JANUARY
HARBIN INTERNATIONAL ICE AND SNOW SCULPTURE FESTIVAL
The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, which lasts a month, is the first international festival to focus on ice and snow related activities in Chinese history. This festival is listed among the world’s top 4 ice and snow festivals together with the Sapporo Snow Festival of Japan, the Quebec Winter Carnival Festival of Canada, and the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo, Norway. The festival has been a great global ice and snow gathering ever since it first started on January 5, 1985. January 5 has become a major holiday of Harbin through local legislation.
JANUARY
SPRING FESTIVAL TEMPLE FAIR
Spring Festival is the most characteristic traditional festival in China. Chinese have celebrated the Spring Festival for over 4000 years. There are many sayings about the origin of the Spring Festival. However, it is widely believed that people began to celebrate the Spring Festival in Yu Shun Period. Spring Festival usually refers to Lunar New Year’s Day, which is the first day of a year. It is also named the lunar year, also known as “Guonian” in Chinese pinyin. Nevertheless, according to the folk customs, the traditional Spring Festival lasts from Winter Sacrifice on the 8th day of the twelfth month or the Kitchen God Worshipping on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth month by the lunar calendar to the 19th day of the first month by the lunar calendar, and the festival reaches its climax on the New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year’s Day. During Spring Festival period, Chinese nationality and many minorities in China will hold various activities for celebration, such as: worshipping the God, Buddha, and their ancestors, removing the old decorations and making new arrangements, welcoming and receiving the happiness, and praying for a harvest year. Abundant activities have strong national characteristics.