The Origins of Chinese Festivals
（Learn to spread China and Chinese cuIture in EngIish）
Chinese festivals originated from the ancient Chinese calendric system, which is a combination of the solar system and the lunar system, and known as Nongli or Yinli,the lunar calendar. The basic principle of lunar calendar is, a month is a period as long as a complete moon change cycle,and a year is a period approximately as a solar year.Whenever necessary, a leap month is added. According to this system, 24 jieqi (24 seasonal periods indicating the obvious changes of weather when they come around)are designed to guide agricultural activities, so the system is commonly known as the agricultural calendar, and it is also known as zhong calendar and summer calendar.
中国的节日起源于中国古代的历法体系，是阳历和月历的结合，被称为农历或阴历。农历的基本原理是，一个月是一个完整的月亮变化周期，一年是一个近似太阳年的周期。必要时，添加闰月。根据这一体系，设计24节气（24个季节性周期，表明天气出现明显变化时），用于指导农业活动，因此该体系通常被称为农历，也被称为中历和夏历。
Generally speaking, the ancient Chinse calendar divides a year into four seasons, 24 jieqi, 72 hou, 360 days. To be more specifie, a day consists of 12 double hours (shichen); five days make up a hou, so there are 72 hou in a year; three hou make up a jieqi, so a year has 24 jieqi; two jieqi make up a month, so a year has 12 months; three months make up a season, and four seasons make up a year. The four seasons, the eight jieqi, the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches are all important factors in the forming of Chinese festivals.
一般来说，中国古代的历法把一年分为四个季节，24节气，72候，360天。更具体地说，一天由12个双倍小时组成（时辰）；五天组成一个候，所以一年有72个候；三个侯组成一个节气，所以一年有24个节气；两个节气组成一个月，所以一年有12个月；三个月组成一个季节，四季组成一年。四季、八节气、天干地支都是中国节日形成的重要因素。
The four seasons refer to spring, summer, autumn and winter. According to the lunar calendar, the first three months make up spring, the next three summer, the following three autum, and the last three winter. Each season is subdivided into three equally long priods, namely early (孟), middle (仲)and late(季). For instance,early spring refers to the first month, middle spring the second month, and late spring the third month.
The first eight jieqi refer to the earliest designated and the most important eight seasonal periods. Since ancient times, China has always attached great importance to seasonal timing, which is closely related to agricultural activities. As early as in the Zhou Dynasty, the first eight jieqi were defined, namely, the Beginning of Spring,the Spring Equinox, the Beginning of Summer, the Summer Solstice, the Beginning of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox, the Beinning of Winter and the Winter Solstice.During the Qin Dynasty, all 24 jieqi were defined.
四季是指春天、夏天、秋天和冬天。根据农历，前三个月是春天，接下来三个月是夏天，再接下来的三个月是秋天，最后三个月是冬天。每个季节分为三个等长的时间段，即早期(孟), 中期(仲)和晚期(季)。例如，初春是指第一个月，仲春是指第二个月，暮春是指第三个月。前八个节气是指最早指定和最重要的八个节气。中国自古以来就十分重视季节性，因其与农业活动密切相关。早在周代，就确立了前八个节气，即立春、春分、立夏、夏至、立秋、秋分、立冬和冬至。在秦朝，所有24个节气得以全部确立。
The traditional Chinese calendar divides the whole year into 12 months, among which 6 months consist of 30 days and another six consist of 29 days. Thus, a Chinese year is 364 days, which is 1.14219 days shorter than a solar year. To make up for the gap, ancient Chinese set up the leap month. In the end, they decided that in every 19 years, there should be 7 leap months. The first day and the fifteenth day of some months have become important festivals.
中国传统历法将一年分为12个月，其中6个月包括30天，另外6个月包含29天。因此，中国的一年是364天，比阳历年短1.14219天。为了弥补这一差距，中国古代设立了闰月。最后确定每隔19年产生7个闰月。有些月份的第一天和第十五天已经成为重要的节日。
After the 1911 Revolution, the first day of the lunar month was defined as the Spring Festival, while the first day of the solar month was defined as the New Year.Today most Chinese people attach greater importance to the Spring Festival. They regard it as the “big new year”, and they call the first day of the solar month “the foreign calendar New Year”. The Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th of the eighth lunar month, was very popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. Today it has become the second largest traditional Chinese festival for people of the Han nationality.
辛亥革命后，农历的第一天被确立为春节，而阳历月的第一天则被定义为新年。今天，大多数中国人更加重视春节。他们将其视为“大新年”，并将阳历月的第一天称为“外历新年”。中秋节在农历八月十五，在唐宋时期非常流行。今天，它已成为中国第二大汉族传统节日。
In the traditional Chinese calendric system, the designation of years by Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches demonstrates the unique cultural characteristics. There are altogether ten Heavenly Stems, namely, jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, gui,and twelve Earthly Branches, namely, zi, chou, yin, mou, chen, si, wu, wei, shen, you,xu, hai. The ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches are combined and their least common multiple, which is 60, is regarded as a cycle, commonly called 'the sixty jiazi'. Some Chinese festivals have evolved from this designation. For instance,February 2nd, March the third, May the fifth, June the sixth, July the seventh and September the ninth, are all Chinese festivals. Among them, some have become traditional festivals, e. g., May the fifth has become the Dragon Boat Festival, and there is a story concerning the great Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan attached to it.
在中国传统历法体系中，以天干地支命名年份，体现了独特的文化特征。一共有十大天干，即甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸；十二地支，即子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥。十大天干和十二地支组合在一起，它们的最小公倍数为60，被视为一个循环，通常称为“六十甲子”。一些中国节日就是从这个名称演变而来的。例如，二月二、三月三、五月五、六月六、七月七和九月九都是中国的节日。其中，有一些已经成为传统节日，例如，五月五日已成为端午节，并有一个关于伟大的中国爱国诗人屈原的故事与之相关。
Another factor related to the forming of traditional Chinese festivals is people's spiritual demand. Studying more carefully, we can find that the forming of festivals actually has something to do with ancient people's beliefs. Behind the traditional Chinese festivals, we can see people's psychological and practical demand. On most occasions, people held memorial ceremonies, offering sacrifices to heaven and their ancestors. The purposes are none other than asking for blessings and praying for protection against disasters.
与中国传统节日形成相关的另一个因素是人们的精神需求。仔细研究，我们可以发现节日的形成实际上与古人的信仰有关。在中国传统节日的背后，我们可以看到人们的心理和现实需求。在大多数情况下，人们举行纪念仪式，祭奠上天和祖先。其目的无非是祈求祝福和祈求保护免受伤害。
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