With the deepening of reform, opening up and foreign exchange, foreign festivals, especially western festivals, have gradually become popular in China. We can see that many young people are particularly keen on Valentine's Day and Christmas, but the customs that some traditional festivals in China must have have have been diluted. For example, going home during the Spring Festival, visiting graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day, enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival and eating moon cakes. Moreover, many festivals become mere formality, or even just become a kind of eating festival, and some deep-seated cultural things are gradually forgotten by people. In this regard, the State Council has adjusted the national statutory holidays, clearly stipulating that three traditional festivals, namely Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, are statutory holidays. The author believes that this move is timely and has great practical significance. As a traditional culture at the behavioral level, China traditional festivals are rooted in ancient agricultural social civilization. In the long-term spreading process, through the agreement on the relationship between heaven and man, self-reliance, righteousness and benefit, it has formed its own specific cultural connotation. At the same time, it is an effective way to inherit national culture and an important way to improve national self-confidence, so it has very important practical value.
First, the cultural connotation of traditional festivals in China
According to culturology, cultural structure can be divided into material culture and spiritual culture. As a cultural phenomenon, China traditional festival culture is no exception.
(A) the cultural connotation of the material aspects of traditional festivals in China.
1, food culture in traditional festivals
As we all know, Chinese festivals contain rich "eating" culture. To some extent, our festival is "eaten" all the way. For example, we eat jiaozi in the Spring Festival, Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival and so on. Moreover, most traditional festivals are developed on the basis of ancient sacrificial ceremonies, and these foods, which gradually form customs with the sacrifice of gods, ancestors and holiday diets, are loaded with a deep folk emotion. They not only laid a solid foundation for the later development of China's ethnic food culture, but also the sacrifice, gift and collective sharing of holiday food constitute an important tradition of China's holiday material life, which embodies the performance of China people in dealing with the relationship between heaven and human beings and social relations.
2. Costume culture in traditional festivals.
Whenever festivals come, people will put on holiday costumes, which is especially obvious during the Spring Festival. It can be said that festivals are a stage for displaying national characteristics and costumes. Compared with casual clothes, formal dress is elegant, noble, solemn, exquisite and complicated. It pays more attention to the expression and display of festival cultural connotation, which is an important reference for us to study a nation's history, culture, art and craft, and has more important historical understanding value, artistic value, cultural value and scientific value. For example, the evolution and development of Tang suit is a good example.
2. Festival ritual culture in traditional festivals.
The traditional festivals of the Chinese nation originated from sacrifice. Today's festival celebrations are mostly closely related to ancient sacrificial ceremonies, games to meet the gods, and exorcism to avoid disasters. Folk activities, such as Ansai waist drum, Dragon Boat Festival and Shangyuan Lantern Festival, which have been preserved to this day, not only add to the holiday fun of China people, but also become a unique part of China culture.
In addition, as folk literature and art related to festival ceremonies, such as offering sacrifices to gods, myths, legends and stories, performing arts such as offering sacrifices to gods, singing and dancing, and drama, as well as folk crafts such as building sheds, tying paper and making colorful decorations, have also enriched chinese heritage's treasure house.
(2) The cultural connotation of the spirit of traditional festivals in China.
1。 Harmony and happiness between people and countries: nobility and beauty.
As one of the basic spirits of China culture, the beauty of eminent monks is often manifested in traditional festivals, which is a concrete manifestation of people's expectation for harmony. For example, through ceremonial activities such as group worship and visiting relatives, the relationship with people around you has been strengthened; Through the parade of festive costumes, the beating of festive gongs and drums, and the development of festive competitions, we can release our inner feelings and expectations, strengthen the emotional dependence and spiritual exchange among village members, and make the interpersonal relationship here more harmonious and the social order more stable.
Festivals also regulate the relations between countries. On the one hand, through festivals, a nation can show its strength to other nations in a peaceful way and carry forward the national spirit; On the other hand, people from different ethnic groups get together to celebrate festivals, which can enhance their sense of national identity and cultural identity.
In addition, eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival and eating moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival all express people's desire for a round, harmonious and beautiful life. Tomb-Sweeping Day folded willows, picked mugwort leaves on the Dragon Boat Festival, and planted dogwood everywhere on the Double Ninth Festival. These customs of exorcism also showed good wishes.
2。 Harmony between man and nature: the unity of man and nature
The traditional festivals in China are rooted in the ancient agricultural social civilization in China. Almost every festival is a solar term, which was gradually produced by the working people in ancient China who summarized the operation law of nature in the long-term agricultural production practice. The choice of festivals reflects people's idea of adapting to nature, allowing people to carry out agricultural production according to the laws of natural rhythm and climate cycle, while celebrating festivals reflects people's hope for good weather in agricultural production. This is a good interpretation of the idea of harmony between man and nature in China's traditional festivals. In addition, people attach great importance to the intimate relationship between man and nature during festivals. Such as: in the spring into the embrace of nature, in Tomb-Sweeping Day outing entertainment, Dragon Boat Festival rowing competition, Mid-Autumn Festival looking up at the bright moon in the sky and so on. These festivals can make people close to nature, feel the atmosphere of "harmony between man and nature", and make people pay more attention to the harmony between themselves and nature.
3。 Harmony between man and himself: paying attention to interpersonal relationship.
"Ethical standard is a basic feature of China culture". Traditional festivals in China have the characteristics of attaching importance to human relations and family ties, which clearly embodies the traditional ethics and customs of the Chinese nation and has become an important emotional bond to maintain interpersonal relationships in China society. For example, family reunion is the most prominent feature of Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition, noble morality is also reflected in the emphasis on filial piety. Almost every festival has an ancestor worship ceremony to express the memory and filial piety of ancestors. Double Ninth Festival pays attention to respecting the elderly and filial piety; The Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Daughter's Day". Women go back to their parents' homes and their sons-in-law visit their parents. These all reflect the concern and filial piety for the elders.
What's more, the traditional festivals in China also have the moral function of coordinating people's hearts and enhancing members' cohesion. Traditional festivals include various ceremonies and ceremonies, which are actually a moral constraint. These constraints will be reflected in people's daily lives and become a part of ethics in people's lives. All people should follow this ethical relationship and abide by its moral requirements.
Second, the practical value of China traditional festival culture
Since 2008, public holidays in China have been greatly adjusted. One of the highlights is that Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are listed as legal holidays. At the same time, the Spring Festival holiday date will be advanced to New Year's Eve. When Christmas, Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day and other foreign festivals are increasingly impacting our traditional festival culture, it is of special significance for the state to establish the position of traditional festivals in social life from the institutional level. Traditional festivals in China are rich in educational resources and cultural connotations, and they are important cultural carriers to carry forward and cultivate the spirit of the Chinese nation. Its important practical value needs us to explore and develop from all angles.
(A) China traditional festivals are an effective way to inherit national culture.
Various traditional festivals of the Chinese nation, with profound cultural heritage, rich national characteristics and colorful customs, are the essence of Chinese national culture and an important part of casting "soul of china". In today's multicultural world, if we can eliminate the dross and fully tap the useful components, we can improve the overall cultural quality of the Chinese nation, meet the cultural needs of the people and promote the inheritance of national culture. For example, people use festivals to regularly perform traditional performances and traditional education, so that traditions can be continued and strengthened in people's lives. Tradition is sometimes hidden behind life and in people's minds. People should choose a specific and special time to present it. Through various custom activities, people can consciously understand and accept the tradition, so as to realize the inheritance of traditional culture.
(2) Give full play to the ideological and political education function of traditional festival culture.
1。 Traditional festivals are an important way to carry out ideological and political education.
Undoubtedly, traditional cultural festivals contain rich educational resources and are an important way to carry out ideological and political education for people, especially teenagers. China traditional festivals are the historical and cultural accumulation of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, and they are important intangible cultural heritage. It has a specific cultural connotation, is permeated with a strong oriental cultural color, is the embodiment of China's national cohesion and centripetal force, and carries rich national feelings.
In addition, traditional festival culture is often associated with specific historical figures, which contains rich and colorful cultural resources and becomes an important material for patriotism education. Such as Tomb-Sweeping Day and the patriotic loyal minister Jie Zitui, the Dragon Boat Festival and the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Through these materials, it is conducive to the popularization, continuation and development of national cultural spirit, and is conducive to cultivating young people's national psychological identity and pride.
2。 Traditional festivals are favorable opportunities for ideological and political education.
Ideological and political education believes that the more successful ideological and political education should be silent, non-dogmatic and subtle. This is more acceptable. Therefore, we should follow the infiltration principle of ideological and political education and pay attention to the methods and art of work. If we take traditional festivals as an opportunity, put ideological information into activities that can bring happy experiences to teenagers and infiltrate ideological and belief education into festival culture, we can effectively change the current situation that most ideological and political education work adopts empty preaching and easily causes teenagers' rebellious psychology, and achieve better educational results. Teenagers are a group with active thoughts and easy to accept new things. Due to the influence of various ideological trends and bad social atmosphere, the moral quality of teenagers has declined and their ideals and beliefs have faded. We must seize the favorable opportunity of traditional festivals to carry out ideological and political education for teenagers.
3。 Traditional festivals are conducive to family ethics education for teenagers.
With the acceleration of the pace of life in today's society, people's life pressure is increasing, the communication between family members is decreasing, the generation gap between parents and children and the existence of teenagers' rebellious psychology often lead to emotional estrangement and even family conflicts. There are also many only children who are accustomed to their parents' doting, who only know how to ask for and don't know how to return, ignoring their parents' emotional contribution. China traditional culture attaches importance to human relations, and the human relations tradition in traditional festival life is the core tradition. In traditional festivals, almost every festival has the theme of returning to the family. Traditional festivals provide opportunities for family members to get together regularly and have emotional exchanges, with special emphasis on the harmony of family relations in festival customs. Therefore, it is necessary to make full use of traditional festival cultural resources, so that teenagers can feel the affection in the family and experience and cherish the happy family life.
4。 Traditional festivals are conducive to educating young people about harmonious interpersonal relationships.
As we all know, good interpersonal relationship is an indispensable condition for personal survival and development. Harmonious communication atmosphere is conducive to improving teenagers' moral level, enhancing their ability to adapt to society and promoting their healthy physical and mental development. Festivals only provide a platform to reveal various interpersonal relationships. Relying on traditional festivals, it is a desirable way of ideological and political education to guide teenagers to learn to care about others, understand society and correctly handle the relationship with teachers, classmates and all kinds of people in society through festival activities. So we can use traditional festivals as a link for teenagers to establish a harmonious relationship.
(3) Traditional festivals can promote the development of tourism economy, promote holiday consumption and improve people's lives.
Now, the Spring Festival, May Day and November Day are three prime tourist periods. Among them, the Spring Festival, as a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, has always been a hot spot of holiday consumption. For example, during the Spring Festival, there are more than 200 cultural activities in ditan temple fair alone, and sometimes the number of people visiting temple fairs can reach 126 per minute, including many foreigners. According to incomplete statistics, about 3 million people attend temple fairs every Spring Festival in Beijing. The opinion poll of Dongcheng District Mass Cultural Work Committee shows that. 5% people think that temple fairs have restored cultural traditions, enlivened the festive atmosphere, and embodied social stability, unity and friendly and peaceful interpersonal relationships. This is a typical example of using traditional festival culture to develop economy and promote holiday consumption. Similar examples are too numerous to mention.
(D) Traditional festivals are the regulator of people's physical and mental health, and the sustenance and release point of people's emotions.
In addition to the above functions, the entertainment function is a highlight of traditional festivals. For example, many people like to set off firecrackers at Spring Festival couplets, enjoy flowers at the Lantern Festival, take a walk in Tomb-Sweeping Day and enjoy the moon at the Mid-Autumn Festival. The competition in modern society is increasingly fierce, and the pressure of survival is increasing. Most people are often in a state of physical and mental overload. However, in order to win more opportunities and get more and better material living conditions, rest and relaxation have become a "luxury". Conventional traditional festivals have become the most reasonable excuses and reasons. With this opportunity, people's tired body and mind can get the necessary rest and adjustment. Moreover, participating in various traditional cultural activities can get a lot of fun and psychological satisfaction, which can just save energy for post-holiday work.
In addition, traditional festivals are also important sustenance points for people's feelings-they provide a good platform for family reunion and family happiness, provide opportunities for relatives and friends to exchange gifts, enhance family ties and deepen friendship, and provide support for mourning and remembering deceased relatives.
(5) Developing traditional festival culture can enhance national cohesion, promote social stability and unity, and safeguard the reunification of the motherland.
Throughout the ages, traditional festivals have carried too many humanistic connotations, especially emotional connotations, which people cherish especially, so few people will deliberately destroy this rare social harmony at this time; Sometimes, festivals can even make people in war lay down their weapons temporarily or even for a long time to achieve reconciliation and peace. Every Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other traditional festivals of the Chinese nation, overseas Chinese and Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad, whether heads of state or ordinary people, celebrate with the whole world. These traditional festivals of the Chinese nation have become an opportunity for us to inspire national spirit, carry forward national culture, carry forward national traditions, and enhance national cohesion and identity. For example, every year from New Year's Eve to the Spring Festival Evening in the early morning of the first day of the first month, there will be countless viewers watching in front of the TV. Overseas Chinese all over the world can also feel the festive atmosphere through radio waves. At this time, national pride and national identity can undoubtedly be strengthened most profoundly. Whenever Qingming comes, Chinese descendants from Taiwan Province Province, Southeast Asia and overseas Chinese return to Chinese mainland to pay homage to their ancestors and sweep graves, which invisibly strengthens the ties between Chinese mainland and Taiwan Province Province and other countries, and is conducive to enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland. It can be seen that festival culture plays a very important role in enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and promoting the great cause of peaceful reunification of the motherland.
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Traditional festival culture is the great historical and cultural heritage of our Chinese nation, which contains rich cultural connotations and is the condensation of emotion, knowledge, wisdom and ethical norms of ethnic members. It is not only the basis for our nation to create a new culture, but also a part of our times. Generally speaking, traditional culture has become a thing of the past, but the essence of excellent culture has been integrated into our lives and still has great practical value. Therefore, we must attach importance to the preservation, protection and excavation of traditional festival cultural resources, so as to make the traditional culture of China develop continuously.