There’s both love and ghosts in the air this month with two major traditional festivals and two solar terms on the Chinese calendar!
Read on to learn more about them!
Solar Term: Beginning of Autumn (August 8th)
The Beginning of Autumn (立秋 Lìqiū) isn’t really the beginning of autumn, and the weather remains extremely hot, but at this time the ‘yang’ energy of summer starts to change almost imperceptibly into the ‘yin’ energy of autumn and winter. Folk customs at this time include giving thanks for the harvest, eating watermelon to cool the body, and checking to see if you lost weight over the summer – if you did, time to start putting it back on in preparation for the winter!
Qixi Festival (August 22nd)
Move over February 14th – China has a much older Valentine’s Day, celebrated this year on August 4th! This festival is called Qixi (七夕 Qīxì), which means ‘double seven’ because it falls on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Although it’s not an official holiday, it is becoming more and more popular, and young people celebrate today in similar ways to Valentine’s Day – giving gifts and spending time with loved ones.
Qixi has its origins in a legend, of which there are many variations. The basic story is that Niulang, a poor cowheard, fell in love with Zhinü, a skilled weaver, who also happened to be the daughter of the King of Heaven. When the King found out he was furious, and forced Zhinü to return to heaven. When Niuliang chased after her, the Queen Mother blocked him using the Milky Way. Seeing that their love was sincere, however, she permitted them to meet once a year on the Qixi Festival.
The earliest recorded version of this legend is from the Book of Songs, a collection of poetry from the 11th to 7th centuries BC.
Solar Term: Limit of Heat (August 23rd)
The fourteenth solar term, the Limit of Heat, 处暑(Chùshǔ) means the hot season is coming to an end. At this time old Beijingers would eat duck (there’s even a dish called 处暑百合鸭 Chùshǔ bǎihé yā) as it was believed that ducks were at their fattest and most nutritious at the end of the summer. Similar to the previous solar term, people would also make offerings to the gods to give thanks for or pray for a good harvest.
Hungry Ghost Festival (August 30th)
This festival, 中元节 Zhōng Yuán Jié, is in fact just one day in a whole month where the gates of Hell are open and the dead walk among us…
On the first day of the month the ghosts pour out of Hell and swarm around looking for food and fun things to do – so traditionally people would avoid putting themselves at risk at this time; no swimming or walking alone after dark during this month! In fact, there are many taboos which tend to be adhered to more in countries where traditions are stronger than here on the Mainland (in Malaysia and Singapore for example). For example, you shouldn’t look under altars at this time, as the hungry ghosts might be feasting under there and resent being disturbed!
To keep the ghosts happy, people burned money for their ancestors and made offerings of food and incense, particularly on the first, middle and final days of the month. The ancient Chinese believed that by burning paper representations of real objects their dead ancestors would receive the actual goods – money, a house etc – for use in the afterlife.
Will you be marking any of these days this month? Let us know in the comments below. We always love hearing your thoughts and insights on traditional Chinese culture!
Photo Credits
– Cultural Keys
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