“Ya” is a traditional Festival in southern part of Fukien Province and Taiwan which is celebrated in the second day and sixteenth day every lunar month. So the second day of second month of the lunar calendar is the first day for people to worship Tu Di Gong (Earth God) in a year. This festival is an important worship ritual of wishing for good harvest in the coming months.

You can see the shrine in almost every family in southern part of Fukien Province.

A mental activity was held in front of a temple of Tu Di Gong.

At the same time, bosses in many companies will invent employees to dinner on this day to thank their hard working in the last year. Employees will come to dinner happily.

“Touya” Festival is also widely known as Longtaitou Festival in northern area of China, meaning “Dragon Raises its Head”. This traditional agriculture celebration is based around the appeasement of the mystical dragon, who brings wind and rainfall, and controls the insect world. Today, Longtaitou Festival is celebrated in various ways, most of which are still identical to those practiced in the ancient times.

Cutting hair is a traditional custom in Longtaitou Festival still popular today. People believe getting a haircut on that day will bring luck to them, especially among children in Northern area of China.

Babies behave differently on hair cutting. Look, the baby in the second picture is crying very sadly when his hair was cut.

Ways to celebrate this festival for common people also include eating pancakes and noodles, etc. People in different areas have different food. But most of the food in related with Dragon. And they like putting the character “Dragon” on the food.

The lucky traditions, which went back thousands of years, reflect people’s wish to have a happy life.

Zhongyuan Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival or Yu Lan Pen festival, falls on July 15 in Chinese Lunar Calendar. In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits come out from the lower realm.

The lanterns are usually made of paper, in the shape of a lotus flower, with a light or candle at the bottom.

At the same time, various activities for ancestor worshiping are held everywhere, such as repentance chanting, giving food to starving ghosts and staging operas for the occasion. People also put on performances such as the Yang’ge dance, the lion dance and other acrobatic shows.

An array of foods being offered to the deceased at a Buddhist temple, which is often prepared to feed the hungry ghosts.

At night, incense is burnt in front of the door of each household. The more incense, the better, for the amount of incense stands for the degree of prosperity.

People burns fake money to their dead relatives.

Special monks are invited to chant Buddhist fire scriptures, the purpose of which is to feed hungry ghosts and release souls from purgatory.

Zhongyuan Festival now no longer has religious meanings, just a festival for remembering ancestors and relatives passed away and for family gathering.

New Year’s Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of the Gregorian calendar. It is certainly one of the most popular festivals which attract a large number of Chinese populations located at different corners of the world.

Sweeping dust is a traditional custom of China for years. An old man was sweeping the ceiling outside his house.

People were doing Spring Festival shopping several days before New Year in the market.

A young man in a small village was pasting spring festival couplet on three sides of the Gate to welcome Spring Festival on New Year’s Eve.

Dumplings (Jiaozi) are the most important food on New Year’s Eve. Made of flours and stuffed with different fillings, dumplings are usually eaten on that day. Eating dumplings means wealth in the coming year.

One family were making dumplings together on New Year’s Eve, which was a very happy thing for a family.

How delicious the dumplings are! Just enjoy them.

New Year is a time for families to be together. On New Year’s Eve, all the members of families come together to feast New Year food. Although families still gather together, it is now often that they do not eat inside the home. Many restaurants will offer a Reunion Dinner Package to attract these modern people who want to have a great dinner but haven’t enough time to cook.

family reunion dinner

After dinner, families will sit together and watch TV – Spring Festival Evening Party.

Chinese lucky money is money that is traditionally given in red packages to young people on New Year’s Eve. These red envelopes of money are called Hung Bao. Symbols of wealth and luck usually decorate the outside of the red money packages.

A little boy was looking at his “lucky money” received from his relatives.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. At midnight of New Year’s Eve, people used to let off fire-crackers and fireworks which serve to drive away the evil spirits and to greet the arrival of the New year.

Nowadays, more and more young people in modern cities are so busy with their work that they can’t go home on New Year’s Eve. That’s a pity! Their families are waiting for them. So everyone should spare some time to go home on that day no matter how busy they are.