中国的传统节日 China's Traditional Festivals

中国的传统节日 (Zhōng guó de chuán tǒng jiē rì, China's Traditional Festivals)

中国的传统节日数量众多，据统计，源于汉族的民间节日有150多个，少数民族节日更多。源于汉族的一些传统节日不仅流行，而且也为少数民族接受，有的还在众多民族中广泛传播，成为全国性的节日，像春节、端午节和中秋节，通常合称“中国三大传统节日”。后面还会有源于汉族的中国传统节日的相关介绍。

China has a large number of traditional festivals. There are at least some 150 folk festivals originated from the Han communities. Festivals from ethnic minorities are even more in number that that of the Han Chinese. Some traditional festivals of Han Chinese are not only popular, but also well accepted among minority groups. Some have even become national holidays, such as the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, which are known as the three major traditional festivals in China. Coming up in the follow and in other lessons, we will offer more on some traditional festivals that have originated from the Han Chinese culture.

中国农历（Zhōng guó nóng lì, China’s Lunar Calendar）

相传在4000多年前的夏朝，即中国历史上第一个奴隶制王朝就开始有了历法，后人把当时中国古老的传统历法叫“夏历”（Xià Lì）。夏历是按月亮的运行周期制定的，故又称作“阴历”（Yīn Lì）。由于夏历中有一年四季节气的变化和农事安排，所以后世又习惯称之为“农历”，也就是今天所说的“中国农历”。

According to legend, China’s first slave dynasty in history - the Xia Dynasty dating back over 4000 years ago developed the first calendar. The ancient traditional Chinese calendar was later known as the "Xia Calendar”. Since it was based on the rotating cycle of the moon, it is also known as the "Lunar Calendar". As the Xia revolves around farming arrangements based on the seasons, it is commonly called "Nong Li”, literally the farming moon calendar, also known as the China Lunar Calendar.

春节（Chūn jiē, The Spring Festival）

春节，又称中国农历新年，是中国最大、最隆重的传统节日。春节在中国农历正月初一，古称“元旦”，1911年后改称春节。广义上说，中国的春节从每年腊月二十三或二十四“祭灶王爷”（简称“祭灶”）之日开始，往下一直延伸至正月十五的元宵节，欢度节日的时间长达近一月。春节表示除旧迎新，除汉族以外，满、蒙、苗、壮、侗、布衣、朝鲜等20多个民族也过春节。春节期间，各种年俗活动精彩纷呈，主要有贴春联、贴年画、剪窗花、挂福字、放鞭炮、吃年夜饭、守岁、拜年、给压岁钱、祭天祭祖、接财神等。另外，过年大都要吃年俗食品，像饺子、年糕等等，至今仍沿古俗，且有许多口彩。北方人习惯在除夕子时（夜里11点至12点）吃饺子，意为“岁更交子”；南方人春节喜欢吃年糕，寓意“年年高”。

The Spring Festival, also known the Chinese lunar New Year, is the largest and most ceremonious traditional festival of China. The lunar new year falls on the first day of the first month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It was already known as the "New Year" in ancient times. After 1911, it was renamed as the Spring Festival. In a larger sense, the Chinese Spring Festival would start from the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, a day when people often begin to offer prayers to the “God of Kitchen”. From then on, the festival would drag on until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, i.e., the Lantern Festival. The time to celebrate the festival always lasts ab0ut a month. The Spring Festival is a time to say goodbye to the past year and welcome the New Year. Other than the Han, some 20 other nationalities like the Manchurian, Mongolian, Miao, Zhuang, Dong, Buyi, and Korean also celebrate the Spring Festival. During the festival, people observe various traditions, such as putting up couplets and new year paintings, making window paper cuttings, hanging up a character of Happiness, setting off firecrackers, eating lunar new year eve dinner, staying up for the New Year, offering new year prayers for family members and friends, giving lucky money, worshiping gods and ancestors, and welcoming back the God of Kitchen. In addition, during the Chinese lunar New Year, foods such as dumplings and rice cakes are still eaten to mark the occasion. People in the north used to have dumplings at midnight on New Year's Eve (between 23:00 and 24:00), which means "the old year changes for the new at the time of eating ‘Jiaozi’, or the time period of Zi Shu, literally, the hours of Rat”. While the southerners enjoy rice cakes which implies that “rice cakes or the new year cake will bring them further success”.