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Chaoshan elders passed down a saying: "As you live your life, don't forget the eight festivals of the year. Therefore, various activities of the "Festivals of the Year" have been passed down from generation to generation and have become a common custom. They may be commemorative, or have meaning, or The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, which was called "Shangyuan Festival" in ancient times. Commonly known as the "Lantern Festival", Chaozhou people call it "Crossing the Fifteenth Festival", which is both the continuation and the climax of the Spring Festival.

The traditional custom in some rural areas of Chaozhou is that during the Lantern Festival every year, banyan leaves and bamboo branches are placed on the lintel of every household to ensure safety; there is also an activity of throwing money at the Maitreya Buddha, who is filled with "Happy child", it is said that those who are lucky to have a happy child can give birth to a boy in the coming year.

The biggest feature of celebrating the Lantern Festival is the flower-viewing lanterns. The Chaozhou area also has its own unique lanterns and gauze lanterns. Chaozhou's new book "Hundred Screen Lanterns" is a gauze lantern that reflects the main characters and scenes of 100 dramas. In the old days in Chaozhou rural areas, every household lit up their own lanterns and lined up in a long queue, accompanied by Chaozhou gongs and drums, which traveled throughout the village, which was very spectacular. Even more lively are large-scale activities such as fireworks. The Lantern Festival and the lanterns are also connected with mass guessing activities. Riddles are played on almost every festival, but the Lantern Festival is particularly popular. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is a traditional folk festival that has been passed down from generation to generation in China. The purpose is to pay homage to Qu Yuan. Chaozhou Dragon Boat Festival has various colorful local customs.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a dragon boat race. The gongs and drums are noisy, the flags are fluttering, and the oars are rowing like wings, competing for the championship.

There are two types of dragon boats in Chaozhou: "real dragon" and "fake dragon". A "real dragon" has a dragon head, a dragon neck, a dragon body, and a dragon tail. The dragon boat is more than 20 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. There are 15 pairs of oars and 30 people, including one person each for drumming, gong beating, water splashing, and helmsman. *** 34 people. "False Dragon", commonly known as Ji Ship, has a total length of 10 meters, equipped with 5 pairs of oars, and has 10 people, including 1 drummer, 1 gong, 1 water splasher, and rudder, and 14 people at the helm. (Some may not have gongs)

The "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty said: "The ancients wrapped millet in wild reed leaves and cooked it into the shape of a sharp angle, so it was called rice dumplings and horned millet. "Chaozhou people commonly call "Zong" as "Zong ball".

Chaozhou people have been making rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival for generations, which is one of the traditions of paying homage to Qu Yuan. There is a folk proverb that "the May rice dumplings have not been eaten, and the rice dumplings will not be put away", which shows that rice dumplings have a long history of becoming a famous snack.

In some Chaozhou families, during the Dragon Boat Festival, bunches of mugwort, calamus, durian flowers, garlic, and dragon boat flowers tied with "red-head ropes" will be hung on the lintels, door knockers, and even under the eaves. The five kinds are called "Five Rui". According to the old custom, "He Wu" was used to attract Qu Yuan's soul. In fact, the ancient trendy people and sages took anti-epidemic and health care measures in response to the rampant plague during the "Evil Moon", which was intended to drive away plague and evil spirits. The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so it falls on this day. It is exactly half of the three autumn seasons, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. In Chaozhou, there are various folk activities with local characteristics.

Taro is used as a sacrifice to ancestors. There is a proverb in Chaozhou: "When rivers and streams meet each other, you will be afraid of eating taro." Mid-Autumn Festival in August is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are accustomed to using taro to worship their ancestors. Although this is related to farming, there is also a widespread legend among the people: In 1279, the Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han people. Ma Fa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan Dynasty. After the city was defeated, the people were massacred. Later, the Han people killed Yuan Fan on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and worshiped the victims with their Yuan soldiers' heads. After the Yuan Dynasty fell, people used taro instead of their heads. In order not to forget the suffering of the Hu people's rule, later generations used taro to pay homage to their ancestors, which is a homophony of "beard head" and shaped like a human head.

Worship the moon. Around Chaozhou, women and children mainly worship the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so there is a common saying that "men do not worship the full moon, women do not worship the stove". In the evening, when the bright moon rises, they will set up a table in the yard or balcony to pray in the sky. Silver candles were burning high, incense was lingering, and the table was filled with fruits and cakes as offerings. This season, there are many varieties of fruits on the market, including grapefruit, banana, star fruit, persimmon, pear, pineapple and so on. The story of the killing of Tatars on August 15th is also widely circulated among the people. At that time, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty stipulated that each family must have a Mongolian soldier to live in, be supported by the Han people, and monitor the actions of the Han people. Only three families were allowed to use a kitchen knife.

The people were so disgusted that they took advantage of the opportunity to eat mooncakes on August 15th and put a note of agreement to kill the Tatars in the mooncake fillings to make the event successful that night. Later generations regarded this day as a commemoration of resistance to national oppression.

Burn the tower. Burning pagodas on Mid-Autumn Festival night is also very popular. The tower height ranges from 1 to 3 meters, and is mostly built with broken tiles. Large towers are also built with bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked tiles, leaving a The tower mouth is used for putting fuel. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, fires are lit, and the fuel includes wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is strong, rosin powder is poured on it to ignite the flames, which is very spectacular. There are also folk rules for burning pagodas. Whoever burns the pagoda until the whole pagoda is red will win. The one who fails to do so or collapses during the burning process will lose. The winner will be given colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that the burning of pagodas was also the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival uprising when the Han people resisted the brutal rulers in the late Yuan Dynasty and used fire as a signal. The Winter Festival is the winter solstice among the twenty-four festivals. It falls during a break in farming and the year is coming to an end, so it is also called the Little New Year. It is an old custom to offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors during the Winter Festival, and the whole family eats sweet glutinous rice balls to express a happy reunion. Although the year is not over yet, eating sweet balls means having a safe year, so there is a saying that eating sweet balls will make you one year older.

On the winter solstice in Chaozhou, there are customs such as worshiping ancestors, eating sweet pills, and visiting tombs.

Worshiping ancestors: On this day, prepare enough pork, chicken, fish and other animals and fruits, go to the ancestral hall to worship ancestors, and then the family gathers around the table to have a meal. The worship is usually completed before noon, and lunch Family reunion. However, in coastal areas such as Raoping's Haishan area, ancestor worship is performed early in the morning, before fishermen go out to sea to fish, in order to ask the gods and ancestors to bless the fishermen's fishing safety.

Visiting graves and sweeping tombs: This is another activity during the winter solstice. According to Chaozhou customs, the annual grave-sweeping ceremony usually takes place during the Qingming Festival and the Winter Solstice, which are called "spring paper" and "winter paper." Generally speaking, "Spring Paper" should be performed in the first three years after a person's death, and "Winter Paper" can be performed after three years. But most people like to travel "winter paper" because during the Qingming Festival, it often rains and the roads are difficult to walk; during the Winter Solstice, the weather is good, making it easier to go up the mountain to visit tombs. New Year's Eve is also a big holiday. The activities of this festival last from the evening of the last day of the old year to the coming of the new year. Chaozhou people call it "New Year's Eve" or "New Year's Eve". The New Year's Eve festival activities begin with worshiping ancestors. In the afternoon, the whole family, young and old, get a haircut, bathe, put on new clothes, and then begin worshiping ancestors. The sacrifices and rituals are roughly the same as other major festivals. After worshiping the ancestors, tear off the old couplets on the main door, hall door, and room door and paste the new Spring Festival couplets on them. "Surrounding the fire" is the central activity of the New Year's Eve, which includes eating the New Year's Eve dinner, giving New Year's money and staying up late. Before the New Year, family members who have gone out must rush back to gather around the fire and reunite the whole family. After the New Year's Eve dinner, the whole family gathered together to watch the New Year's Eve. At this time, the younger generation should send New Year blessings to their elders. In addition to blessing the elders in return, they also want to give the children lucky money. Elderly people who are already old will also receive lucky money that can make money for their children and grandchildren. Chaozhou people call this custom "waist pressing".