Traditional Chinese festivals are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The 3 most important Chinese festivals are Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid Autumn Festival.
All traditional festivals are scheduled according to the Chinese calendar(Nongli). Qing Ming and Winter Solstice are traditional festivals as well as solar terms.
Traditional Chinese Festivals 2024
| Gregorian Date 2024 |
English Name | Chinese Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 18, 2024 | Laba Festival | 臘八節 | This is the day the Buddha attained enlightenment. People usually eat Laba congee, which is made of mixed grains and fruits. |
| Feb 9, 2024 | Chinese New Year Eve | 除夕 大年夜 |
Stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. |
| Feb 10, 2024 | Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) |
農曆新年 春節 大年初一 |
fireworks after midnight, visit family members. |
| Feb 24, 2024 | Lantern Festival | 元宵節 | Lantern parade and lion dance celebrating the first full moon. Eating yuanxiao or tangyuan. This day is also the last day of new year celebration. |
| Mar 11, 2024 | Zhonghe Festival (Blue Dragon Festival) |
龍抬頭 中和節 青龍節 |
Eat Chinese pancakes (Chun bing, 春餅) and noodles, clean the house. Also known as Dragon Raising its Head |
| Apr 4, 2024 | Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Clear and Bright Festival) |
清明節 | Visit, clean, and make offerings at ancestral gravesites, spring outing |
| Apr 11, 2024 | Shangsi Festival | 上巳節 | Traditional Chinese Women's Day, also known as 婦女節(fùnǚjié) |
| Jun 10, 2024 | Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival) |
端午節 | Dragon boat race, eat dumplings wrapped in lotus leaves Zongzi. This festival commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan; drink yellow rice wine, related to the White Snake Lady legend |
| Aug 10, 2024 | Qixi Festival (The Night of Sevens, Magpie Festival) |
七夕 | According to legend, the goddess "Zhi Nü" (the star Vega) fell in love with the farmer boy "Niu Lang" (the star Altair), but was disapproved by her mother goddess. As punishment, they were separated by the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on this night. |
| Aug 18, 2024 | Ghost Festival | 中元節 鬼節 |
Burn fake paper money and make offerings to ancestors and the dead to comfort them in the afterlife and keep them from troubling the living. |
| Sep 17, 2024 | Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) |
中秋節 | Eat mooncake, family union meal, appreciate the glorious full moon. |
| Oct 11, 2024 | Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang Festival) |
重陽節 | Autumn outing and mountain climbing, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects. |
| Dec 21, 2024 | Dongzhi Festival (Winter Solstice Festival) |
冬至 | Have Tangyuan and Jiuniang and perform ancestor worship, Feast day, family gatherings, also named "Chinese Thanksgiving" |