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Other Significant Holidays

 

Mainland China and Taiwan share a lot of significant holidays such as Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, Mid-autumn Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and so on. Chinese New Year is the most important festival celebrated by the ethnic Chinese. Also known as the Spring Festival, Chinese Lunar New Year and Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year is based on the Chinese lunar calendar, begins on the first day of the first lunar month. On the Chinese New Year’s Eve, family members gather together to enjoy the delicious and sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner. Some people even try to stay up late or all night to welcome the New Year because they believe that their family members can live forever by doing this. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, people often dress up in red, which represents luckiness and propitious. People visit relatives and friends, and send their best wishes to each other. Nowadays, children feel very happy when they are greeting elders with auspicious words and receiving red packets from them.

 

The Lantern Festival is also called First Full Moon Festival because the first full moon day of the New Year will appear on that day.  It is celebrated annually on the 15th day of the first lunar month which not only shows the grand finale of the Chinese New Year celebrations, but also symbolizes the arrival of the spring. People usually celebrate this festival by enjoying family dinner together, eating rice ball (glutinous rice dumpling), carrying paper lanterns, and solving the riddles on the lanterns. The festival is celebrated with fanfare events in Taiwan, including the internationally famed Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in New Taipei City, Bombing Lord Han Dan in Taitung, and Yanshui Beehive Rockets Festival in Tainan, to welcome the New Year in a spirit of peace, prosperity and joy.

Spring Festival

Lantern Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a significant Chinese festival which is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Its origin was to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. This festival is one of the three major celebrated festivals in Taiwan, together with Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival. Out of all major festivals in Taiwan, Dragon Boat Festival has the longest history with many guesses of its origin. The most popular one is about the patriotic poet- Qu Yuan. When he realized that his motherland had been occupied by the state of Qin and was in the hands of evil and corrupted officials, he threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of lunar May. After his death, the people of Chu crowded to the bank of the river to pay their respects to him. Later, in the fifth day of May every year, there are traditions of dragon boat races, eating dumplings and drinking realgar wine, as a way to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. [13]. 

 

Mid-autumn Festival is one of the three most significant festivals of the Chinese communities around the world. In Taiwan, it is also named as the Moon Festival. On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the moon forms a round shape that symbolizes family reunion. People will be reunited with their families, enjoy the moon and moon cakes together.

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival

Mid-Autumn Festiva

Some holidays in Mainland China and Taiwan differ. National day of Mainland China is on Oct 1st., and it is a holiday for 7 days. Celebration and official ceremony are held around Taiwan on Oct 10th. The major official firework is also being held. In addition, Children’s Day in Mainland China is on June 1st, while in Taiwan it is on April 4th.

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