Chinese Celebrations and  Festivals by the lunar calender

The lunar calender in China runs every 29.5 days per lunar month and like every other country China celebrates it special days with a festival.
Here’s my guide to the Chinese festivals though out the lunar year.

1st Lunar Month

• Chinese New Year know as Spring Festival or Chun Jie, This is the main festival of the year like our Xmas.  Chinese new year is a special time for gifts and time with family, normally a red envelop is given with money inside. Trying to travel around China in Chinese new year can be very challenging.
• Lantern Festival [Feb-Mar] in the time when the moon is full, this festival marks the end of the 15 day Chinese New Year celebration, Locals will also be eating sticky rice balls called “Yuanxiao”.

2nd Lunar Month

• Tibetan New Year The Tibetan new year is based around food being eaten like barley crumb and the Tashi Blessing, being followed by the prayer festival later in the month where it turns into the butter lamp festival.
• Hong Kong Arts Festival [Feb-Mar] Spread over 3/4 weeks the Hong Kong Arts Festival is a chance for all the local Artists to display there work such as dance,music, theatre and film.
• International Woman’s Day [Mar8] Most woman have the day off while the men continue to work.

3rd Lunar Month

• Tree Planting Day [1Apr] Since the late 70′s by the reformist government this is not a official holiday more of a green campaign.
• Weifang International Kite Festival [Apr] As part of the Quingming celebrations the flying of kites compete in this festival in Shandong there are well over 1000 contestants taking part and great to watch.
• Water Festival [Apr] This festival is for the Dai poeple “Xishuangbanna Yunnan and marks the Dai New Year, they celebrate by slashing each other with water. In the past this was a sign of putting out the flames of mythical demons.
• Quing Ming Festival [Apr] This is to respect the dead, food is left on the grave to pay respect sometimes the families will take a picnic and sit by the grave.
• Third Moon Fair [Apr] Dai Area for the buddhist monks in Yunnan, where singing and dancing takes place.
• Tin Hau Festival [Apr-May] In Hong Kong this is a time where coastal areas such as Fujian celebrate the birthday of the heavenly Queen or Mazu who looks after the sea and the fishermen.

4th Lunar Month

• International Labour Day [May1] This is a week long holiday where many of the Chinese travel.
• Youth Day [May4] This is a day that pays respect to the students movements in 1919 which in turn sparked the evolution of modern China.

5th Lunar Month

• Children’s Day [Jun1] The children get the day off school and are normally taken out to the park or zoo.
• Dragon Boat Festival [Jun] The dragon boat race is now days just for fun where team of people race against each other in dragon long boats Mainly in Hong Kong the Dragon boat race is normally is party time with markets and lots of great food.

6th Lunar Month

• Chinese Communist Day [Jul1] This day marks events from 1921 in shanghai.

7th Lunar Month

• Army Day [Aug1] Marks the uprising of the communists against the nationalists in 1927.
• Lovers Festival [Aug] Always in August but on a different day each year  the lovers festival is very much like our valentines day where we celebrate our love.
• Yoghurt Festival [Shoton] [Aug/Sep] This is a Tibetan festival based upon the opera.
• Nakchu Horse Race Festival [Aug] One of the most important festivals in Tibet where Tibetan sports and many many horsing events take place.
• Zhongyuan This is much like our Halloween.
• Qingdao Beer Festival [Aug]  For anyone who has visited china you will have properly seen Tsingtao Beer, this festival is held in the port city Qingdao.

8th Lunar Month

• Teachers Day [Sep1] started in 1980′s this is to celebrate education.
• Zhong Qin – Mid Autumn Festival [Sep] This festival is like our Harvest festival where we bring food and share with others.
• Shaolin Int Martial Arts Festival [Sep] Celebrating the Shaolin Martial Arts since 1991 in the city of Zhengzhou.
• Confucius Birthday [Sep28]  Celebrated in the Confuction Temples in Qufu, Beijing.
• International Fashion Festival [Sep] Many fashion shows from Asian designers over this 2 week period.

9th Lunar Month

• National Day [Oct1] Celebrates the founding of the PRC in 1949.
• Double Ninth Festival – Chongyang [Oct]  This is connected with male assertiveness and strength.

10th Lunar Month

• Zhuang Song Festival [Nov] This is a Folk song festival from the Zhuang people in Guangxi.

11th Lunar Month

• Winter Solstice This day is linked with Chinese Astronomers, people often eat dumplings and sticy rice to celebrate.
• Christmas Day [Dec25] Chinese people don’t really celebrate Xmas like the way we do, although in many big cities you will see Xmas trees in shopping centres and international hotels.

12th Lunar Month

• Corban Festival [Dec/Jan] A Muslim festival celebrated in Xinjiang and for the Hui people across China, Goats are sacrificed and there is singing and dancing.
• New Years Day [Jan1] a public holiday but not celebrated the way we would. Chinese New Year is the Chinese New Years Day.