Chinese traditional fests & cultural events
By Yu Chunlei

When the moon shines brightly
     The Mid Autumn Day festival

Five years ago, I started my college life in a city that was thousands of miles away from home, alone. And the National Day in that year came along with another big Chinese traditional holiday-the Middle Autumn Day, which is happening again this year on October, 6th 2006.
There is a sea of literatures expressing the happiness and the sorrow as well about this special day. Families get together to appreciate the beauty of the biggest moon in a year and to cherish the bond of love among a family. And the moon arouses in those people who can't make it on this occasion a subtle and blue feeling which they might have neglected for a long time, that yes, no matter how strong and cool we thought we were, we do miss a place that is called home.
The Middle-Autumn Day, as the second of the largest festivals in China, is celebrated on August, 15th by Chinese lunar calendar. It is said that the moon on that day comes in the shortest distance with the earth, providing the best time for people to enjoy its beauty. Chinese people prepare different food for different festivals, and moon cakes are especially made for Middle-Autumn Day. In light of the moon's round shape, which indicates the perfection as well as the family reunion, moon cakes are usually made in round shape. Nowadays, the differences among moon cakes mainly lie in their fillings. Besides using mashed Chinese date, saltish yolk and almond etc., people now even have started the practice of adding coffee or wine in the fillings, which results in the increasingly popular flavored-moon-cakes with added aroma and taste.
Besides enjoying the mouthwatering and delicious moon cakes, beautiful old stories or legends are passed on from generation to generation. And one of them goes like this that there's a beautiful lady named Chang Er living alone with her pet rabbit on the moon. Lone long time ago, Chang Er's husband, due to his great achievement, was given by a goddess a special pill which could make people immortal. He didn't want to live alone all by himself, so he didn't take it and asked his wife to keep it. One ill-minded friend of her heard about that and tried to steal it from her. One day, when Chang Er's husband Hou Yi was out, his ill-minded friend went to his home and threatened Chang Er to get that pill from her. In an emergency, Chang Er swallowed that pill down, and then her body became lighter and lighter and she started flying up and finally she ended up on the moon, living all alone in the prison of eternality. Hou Yi was so shocked but everything was too late. So in memory of his fairy wife, he made an incense burner table, putting lots of her favorite cakes on, as if she could still enjoy them up there. Later on, people followed him and it gradually became a custom. Therefore, on the night of August 15th by Chinese lunar calendar, if you stare at the moon carefully, you might be able to see that beautiful lady. Of course, there are a lot of variations about this story, but all the people share one good wish that those who have been parted for a long time should get reunited. This is the background of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Day Festival.

The Spring Festival ( Chinese New Year)

The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year is the biggest event of the year for the Chinese nation. The Spring Festival is in fact the beginning of the Chinese lunar year and falls on the first day of the year in the lunar calendar. This is usually in late January or early February. This year it fell on the 29th of January on the beginning of Dog's year. Fireworks display, visiting and greeting family and friends, Yangge dancing, lion and dragon dancing, temple fairs, and many other celebrations of Chinese folklore are the main activities of the Spring Festival. It is also a big occasion for Chinese people to have family reunions and long ques can be seen at the Bus terminals, Railway stations and Airports as every Chinese make sure to be with family back at hometown during the Spring Festival holidays. People keep making savings throughout the year to go shopping for celebrating the Spring Festival. Dumplings are the most popular among the special dishes, prepared by the families during the Spring festival to welcomes friends and relatives. Yangge dancing originated 2,000 years ago as a religious activity to greet the Gods and dispel evil, but is now a recreational activity during the sowing season and on holidays. It is especially popular among the northern Han. There are weeklong officials holiday during the spring festivals but students and private employees keep saving their holidays throughout the year to utilize them during the spring festival and thus they normally go on vacations during the festivals from two weeks to one month even.
Before the event, houses are thoroughly cleaned. Everyone gets a haircut and purchases new dresses. People burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and to ask the Gods for good health, peace, and luck in the coming year. Red lanterns are hung everywhere. Red scrolls with complementary poetic couplets are pasted at every gate, one line on each side of the gate. On New Year's Eve, families have a reunion feast of jiaozi (dumplings) and niangao (a kind of sticky rice cake), and then stay up and talk through the night, talking about the past and the future.
When the clock rings to announce the arrival of the New Year, many households set off fireworks at almost the same time, creating a thunderous roar and clouds of smoke. This ceremonial use of fireworks is meant to send off the old and usher in the new. Early the next morning and on the following days, everyone wears new clothes. People pay New Year visits to relatives and friends to extend the New Year's greetings. Cities, rural towns, and villages present waist drum displays, Yangge dancing, lion and dragon dancing, and other folk dances. There are other grand celebrations, such as the Temple Fairs in Beijing. Chinese govt had imposed a ban of fire works during the spring festival in Beijing some 12 years back. However, this year it was lifted and the way the Beijingers celeberated, one can easily say that the fireworks on the eve of Spring festival would become yet another event of international interest and soon a lot of tourists would be pouring in to China just to witness this mega firework. Chinese New Year is celebrated by Chinese throughout the world. Wherever one finds large Chinese communities, one finds large celebrations.

The Lantern Festival
Just when the Spring Festival is over, ie on the 15th of the first month of the new lunar year, another popular festival, the Lantern Festivals arrives Lantern expositions; garden parties, fireworks displays, and folk dances are the main features of this Chinese festival. During this festival, red lanterns can be seen everywhere. Many types of delicate and splendidly ornamented lanterns are exhibited. Every family eats yuanxiao (a kind of rice ball stuffed with beans, sugar, and other sweets), which is a symbol of family reunion, unity, affection, and happiness.
The Qingming Festival,

The Qingming Festivals is also known as the Festival of Pure Brightness and falls on 12th of the 3rd lunar month, usually around April 4th or 5th. Cleaning ancestors' graves, holding memorial ceremonies, the making of offerings to pay respects to the dead, a spring family outing, and flying kites are the main activities during this festival Offerings to the dead, which include the burning of ceremonial paper money, are both to honor ancestors and to pray for a year of good luck are also among the salient features of Qingming festival It is said that this festival was set up to memorialize Jie Zitui, a man of noted loyalty during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 B.C.). He helped his lord when his lord's crown and power were in jeopardy. When his lord's power was restored, Mr. Jie refused to accept a position his lord offered to him. He escaped with his mother to a mountain. His lord set a fire to try to force him out, and then force him accept the position. Mr. Jie died in the fire. To commemorate Mr. Jie, his lord set aside the day he died as the original Qingming Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, yetanother popular festival in China falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month Dragon Boat races and eating of tzungtzu (pyramid-shaped rice wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) are the main attractions of this festival The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival has the longest history of any of the festivals celebrated in China. Dragon boat races are held to the sounds of thunderous drumbeats. Racing teams row vigorously, sprinting forward to reach the finish line.
In Chinese tradition, the dragon boats attempt to rescue the patriotic poet, Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned himself because his king would not take his advice. As a result, his kingdom was conquered. Chu Yuan drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth month in 277 B.C. To save his body, people fed the fish cooked rice. They rowed boats and threw bamboo leaved filled with cooked rice into the water. Later, the custom of eating tzungtzu and rice dumplings became part of the festival.
There are other traditional festivals that have waned in recent years. The Double Seventh Day is China's traditional Valentine's Day. It is the day when a cowherd and his wife, a weaving maid and daughter of the Jade Emperor, met in the heaven on the Magpie Bridge. The Double Ninth Day used to be the day when people climbed into the high mountains, and there missed their families.