1. Chinese Festivals and Holidays
— Legends and Customs

2. Spring Festival — Chinese New Year
1st day of the 1st lunar month (somewhere between January 30 and February 20 )
The most important festival for the Chinese people
The beginning of spring
A festival of reunion

3. Legend of Spring Festival

4. Customs of Spring Festival
New Year’s Eve Dinner
Pay A New Year Call
Walking on Stilts
Dragon Dance
Lion Dance
Fireworks & Firecrackers
Spring Couplets
Red Packets

5. New Year’s Eve Dinner

6. Pay A New Year Call

7. Walking on Stilts

8. Dragon Dance

9. Lion Dance

10. Fireworks and Firecrackers Display

11. Spring Couplets

12. Red Packets

13. Food For Spring Festival

14. Dumpling

15. New Year’s Cake

16. Lantern Festival

17. Lantern Festival
Time
The 15th day of the 1st lunar month (when the first full moon enters the New Year)
Significance
Chinese Halloween
Activities
Watching Lanterns
"Guessing Lantern Riddles"
Eating Yuanxiao (Rice Dumplings)

18. Watching Lanterns Originated in Buddhist rites
Watching Sarira, or the remains from the cremation of Buddha's body.
Lanterns are ordered to be lighted to worship Buddha.

19. Lantern Festival
Traditionally, it once served as a day for love and matchmaking.
Young people were chaperoned in the streets in the hope of finding love.
Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples.
Often, those with brightest lanterns were deemed good luck and hope.

20. Guessing Lantern Riddles
It is an essential part of the festival;
Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check the answer and rewarded a little gift.

21. Yuanxiao (Rice Dumplings)

22. Qingming — Tomb Sweeping Festival
Two weeks after the Vernal Equinox (the 4th, 5th, or 6th of April )
The most important springtime festival
A day for mourning the dead
Also a day to celebrate the coming of spring and a happy occasion for outdoor activities

23. Customs of Tomb Sweeping Festival
Tomb Sweeping or Ancestor Worshipping
Burning Paper Treasures
Cold Foods
Planting Trees/Arbor Day
Kite-Flying
Spring Outings

24. Duan Wu Festival — Dragon Boat Festival
The 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar year
A day to remember a great patriotic poet named Qu Yuan
People have Dragon Boat Races, eat Zong Zi and carry a spice bag around with them

25. Dragon Boat Race

26. Zong Zi

27. Spice Bag

28. Qi Qiao Jie — Chinese Valentine’s Day
The seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar (August)
Also known as “The Begging Festival” or “The Daughter’s Festival”
Girls prepare melons and fruit before worship and prayers for a good marriage
Couples go to matchmaker temples to pray for everlasting love and marriage

29. To Love and to Wait — A Romantic Legend

30. Mid-Autumn Festival
The 15th day of the 8th lunar month (believed to be the exact midst of autumn)
One of the most important festivals in China
A day for family reunion
People eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon

31. Legend of Mid-Autumn Festival

32. Customs of Mid-Autumn Festival
Family members get together
Going out to attend special performances in parks or on public squares
Huge lantern show in Guangzhou
Watching the flood tide of the Qiantang River in Zhejiang Province

33. Moon Cake

34. "Thinking of You"
When will the moon be clear and bright? With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky. I don't know what season it would be in the heavens on this night. I'd like to ride the wind to fly home. Yet I fear the crystal and jade mansions are much too high and cold for me.

35. "Thinking of You " (Cont’d)
Dancing with my moon-lit shadow It does not seem like the human world The moon rounds the red mansion Stoops to silk-pad doors Shines upon the sleepless Bearing no grudge Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart?

36. "Thinking of You " (Cont’d)
People may have sorrow or joy, be near or far apart The moon may be dim or bright, wax or wane This has been going on since the beginning of time May we all be blessed with longevity Though far apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.

37. Double Ninth Festival Time:
The ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar
Activities:
Climbing a mountain
Carrying a spray of dogwood
Drinking chrysanthemum wine

38. Special Food

39. ON THE MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY THINKING OF MY BROTHERS IN SHANDONG
I am a stranger in a strange country lonely, While the festivals missing my families much more. Seeing my brothers climb up mountains from far, Transplanting cornus everywhere but missing mine.
chrysanthemum

40. Laba Festival
The eighth day of the last lunar month (the traditional start of celebrations for the Chinese New Year)
People eat Laba rice porridge

41. Laba Rice Porridge

42. Other National Holidays
New Year’s Day (January 1)
May Day Holiday (May 1)
Children’s Day (June 1)
Founding Anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (July 1)
Founding Anniversary of the Communist Party of China (August 1)
Teacher’s Day (September 10)
Founding Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (October 1)