龍抬頭; simplified Chinese :龙抬头; pinyin :Lóng Táitóu),conflated with the Zhonghe Festival beginning one day earlier (simplified Chinese :中和节; traditional Chinese :中和節), [2] is a traditional Chinese festival held on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. Its name means "Dragon raising its head" because the dragon was regarded as the deity in charge of rain,an important factor in ancient agriculture. [2] [3] The festival is sometimes simply called "Second-month Second" (二月二) for short. [2]
The festival was established in the Yuan dynasty. [2] It is celebrated around the time of Jingzhe,one of the 24 solar terms. [4] The name jingzhe (驚蟄) has the meaning of awakening of the hibernated (implying insects). Jing (驚) means "startling",and zhe (蟄) refers to the hibernated (insects). This is the time during which the hibernating insects begin to wake up at the beginning of early spring,which is often accompanied by the arrival of the first rains,meaning the weather is getting warm. Longtaitou Festival is an important worship ritual of wishing for good harvest in the coming months. [2] In addition to paying homage to the Dragon King,Tu Di Gong is also worshipped on Double Second,his birthday. [5] Another ancient practice to celebrate Longtaitou Festival was to get rid of insect pests in homes by cooking foods with recognized insect repelling effects. [2]
Today,Longtaitou Festival is celebrated in various ways,most of which are still identical to those practiced in the ancient times,including eating foods named after dragons:"dragon scale pancakes" (龍鱗餅;a kind of spring pancake), [4] "dragon teeth" (jiaozi), [2] dragon beard noodles, [4] and longan congee (the word "longan" literally means "dragon eye"). [6] It is a traditional day for people to get a haircut, [4] [2] after month-long time without cutting hair in January for Lunar New Year. Women and children carry perfume bags filled with the powder of ground fragrant herbs for good fortune,though they are no longer used as insect repellent as in ancient times.
In some places,it is also celebrated with a dragon dance. [7]
Another celebration is that Longtaitou Festival is the first day of the Taihao (太昊) temple fair that lasts until the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. [8] The fair is a celebration of ancestral deities Fuxi and Nüwa,and the Longtaitou Festival marks the beginning of this celebration. [8]
There were ancient traditions practiced during the festival,some of which are no longer part of the modern celebrations,including:
The Zhonghe Festival was an official festival and holiday in the Tang dynasty,celebrated on the day before the Longtaitou Festival:on the first day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. [2] It continued to be observed into the Qing dynasty. [2] The first day of the second lunar month is also considered the birthday of the Taoist Sun God.
The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar,combining the solar,lunar,and other cycles for various social and agricultural purposes. More recently,in China and Chinese communities the Gregorian calendar has been adopted and adapted in various ways,and is generally the basis for standard civic purposes,though also incorporating traditional lunisolar holidays. Also,there are many types and subtypes of the Chinese calendar,partly reflecting developments in astronomical observation and horology,with over a millennium's worth of history. The major modern form is the Gregorian calendar-based official version of Mainland China,though diaspora versions are also notable in other regions of China and Chinese-influenced cultures;however,aspects of the traditional lunisolar calendar remain popular,including the association of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac in relation to months and years.
Vesak,also known as Buddha Jayanti,Buddha Purnima,and Buddha Day,is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia,as well as Tibet and Mongolia. It is among the most important Buddhist festivals. The festival commemorates the birth,enlightenment (Nibbāna),and death (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha in Theravada,Tibetan Buddhism and Navayana.
Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or,informally but more widely,lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendars follow the lunar phase while lunisolar calendars follow both the lunar phase and the time of the solar year. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at diverse dates.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar,which corresponds to late May or early June in the Gregorian calendar. The holiday commemorates Qu Yuan who was the beloved prime minister of the southern Chinese state of Chu during the Warring States Period,about 600 B.C. to 200 B.C.,and is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings called zongzi,which were southern Chinese traditions. Dragon Boat Festival integrates praying for good luck and taking respite from the summer heat.
The Mid-Autumn Festival,also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival,is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night,corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. On this day,the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size,coinciding with harvest time in the middle of autumn.
The Sui people,also spelled as Shui people,are an ethnic group living mostly in Guizhou Province,China. They are counted as one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
In Chinese mythology,Longmu,transliterated as Lung Mo in Cantonese,was a Chinese woman who was deified as a goddess after raising five infant dragons. Longmu and her dragons developed a strong bond for each other and have thus become an example of filial devotion and parental love,an important virtue in Chinese culture.
The Lantern Festival,also called Shangyuan Festival and Cap Go Meh,is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar,during the full moon. Usually falling in February or early March on the Gregorian calendar,it marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. As early as the Western Han dynasty,it had become a festival with great significance.
Xiàzhì is the 10th solar term,and marks the summer solstice,in the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar dividing a year into 24 solar terms.
The Bok Kai Temple is a traditional Chinese temple in the city of Marysville,California,located at the corner of D and First Streets. Since 1880,it served as the center of what was a bustling Chinatown for a small town known as the "Gateway to the Gold Fields". It is the only in situ 19th-century Chinese Temple in the United States that is still active.
Chinese pre-wedding customs are traditional Chinese rituals prescribed by the 禮記(láih gei,the 儀禮(yìh láih and the 白虎通condensed into a series of rituals now known as the 三書六禮. Traditionally speaking,a wedding that incorporates all six rites is considered a daaih chéui.
Renri is the 7th day of Zhengyue,the first month in the traditional Chinese calendar. According to Chinese customs,Renri was the day human beings were created. It is celebrated not only in China,but also in the surrounding region influenced by Chinese culture.
Mao Wenlong,courtesy name Zhennan,was a Chinese military general of the Ming dynasty,best known for commanding an independent detachment based in Dongjiang,a strategically important island in the Yellow Sea that defended the coastal corridor into the Ming vassal state Joseon,where he engaged harassing naval and amphibious battles against the Manchu-led Later Jin. He was also known for excelling in artillery warfare and successfully incorporating Western-style tactics into the Chinese military.
Laba Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the eighth day of the month of La,the twelfth month of the Chinese calendar. It is the beginning of the Chinese New Year period. It is customary on this day to eat Laba congee.
M-Girls is a Malaysian girl group consisting of Queenzy Cheng,Angeline Khoo,Cass Chin and Crystal Ong. The group was formed in 2001.
Dragon beard noodles are a variety of noodle from Shandong province in China. They derive their name from their long,thin appearance,said to resemble the beard of a Chinese dragon. They are traditionally eaten during the Longtaitou Festival,which occurs on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. There is a folk custom called "peeling the dragon skin".
The Fu Yang Festival is a traditional festival celebrated by local residents in Xuzhou,an ancient city located in the northwest of Jiangsu province. The festival starts on the day of Chufu which is around mid-July according to the lunar calendar and lasts for nearly one month. In China,“Fu”refers to the hottest days in summer. As is known to us all,mutton is a kind of hot food which may make people sweat when they are eating——that's why in most parts of China people choose to eat mutton in cold winter day rather than in summer. However,in Xuzhou,people act in a diametrically opposite way,they enjoy being bathed in sweat as well as tasting the delicious dishes made from mutton under the burning hot sun.
The Zhuang have a rich variety of customs and culture.
Only Fools Rush In is a 2022 road trip comedy-drama film written and directed by Han Han. It was released in China on 1 February 2022 and was received poorly by audiences.