Festivals and folk customs
Spring Festival
Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for Chinese people. For the past 500 years, Beijing has been the country"s political and cultural center, which brings colorful customs to the Spring Festival in Beijing. An old lullaby sums up all the activities leading up to the Spring Festival that falls in January or February: "Old lady, there"s no hurry — the Spring Festival is near after laba (the 8th day of the 12th lunar month); after eating the laba porridge, the 23rd day will soon arrive; offer pumpkin-shaped candy to the God of Stove on the 23rd day; clean the house on the 24th; make bean curd on the 25th; buy meat on the 26th; kill a cock on the 27th; prepare the flour on the 28th; make steamed bun on the 29th; stay awake on the night of the 30th and go to visit relatives and friends on the first day of the New Year".
Lantern Festival
One of the main traditional festivals in China, it falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, emperors would go to the Temple of Heaven on this day to hold grand ceremonies praying for good harvest. Every Chinese family would try to stay together on this night and enjoy yuanxiao (sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour) while watching the full moon. People would throng to Dengshi or Changdian to watch the colorful lanterns. Before the 1900s, governmental agencies would resume working between the 19th to the 21st days of the first lunar month after the Spring Festival celebrations. Farmers would also begin tilling the fields and sowing seeds.
Temple fairs
Temple fairs are like carnivals for local people. They originated from the Liao Dynasty more than
1,000 years ago and most are held around the Spring Festival. Various folk arts and performances are staged, many snacks and toys entice visitors. There used to be eight major sites for the temple fairs in Beijing.
Temple of Earth:
The oldest Spring Festival temple fair in Beijing, a typical example of temple fair held in the garden.
Longtan Lake:
Many traditional cultural and athletic activities are held here.
Dongyue Temple:
The temple fair started more than 300 years ago at this temple worshiping the God of Mt Taishan, with the theme of "fu" (happiness).
Baiyunguan Taoist Temple:
The temple fair here has a boisterous air with traditional performances like lion dance, stilt-walking, land-boat and others.
Changdian:
Originated from the rule (1522-1566) of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, this is the biggest,
most influential and famous event of all eight temple fairs.
Daguanyuan:
Held at the park built according to the classic novel A Dream of the Red Chamber, the temple fair includes folk crafts, skating, extreme sports, kungfu and drum dances among others.
Lianhuachi:
There are more than 100 activities in nine categories at the temple fair such as dance, folk opera, acrobatics, games, snacks and exhibitions.
Shijingshan Park:
The temple fair here features overseas flavors in songs and dances, as well as cuisines.
Daguanyuan.Spring Gala
During the Spring Festival, a gala is held at Daguanyuan an d many performances are staged there.
Duanwu Festival
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Qu Yuan (ea. 339-278 BC), a royal minister of the Dukedom of Chu, was wronged by the Duke and despaired that the enemy would soon conquer his homeland. The great statesman who excelled in poetry held a stone and threw himself into the Miluo River of today"s Hunan Province. To commemorate the patriotic noble man, the people threw zongzi (pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves or reeds) into the river and raced dragon-shaped boats to salvage him. The tradition gradually became the Duanwu Festival that falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The 15th day of the 8th lunar month lies in the middle of the three autumn months, thus the festival is named "zhongqiu" - mid-autum n. As the bright, full moon shines in th e sky, every Chinese family would sit together and enjoy m oon cake, watermelon, crabs and other delicacies, while talking about ancient tales related with the moon.
Yanqing.Snow &Ice Festival
Between J an 15 to Feb 28, a n exhi b ition of ice sculptures and lanterns is held at Longqing Gorge ofYanqing County.
Peach Blossoll"l Festival
Every April, the Beijing Botanical Garden hosts a month-long festival for visitors to admire the peach blossoms.
Cherry Blossoll"l Festival
Also h el d in April, the festival takes place at Yuyuantan Park where one can also take a boat ride to better admire the cherry blossoms.
Marriage customs
Meeting the prospective family
When the birthdays of the two young people were proven to be a good match, their parents would meet on an auspicious day with the matchmaker in either family.
Matching the birthdays
Old Beijing residents paid great attention to the matching of the hour, date, month and year of the young man and woman. Special geomancers were invited to see if the two would match or one might bring harm to the other in married life.
Greeting the bride
Upon the auspicious day, the bridegroom would lead the team to greet the bride at her home. But the gate of the bride"s family would be shut tightly and the bridegroom or a member of the team would ask persistently and hand in a red envelope containing money before the door was opened. The team would then splash copper coins in the courtyard. After many complicated procedures, the bride finally set foot in the sedan chair prepared by her betrothed and headed for her new home.
Wedding ceremony