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Dongzhi Huarui has written:
'Huarui min su wen hua' -- subject(s): Social life and customs, Tibetans, History
Dongzhi Huarui has written:
'Huarui min su wen hua' -- subject(s): Social life and customs, Tibetans, History
This varies by culture. Coming up for example is Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St Lucia Day, Las Posadas, DongZhi, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and many other celebrations. Many families have their own traditions, a blend of new and old cultures, and some invented just for themselves.
Because Christmas is usually celebrated based upon religion, The United States Government can not limit the right to celebrate Christmas. Ultimately, the US supreme court can decide though.
Another Perspective:
No. But then, one wonders why someone would take it that far. There are so many celebrations at this time of the year why wish everyone you see a Merry Christmas. If you wish them a Happy Holiday you are acknowledging that their life may be different than yours but equal in importance. And . . . you extend the wonderful holiday spirit of peace and love.
They may celebrate:
Kwanzaa
Hanukkah
Saint Lucy Day
Winter Solstice
The Dongzhi Festival
Soyal
Modraniht
Saturnalia
Yule
or any number of Winter Festivals that are celebrated around the world in December.
Regional Customs
In past imperial eras, the Winter Solstice Festival was more important, but now it remains a relatively important festival only in Taiwan. In some regions of China, some families still gather together to eat a special meal, visit ancestral tombs, and worship their ancestors.
Northern China Customs
In northern China where it can get bitterly cold, the people lacked sufficient warm clothing and adequate heating, so they ate hot food and drank hot liquids to stay warm. People believed that when the days were short, there was insufficient Yang energy, and they tried to eat high Yang foods according to Chinese medicinal cuisine principals.
Historically on Dongzhi day, people went to the clan tombs to offer food and drink to their ancestor's spirits, clean the tombs, and work to maintain them. Then they gathered in the evening afterwards for hot dumplings and drinks. Some northern Chinese still follow this tradition.
JiaoziJiaozi
People ate fatty dumplings (饺子 jiǎozi /jyaoww-dzuh/) that contained meat and high Yang warming herbs such as ginger and garlic. This helped the people stave off illness and disease and stay warm. It helped them adapt to the onset of winter and buoyed their mood during the darkest days of the year.
Eating steaming hot dumplings with friends or family and eating food with special high yang herbs and spices is still a custom in northern China on the day of the winter solstice. See How To Cook Dumplings.
Southern China Customs
Some people in southern China and some Chinese in communities in Southeast Asia gather together to make and eat a meal of tangyuan (汤圆 Tāngyuán /tung-ywen/). Tangyuan symbolizes family unity and prosperity.
These are specially cooked balls of rice that might have a filling of bean paste or meat with sweet high yang herbs. These are usually pink or white colored. Tangyuan is often served in a bowl with a sweet soup or broth.
With their meal of tangyuan, they may also drink a mild rice wine that might contain cassia oil. Cassia is an herb that is high in yang and is one of China's Top 10 Favorite Herbs and Spices.
Taiwanese Customs
TangyuanTangyuan
For many Taiwanese and people of Taiwanese descent in other countries, the festival is still important. Families will go to the ancestral tombs and have meals of tangyuan, and they might offer tangyuan to the spirits at the tombs.
They also have a custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. The cakes are made of rice flour and are shaped like animals such as chickens, ducks, tortoises, pigs, cows, and sheep.
According to traditional Chinese medical concepts, winter is the time of year it is important to rest, relax and nourish the body with high yang fatty foods.
Chinese follow the behavior of animals that hibernate during winter to rejuvenate and preserve their bodies. So they rest on the day if they can, eat foods containing ginger, and enjoy ginseng and similar high yang herbs that can restore and relax the nerves and alleviate stress.
See more about Traditional Chinese Medicine.
History of the Dongzhi Festival
The Winter Solstice Festival was held as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. During the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), the holiday grew in importance. It was important during the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty when the emperors officially proscribed it as a day to worship and sacrifice to their god and to the ancestors. It has also been called the Changzhi Festival or Yashui.
In sri lanka, all of the full-moon days are Buddhist holidays - so is the day following the vesak full-moon day
there are also these:
abhidhamma day, asalha puja, bon festival , buddha's birthday, Cambodian new year, chap goh meh, cheung chau bun festival, Chinese new year, chuseok, daeboreum, dongzhi(lunar term), ennichi, Japanese new year, Korean new year, lantern festival, lao new year, losar, lunar new years day, magha puja, meak bochea day, omisaka, parinirvana day, pavarana, pee ta khon, poy sang long , poya, , rocket festival, sanghamitta, Tet, thingyan, Tsagaan Sar, ubon ratchathani candle festival, uposatha, vesakha, wan awk pansa, water festival
Answer:
There are many. Due to the number of Buddhist traditions (schools) and countries these are not always celebrated everywhere at the same time. Some are:
Buddhist New Year:
- In Theravadin countries (Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos), the new year is celebrated for three days from the first full moon day in April.
- In Mahayana countries, the new year usually starts on the first full moon day in January
- Tibetan Buddhists generally celebrate it in March.
Vesak (Buddha Day)
On the first full moon day in May, Buddhists worldwide celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha in a single day.
Sangha Day (AKA Magha Puja Day or Fourfold Assembly Day)
Commemorates the Buddha's visit to Veruvana Monastery in the city of Rajagaha. It is celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month (March).
Dhamma Day (AKA Asalha Puja Day)
Dhamma Day is observed on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month (July). It commemorates the Buddha's first sermon at the Sarnath Deer Park.
Observance Day (Uposatha)
Observance Day refers to each of the four traditional monthly holy days (the new moon, full moon, and quarter moon days) observed in Theravada countries -
Kathina Ceremony (Robe Offering Ceremony)
The Kathina Ceremony is held on any convenient date within one month of the conclusion of the three month rains retreat season (Vassa). It is observed by offering new robes etc. to the monks and nuns.
Festival of Floating Bowls (Loy Krathong)
In Thailand on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month people bring bowls made of leaves containing flowers, candles and incense sticks, and float them in the water.
Elephant Festival
The Buddha explained the enlightenment of others using the example of a wild elephant that is harnessed to a tame one to train it. Thai Buddhists celebrate an Elephant Festival on the third Saturday in November.
The Festival of the Tooth
In August, on the night of the full moon, there is a special procession marking the preservation of one of the Buddha's teeth in Sri Lanka.
Ancestor Day (Ulambana)
In Mahayana countries, it is believed that people and their ancestors are especially close from the first day of the eighth lunar month for 15 days. On the fifteenth day, Ulambana or Ancestor Day, people visit cemeteries to make offerings to the departed ancestors. Some Theravadin countries (Cambodia, Laos and Thailand) also observe this festival.
There is a similar Japanese Buddhist festival known as Obon, from the beginning on the thirteenth of July lasting for three daysto celebrate the reunion of family ancestors with the living.
Vesak day.
A Buddhist holiday is vesak day
In sri lanka, all of the full-moon days are Buddhist holidays - so is the day following the vesak full-moon day
there are also these:
abhidhamma day, asalha puja, bon festival , buddha's birthday, Cambodian new year, chap goh meh, cheung chau bun festival, Chinese new year, chuseok, daeboreum, dongzhi(lunar term), ennichi, Japanese new year, Korean new year, lantern festival, lao new year, losar, lunar new years day, magha puja, meak bochea day, omisaka, parinirvana day, pavarana, pee ta khon, poy sang long , poya, , rocket festival, sanghamitta, Tet, thingyan, Tsagaan Sar, ubon ratchathani candle festival, uposatha, vesakha, wan awk pansa, water festival
Your welcome~!
They have one, it is called Vesak Day, which is the full moon day in May. The next one is May 2nd, 2009.
Yes, Wesak is the celebration of the birth, death and enlightenment of the Buddha.
This depends on what branch bof Buddhism and what schools thereof.
