The dragon is a great animal in Chinese culture. It brings the wind and rain. It is said that every year on the second day of the second lunar (阴历) month, the dragon wakes up from its winter sleep and raises its head. Because of this, the day is called “Dragon Heads-raising Day” (Longtaitou). This year, it falls on February 24th.

Old people believed that after Longtaitou, there would be more rain. And rain is very important to farming. So Longtaitou was the start of spring and farming.

People have many ways to celebrate the festival. The most popular one is to have a haircut. Many people believe that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to your uncles-mainly your mother’s brothers. They hope getting a haircut on Longtaitou keeps them away from bad luck.

Among Chinese people’s festival traditions, there is always a place for food. During the Longtaitou festival, people eat food named after dragons. Noodles are called dragon’s beard (longxu). Dumplings are dragon’s ears (long er). And spring roll (春卷) are dragon’s skin (longlin).

Spring Festival, Chun Jie is the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar. When Chun Jie is coming, people are busy buying good, cleaning the house, cooking traditional food, making Spring Festival couplets, and hanging spring festival pictures. Dumplings areessentialto the dinner. Dumplings means reunion and goodwill. The whole family gather to enjoy quality family time. On Chun Jie, Lunar New Year’s Day, people in new clothes visit each other, and give money to kids to send good wishes. During Chun Jie holidays all kinds of celebrations are held, including temple fairs, performances, a Lantern show which lasts nearly half a month.

The Qing Ming Festival is a day of reverence for Chinese. People hold ceremonies (仪式) for ancestors (祖先), and sweep their tombs (墓) on April 5th every year. According to tradition, during the Tomb Sweeping, people put food in front of the tombs, add new soil on the tomb. Decorate the tombs with some fresh branches and knock head. Now it is a public holiday in China. Although ceremonies have changed a little with time. Chinese still express their sadness for the dead.

In ancient times, there was a great poet called Qu Yuan. He couldn’t bear the pain when his motherland was invaded, so he drowned himself in the river. Local people drop the rice balls into the river to take away fishes’ attention from Qu’s body. Later people memorialized Qu’s patriotism by rowing and making Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwujie. That’s how the tradition of dragon boat racing and eating Zongzi were started.

The Qixi Festival, also known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar. It says that a fairy named Zhi Nv, who lived in heaven, fell in love with a cow herder named Niu Lang during her trip to earth. Zhi Nv decided to settle down on earth and lead an ordinary life with Niu Lang.

Just like an ancient Chinese poem says, the moon was rising from the sea and all the people were sharing this moment …

Are you interested in animals and nature? Want to enjoy your summer holiday and learn something interesting and useful? Here comes your CHANCE! Youth Explorer has prepared you with the THREE-DAY SUMMER PROGRAMME! You can take part in many hands-on activities and meet different animals——giraffes, pandas, tigers, and so on! More information about the programme is as follows: