Chinese
Holidays
Quick Start
Guide
A Year of Family-Friendly Recipes, Activities & Crafts!2018 Chinese Holiday Calendar
NEW YEAR
CHINESE NEW YEAR • Clean the House• Cook Reunion Dinner • Give Red Envelopes
LANTERN FESTIVAL
• Make Tang Yuan • Visit Lantern Displays • Solve Lantern Riddles
QINGMING FESTIVAL • Sweep Family Graves• Spend Time Outdoors • Fly Kites
LABOR DAY
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL • Make Zongzi• Attend Dragon Boat Races
QIXI FESTIVAL • Go Stargazing• Plan a Date Night
HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL
• Burn Joss Paper • Attend Chinese Opera • Make Floating Lantern
MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL • Gift Mooncakes• Make a Lantern • Eat Under Moonlight
NATIONAL DAY
DOUBLE NINTH FESTIVAL
• Go for a Hike • Visit Older Relatives • Drink Chrysanthemum Tea 1 JAN 16 FEB 18 JUN 2 MAR 1 MAY 5 APR 25 AUG 17 AUG 1 OCT 17 OCT 24 SEP 12/30 – 1/1
China Public Holiday
2/15 - 2/21
China Public Holiday
4/5 - 4/7
China Public Holiday
4/29 - 5/1
China Public Holiday
6/16 - 6/18
China Public Holiday
9/22 - 9/24
China Public Holiday
10/1 - 10/7
Chinese New Year
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. The holiday is actually a two week festival filled with reunions among
family and friends, an abundance of delicious food and wishes for a new year filled with prosperity, joy and good fortune.
Clean the Home
Do
Cook
Gift
Plan a Reunion Dinner
Give Red Envelopes
Lantern Festival
MARCH 2, 2018
The Lantern Festival, also known as the Yuan Xiao Festival, welcomes the lunar year’s first full moon. Festivities date back some 2,000 years to lanterns hung in Buddhist temples by monks during the Han Dynasty. It wraps up Chinese New Year’s annual Spring Festival with a night of sparkling lights.
Visit Lantern Displays
Do
Do
Cook
Solve Lantern Riddles Make Tang Yuan
Qingming Festival
APRIL 5, 2018
The Qingming Festival, also referred to as the Pure Brightness Festival, honors ancestors and celebrates the warming weather of spring. It’s a family holiday spent tidying ancestral grave sites and enjoying outdoor springtime activities like hiking, planting seeds and flying kites.
Sweep Family Graves
Do
Do
Do
Spend Time Outdoors Fly Kites
Dragon Boat Festival
JUNE 18, 2018
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanwu Festival or Double Fifth Festival, provides the perfect opportunity for family fun. The holiday honors the memory of the Chinese patriot poet, Qu Yuan, and is celebrated outdoors during the summer months with exciting dragon boat races.
Go to Dragon Boat Races
Do
Craft
Cook
Make a Dragon Boat Make Zongzi
Qixi Festival
AUGUST 17, 2018
The Qixi Festival, also known as the Double Seventh Festival or Qiqiao Festival, is the most romantic of all traditional
Chinese holidays. It honors the star-crossed lovers, Zhinu and Niulang, who are allowed to meet only once a year across a bridge of magpies on the evening of the Qixi Festival.
Go Stargazing
Do
Do
Craft
Plan a Date Night Sew or Knit a Gift
Hungry Ghost Festival
AUGUST 25, 2018
The Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival, marks the time of year when tables are turned and the deceased are believed to visit the living. The gates of the afterlife are thrown open and ghosts are free to roam the earth in search of food, entertainment and mischief.
Burn Joss Paper
Do
Do
Craft
Attend Chinese Opera Make a Lantern
Mid-Autumn Festival
SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is the second most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. It brings families together to celebrate the harvest under a full moon. The holiday is all about giving thanks for nature’s abundance and for joyful reunions with loved ones.
Eat Under the Moonlight
Do
Craft
Gift
Make a Lantern Give Mooncakes
Double Ninth Festival
OCTOBER 17, 2018
The Double Ninth Festival, also referred to as the Chong Yang Festival, is a traditional folk holiday focused on good health and long life. It originates from a Han Dynasty tale about a young man who saves his village from a river monster feared to spread disease. Today, the holiday is Senior’s Day in China.
Go for a Hike
Do
Do
Cook
Visit Older Relatives Drink Chrysanthemum Tea
Dongzhi Festival
DECEMBER 21, 2018
The Dongzhi Festival, also referred to as the Winter Solstice Festival, celebrates the season’s turning point toward the warmer, lighter days of spring. It’s a holiday that’s all about spreading a spirit of warmth and hopeful optimism during the bitterly cold depths of winter.
Plan a Hearty Meal
Cook
Cook
Cook
Make Lamb Dumplings Make Tang Yuan
The Chinese Holidays Quick Start Guide Produced By ChineseAmericanFamily.com