Traditional Chinese holidays

The traditional Chinese holidays are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The most important Chinese holiday is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), which is also celebrated in Korea, Vietnam, and other East Asian countries in the East Asian cultural sphere. All traditional holidays are scheduled according to the Chinese calendar (except the Qing Ming and Winter Solstice days, falling on the respective Jie qi in the Agricultural calendar).

Date (Chinese Lunar Calendar)	English Name	Chinese Name	Remarks
Last day of lunar year	Chinese New Year Eve	• 除夕  • 大年夜
1st day of 1st Month	Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)	• 農曆新年 / 农历新年  • 春節 / 春节  • 大年初一	fireworks after midnight, visit family members.
15th day of 1st Month	Lantern Festival	• 元宵節 / 元宵节	Lantern parade and lion dance celebrating the first full moon. Eating tangyuan. This day is also the last day of new year celebration.
2nd day of 2nd Month	Zhonghe Festival (Blue Dragon Festival)	• 中和節 / 中和节  • 青龍節 / 青龙节	Eat Chinese pancakes (Chun bing, 春餅) and noodles, clean the house. Also known as Dragon Raising its Head
3rd day of 3rd Month	Shangsi Festival	上巳節 / 上巳节	Traditional Chinese Women's Day, also known as 婦女節(fùnǚjié)
At the Qingming solar term, solar longitude of 15°, 104 days after winter solstice (around 5 April)	Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Clear and Bright Festival)	清明節 / 清明节	Visit, clean, and make offerings at ancestral gravesites, spring outing
5th day of 5th Month	Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival)	端午節 / 端午节	Dragon boat race, eat dumplings wrapped in lotus leaves Zongzi. This festival commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan; drink yellow rice wine, related to the White Snake Lady legend
7th day of 7th Month	Qixi Festival (The Night of Sevens, Magpie Festival)	七夕	According to legend, the goddess "Zhi Nü" (the star Vega) fell in love with the farmer boy "Niu Lang" (the star Altair), but was disapproved by her mother goddess. As punishment, they were separated by the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on this night.
15th day of 7th Month	Ghost Festival	中元節 / 中元节	Burn fake paper money and make offerings to ancestors and the dead to comfort them in the afterlife and keep them from troubling the living.
15th day of 8th month	Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival)	中秋節 / 中秋节	Eat mooncake, family union meal, related to the legend of Chang E and The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd
9th day of 9th Month	Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang Festival)	重陽節 / 重阳节	Autumn outing and mountain climbing, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects.
15th of 10th Month	Spirit Festival / Water Lantern Festival	下元節 / 下元节	Set flower shaped lanterns adrift in a stream or river at sundown, give offerings to deceased whose wandering spirits/ghosts may return at night to visit.
December 21 or 22nd	Dongzhi Festival (Winter Solstice Festival)	冬至	Have Tangyuan and Jiuniang and perform ancestor worship, Feast day, family gatherings, also named "Chinese Thanksgiving"
8th Day of 12 Month	Laba Festival	臘八節 / 腊八节	This is the day the Buddha attained enlightenment. People usually eat Laba congee, which is made of mixed grains and fruits.

Dates for Chinese Traditional Festivals (2008-2015)

	Spring (New Year)	Lantern	Azure Dragon	Shang­si	Qing Ming	Dragon Boat	Double Seventh	Ghost	Mid-​Autumn	Double Ninth	Water Lan­tern	Winter	Laba
2008	Feb 7	Feb 21	Mar 9	Apr 8	Apr 4	Jun 9	Aug 7	Aug 15	Sep 14	Oct 7	Nov 12	Dec 4	Jan 3*
2009	Jan 26	Feb 9	Feb 26	Mar 29	Apr 4	May 28	Aug 26	Sep 3	Oct 3	Oct 26	Dec 1	Dec 22	Jan 22*
2010	Feb 14	Feb 28	Mar 17	Apr 16	Apr 5	Jun 16	Aug 16	Aug 24	Sep 22	Oct 16	Nov 20	Dec 12	Jan 11*
2011	Feb 3	Feb 17	Mar 6	Apr 5	Apr 5	Jun 6	Aug 6	Aug 14	Sep 12	Oct 5	Nov 10	Dec 1	Jan 1*
2012	Jan 23	Feb 6	Feb 23	Mar 24	Apr 4	Jun 23	Aug 23	Aug 31	Sep 30	Oct 23	Nov 28	Dec 21	Jan 19*
2013	Feb 10	Feb 24	Mar 13	Apr 12	Apr 4	Jun 12	Aug 13	Aug 21	Sep 19	Oct 13	Nov 17	Dec 9	Jan 8*
2014	Jan 31	Feb 14	Mar 2	Apr 2	Apr 5	Jun 2	Aug 2	Aug 10	Sep 8	Oct 2	Dec 6	Dec 28	Jan 26*
2015	Feb 19	Mar 5	Mar 21	Apr 21	Apr 5	Jun 20	Aug 20	Aug 28	Sep 27	Oct 21	Nov 26	Dec 18	Jan 17*
* denotes the following Gregorian civil year[1]

Public holidays

Traditional holidays are generally celebrated in Chinese speaking regions. For the most part however, only Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are statutory public holidays. This is the case in both mainland China and Taiwan whilst Hong Kong and Macau also observe Buddha's Birthday and Chung Yeung Festival. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is the only traditional Chinese public holiday likewise with Malaysia

Each region has its own holidays on top of this condensed traditional Chinese set. Mainland China and Taiwan observe patriotic holidays, Hong Kong and Macau observe Christian holidays, and Malaysia and Singapore celebrate Malay and Indian festivals.

• Public holidays in the People's Republic of China
  • Holidays in Hong Kong
  • Holidays in Macau
• Public holidays in the Republic of China
  • Holidays in Taiwan (including unofficial holidays)
• Holidays in Singapore
• Holidays in Malaysia

See also

• Culture of China
• List of annual events in China

References

1. Dates in table (with exception of Qing Ming) converted to Gregorian civil calendar using the Calendrical Calculations applet, 2010-01-05.

External links

• http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78131.htm
• http://www.pandaguides.com/china_facts/festivals.html