Preface
The other day while browsing short videos, I saw a content creator making Laba porridge. The colorful ingredients in that pot instantly brought back memories. I remember when I was young, every Laba Festival, my mother would get up early to prepare ingredients, and I would sit in the kitchen watching her busy figure. The Laba porridge contained various beans and dried fruits, as well as glutinous rice, peanuts, and red dates. The cooked porridge was sweet and tender, leaving a lasting impression. This made me start thinking about how in Chinese life, every traditional festival is like a treasure trove of rich content waiting for us to discover. Recently, I've been researching the stories behind these festivals and found that each one contains profound cultural connotations, truly opening up a new world.
Spring Festival Memories
As the Lunar New Year approaches, the entire city becomes immersed in a sea of red. Shopping malls are filled with Spring Festival couplets, fu characters, and Chinese knots, while red lanterns sway along the streets, spreading a festive atmosphere everywhere. I remember the Spring Festival scenes from childhood - for our generation, Spring Festival was always associated with busy house cleaning, fragrant dumplings, and the crackling sound of firecrackers.
Last New Year's Eve, I specially took leave to return home early. As soon as I arrived, I saw grandmother sweeping the room with a broom. When I asked her why she had to clean on this day, she smiled and said, "Sweeping dust means bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new, sweeping away all the unhappiness from the past year." She told me that in ancient times, this custom was called "sweeping dust" and was performed on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month. This day was also known as "Minor New Year," when the Kitchen God was said to report on human good and evil to heaven. People would clean their houses and courtyards on this day to prepare for the new year.
Preparing New Year goods is also a big event during Spring Festival. I remember when I was young, mother would start preparing New Year goods a month in advance. She would go to the market to buy various dried goods and seasonings, and make her own pickled vegetables and cured meat. The storage cabinet at home was full of peanuts, seeds, candies, and various snacks. Thinking about it now, these preparations weren't just about stockpiling food, but more about creating a sense of ritual that allowed us to feel the joy of the approaching new year.
Stories of Dumplings
Young people today might think, aren't dumplings just wrapped filling in dough? What's so special about them? But dumplings actually have quite a history. According to historical records, dumplings first appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty, invented by Zhang Zhongjing. It was during the cold winter when many poor people's ears were frostbitten due to lack of warm clothing. To treat them, Zhang Zhongjing specially made fillings with mutton and some warming medicinal ingredients, wrapped them in dough shaped like ears, cooked them, and distributed them to the poor. These were called "tender ears." Later, this food gradually developed into the dumplings we know today.
In my family, making dumplings is an activity that involves everyone. Dad is responsible for making the dough, Mom and Grandmother are in charge of preparing the filling, while my sister and I are responsible for wrapping the dumplings. Although our dumplings come in various shapes, some like ingots, some like boats, everyone enjoys the process. Grandmother always says that the shape of the dumplings isn't important; what's important is that they contain the whole family's love.
Besides regular pork and cabbage filling, our family prepares several special fillings each year. For example, chive and shrimp filling symbolizes "yellow chives," representing good fortune; there's also white radish filling, which symbolizes "good luck." When making dumplings, Grandmother would specially wrap a few with coins inside - whoever gets these dumplings is said to have good luck in the coming year.
Red Envelope Culture
Speaking of Spring Festival, red envelopes can be said to be one of the most popular customs. But do you know why red packaging is used? This goes back to the "New Year's money." In ancient times, people believed there was a monster called "sui" that would come out on New Year's Eve to frighten children. To ward off evil, adults would wrap copper coins in red paper for children, called "ya sui qian" (money to suppress sui), which sounds like "New Year's money," and later evolved into today's red envelope culture.
Red envelopes are not just monetary gifts, but carry the blessings and hopes of elders for the younger generation. I remember when I received red envelopes as a child, the most exciting part wasn't the money inside, but the feeling of being blessed when opening the envelope. The gold-stamped characters and festive patterns on the red envelopes made one feel the strong New Year atmosphere.
Red envelope culture is also keeping up with the times. Besides traditional paper red envelopes, digital red envelopes are becoming increasingly popular. Although the form has changed, the good wishes carried by red envelopes remain unchanged. During Spring Festival every year, relatives and friends send digital red envelopes to each other, creating excitement no less than handing out physical red envelopes. Digital red envelopes have also added some new ways to play, such as "grabbing red envelopes" games, making the festival atmosphere even more joyful.
Lantern Festival Fun
The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first important festival of the Lunar New Year. On this day, people across the country have customs of eating tangyuan (rice balls) and enjoying lanterns. In ancient times, the Lantern Festival was the last day of New Year celebrations and held special importance. People would carry lanterns to walk in the streets, solve lantern riddles, and eat tangyuan, creating a very lively scene.
Speaking of tangyuan, each region has its own characteristics. Northerners prefer savory tangyuan, often with pork filling; Southerners prefer sweet ones, commonly with sesame, peanut, or red bean paste filling. My family is from the South, and every Lantern Festival, Mom would make tangyuan by hand. She would knead glutinous rice flour with water into dough, roll it into small balls, then wrap various fillings inside. The cooked tangyuan are round and full, symbolizing family reunion and completeness.
Lantern Festival lanterns are also a major feature. In the past, lanterns were mostly made with bamboo frames covered with colored paper, shaped like rabbits, goldfish, dragons, and phoenixes. Today's lanterns come in more varieties, including motorized ones, illuminated ones, and even ones with projection effects. However, regardless of how the form changes, the meaning of lanterns symbolizing light and hope remains unchanged.
The lantern riddle culture of the Lantern Festival is also interesting. I remember as a child, shopping malls would be full of paper strips with riddles, and solving them correctly would earn small prizes. These riddles included idioms, poetry, and word puzzles, testing intelligence while learning knowledge. Although physical lantern riddles are fewer now, online riddle interactions are increasing, and young people are eager to participate.
Mid-Autumn Thoughts
The Mid-Autumn Festival can be said to be the most important festival after Spring Festival. This festival can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty when people had the custom of worshiping the moon in autumn. By the Tang Dynasty, the custom of admiring the moon during Mid-Autumn became more popular, and literary figures often created poems about it, leaving many classic works.
Speaking of Mid-Autumn Festival, isn't mooncake the first thing you think of? But did you know that during the Song Dynasty, people mainly admired the moon during Mid-Autumn Festival, with no custom of eating mooncakes? Mooncakes only became popular during the Yuan Dynasty, and it's said to be related to an uprising during the Yuan Dynasty. Legend has it that during the late Yuan period, Zhu Yuanzhang organized an uprising by hiding messages reading "uprising on the fifteenth of the eighth month" inside mooncakes. After the uprising succeeded, mooncakes became an essential festival food for Mid-Autumn Festival.
Today's mooncakes come in many varieties. Besides traditional five-nut and lotus seed paste fillings, there are snow skin mooncakes, chocolate mooncakes, and other new flavors. Before Mid-Autumn Festival each year, major brands launch exquisite mooncake gift boxes, which become popular gifts. However, in my opinion, the most flavorful are still Mom's homemade mooncakes. I remember last Mid-Autumn Festival, Mom specially learned how to make Cantonese-style mooncakes. Although their appearance wasn't as perfect as commercial mooncakes, that thoughtfulness and warmth can't be bought.
The most important activity of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon viewing. Ancient people believed that the moon on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month was the roundest and brightest of the year, so families would gather together to admire the moon. Although young people today may not be as poetic, the custom of sitting in the courtyard with family on Mid-Autumn night, eating mooncakes and chatting continues. Even people living in high-rise buildings in cities choose to go to parks or riversides to admire the moon, experiencing this traditional beauty.
Cultural Inheritance
These festival customs may seem simple but carry thousands of years of cultural accumulation. For example, the reunion dinner during Spring Festival embodies the Chinese value of family importance. No matter how hard life is away from home, people will find ways to return home for reunion on New Year's Eve. This family concept has always been one of the core values of Chinese culture.
Mid-Autumn moon viewing symbolizes the longing for reunion. The full moon represents completeness and carries the homesickness of travelers. Throughout history, many literary figures have written poems about missing their families while looking at the bright moon on Mid-Autumn night. These emotions still exist in modern society, just expressed in more diverse ways.
The Lantern Festival lantern shows demonstrate ancient people's pursuit of a beautiful life. Lanterns are not just lighting tools but also artworks, reflecting Chinese people's pursuit of beauty. Today's lantern shows may be more modern, incorporating sound, light, and electronic technology elements, but this pursuit of a beautiful life has never changed.
These festival customs also reflect Chinese wisdom. For example, the pre-Spring Festival cleaning is not just for hygiene but has the meaning of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new; making dumplings is not just for food but an activity for family gathering; giving red envelopes is not just a gift but a way of passing on blessings. These customs contain profound life philosophy.
Modern Changes
With the development of time, many traditional customs are quietly changing. For example, young people today may prefer using digital red envelopes instead of traditional ones, and video calls instead of visiting during New Year. These changes reflect the transformation of modern lifestyles but don't mean the disappearance of traditional culture.
Technological development has injected new vitality into traditional festivals. Young people today can share festival joy through social media, purchase festival supplies through online shopping platforms, and learn traditional crafts through video platforms. These new ways make traditional culture easier for the younger generation to accept and inherit.
The sense of ritual in festivals is also changing. Spring Festival preparations used to take many days, now they might be simpler, but people's emphasis on festivals hasn't decreased. For example, although people might not make dumplings themselves anymore, the habit of family dining together for New Year's Eve dinner continues; although people might not write Spring Festival couplets themselves anymore, decorating homes with New Year decorations is becoming more elaborate.
The development of the food industry has also changed the form of festival foods. Mooncakes and zongzi used to be homemade but are now mostly industrially produced. Although they may lack some handmade warmth, there have been great improvements in food safety and convenience. Moreover, new festival foods are constantly innovating, such as snow skin mooncakes and creative zongzi, giving traditional foods new flavors.
Looking to the Future
In this fast-paced era, shouldn't we stop and rethink the meaning of these traditional festivals? They are not just reasons for holidays but links connecting the past and present. Through these festivals, we can understand the wisdom of our ancestors, feel the charm of culture, and inherit the national spirit.
Facing the wave of globalization, how to maintain the characteristics of traditional festivals is also a question worth thinking about. We need to both maintain the essence of tradition and keep up with the times, letting traditional culture continue to shine in modern society. For example, we can interpret traditional customs in modern ways to make them more acceptable to young people; we can also use technological means to better spread traditional culture.
The younger generation's attitude towards traditional festivals is also changing. They may not follow all customs as strictly as the older generation, but their sense of identity and pride in traditional culture is strengthening. Many young people are starting to actively learn about traditional culture, understand the connotations of festivals, and interpret and inherit them in their own way.
Conclusion
Writing to this point, I suddenly recall the scene of grandmother teaching me to make dumplings when I was young. At that time, I thought it was particularly troublesome and just wanted to finish quickly. Now thinking about it, these seemingly trivial traditions are actually the seasonings that make our lives rich and colorful. In these traditional festivals, we not only harvest food and joy but more importantly, we harvest family love and cultural nourishment.
Everyone has their own festival memories and insights. Maybe it's the first mooncake eaten in childhood, maybe it's the first red envelope received, maybe it's the first dumpling made with family. These memories strung together are our most authentic understanding and feeling of traditional culture. Let us cherish these beautiful traditions together and let them continue to shine in the new era.
