Celebrations

A celebration is a special enjoyable event that people

organise because something pleasant has happened

or because it is someone’s birthday or anniversary.

Some of the typical traditional Chinese celebrations

presented below are Spring Festival, Lantern Festival

and Dragon Boat Festival.

Spring Festival

In China, Chinese New Year is

also known as the Spring Festival,

It is an important Chinese festival

celebrated at the turn of

the Chinese calendar. The Spring

Festival celebrations traditionally

run from Chinese New Year's Eve,

the last day of the last month of

the Chinese calendar, to

the Lantern Festival on the 15th

day of the first month, making the

festival the longest in the Chinese

calendar. This is also the time all

family members gather together.

During the Spring Festival,

windows and doors are

decorated with red color paper-

cuts and couples with popular

themes of good fortune,

happiness and wealth. Other

activities include lighting

firecrackers and giving money

in red paper envelopes which

kids like best.

The lion and dragon dance

is usually performed during

the Chinese New Year and

other Chinese traditional,

cultural and religious

festivals. The Lion and

Dragon Dance is a form of

traditional dance in Chinese

culture and other Asian

countries in which

performers mimic a lion's

movements in a lion

costume.

Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar marking the last day of the Lunar New Year celebration. It is usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty it had become a festival with great significance. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns.

The 15th day marks the first

full moon after the Spring

Festival and of the New Year,

also known as meaning “ first

night of the full moon". The

day is as well known as

Lantern Festival day.

Another reunion dinner is held

with lanterns and oranges

being a large part of the

celebrations.

In Lantern Festival, it is customary to

eat special sweet dumplings resembling

the shape of the full moon. These round

balls are made of glutinous rice flour

stuffed with sugar fillings, symbolizing

reunion.

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional and statutory holiday originating in China.

The festival now occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar, the source of its alternative name, the Double Fifth Festival. The focus of most celebrations involves eating a kind of sticky rice treat wrapped in bamboo leaves and racing dragon boats.

Dragon Boat & Sticky Rice

Dumplings

Thank you