means to ensure a good harvest. Another popular belief is that this festival was originally dedicated to commemorate the 4th–3rd century BCE great poet, Qu Yuan (屈原), who threw himself into Lake Dong Ting in protest against rejection of his political advice by his Lord. The dragon boat has a high prow shaped like a dragon head with open mouth and cruel fangs; its long and slim body resembles the body of the dragon. People in the boats cast the offering zongzi into the water to placate the hungry ghosts of drowned people and fish, in hopes of preventing them from devouring the body of Qu Yuan.

The Qixi 七夕 (the Seventh Day of the Seventh Lunar Moon Festival)

On this day, also known as the Chinese Valentine’s

Day, the unmarried women pay homage to the two star gods, the Celestial Weaver and the Cowherd, and pray for successful marriage. In addition to setting up altars with fruits, flowers and incense offerings, young girls will try to thread needles in the dark, and “beg” for talents from the Weaving Maid.

Legend says that this is the only day of the year when the husband (Cowherd) and wife (the Celestial Weaver) meet after being separated on opposite banks of the Milky Way by the Goddess Xiwangmu. A flock of magpies forms a live bridge making the couple’s reunion possible.

Ghost Festival 中元節 (Zhongyuan or Ullam-bana Festival)

Just as the West has Halloween for ghosts and spirits, so do the Chinese. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar moon, the Chinese celebrate the Ghost Festival.

The Chinese believe that the deceased become ghosts roaming between Heaven and Earth and come back to earth from the underworld to feast on the victuals offered by the living. In ancient times, families offered newly harvested grain, millet or rice wines to departed ancestors; but spirits without descendents are also prayed for. This custom is a reflection of the traditional Chinese value of filial piety and universal love, with its origin deep rooted in the Buddhist didactic legend “Mulian Saving His Mother from Hades.”

“Ullam-bana” in Sanskrit means “Deliverance.” According to legend, Mulian, the disciple of Sakyammuni (the Buddha) saw his mother suffering in Hades, and pleaded for deliverance of her soul. So, Buddha asked Mulian to prepare one hundred kinds of food for the Buddhist monks as an act of merit to gain deliverance for his mother.

During the Ghost Festival, one can see people burning joss-paper money and other offerings by the roadsides to appease the restless, wandering spirits—those who have been temporarily released from Hades. Other forms of celebration would be floating lighted, lotus-shaped lanterns in the river to guide the ghosts’ way to and from the underworld.

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 (the Moon Festival)

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar moon, families gather to enjoy the full moon, a symbol of abundance, harmony and good luck.

After nightfall, in the garden or courtyard, altars are set with moon cakes, melon seeds, candies, star fruit (yangtao 杨桃) and osmanthus wines. The roundness of the cakes symbolizes the cohesion of the family. Incense is burnt as an offering to the Moon Goddess Chang O (常娥), a mortal who accidentally swallowed the elixir of immortality and flew to the moon. Family members bow and make wishes and then enjoy eating the moon cakes together.Later on in the night, the entire family goes out with lanterns in the shape of rabbits, fish, lotus flowers, and brocade balls. They gaze at the bright, full moon and remember their loved ones far from home.

The fragrant Osmanthus, designated as the flower of the eighth moon, is closely connected with lunar legends. One such myth tells us that there is a huge celestial osmanthus on the moon that is being chopped continuously by the immortal Wu Gang, who was banished there. Another belief comes from ancient China, when the moon is represented by a white disk with a rabbit in it. The rabbit, of jade, resides in the moon, using a mortar and pestle and preparing herbs that promise immortality.

Winter Solstice Festival 冬至 (Dong Zhi)

The shortest day and the longest night of the year, Winter Solstice has become an official state festival, its roots in the Han Dynasty. With days becoming longer, the yang, or positive forces, become stronger and hence worthy of celebration.

Officials and commoners take a rest from work. Relatives and friends exchange gifts of delicious food. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, this day was a time to offer sacrifices to Heaven and ancestors. The Qing Dynasty went so far as to declare Winter Solstice as important as the Spring Festival.

These major festivals reflect the Chinese way of celebrating special occasions and find their counterparts in the West.