Celebrating Spring
The Chinese marks the "the Beginning of Spring" around February 5th and spring lasts until about May 5th. Festivals and holidays that fall in this season include the Lantern Festival, the Grave Sweeping Festival, Birthday of the Goddess of Mercy, Birthday of Matsu and Buddha's Birthday, among others. Except for Grave Sweeping Festival, which falls on April 5th, the others have moveable dates following the traditional Chinese calendar. The Lantern Festival is celebrated as a part of the Chinese New Year "Spring Festival" and it customarily marks the last day of this long period of "Spring Festival", which welcomes in the new and rejoices in the potential of growth and prosperity. The Chinese New Year begins on the new moon nearest to the "Beginning of Spring", and the Lantern Festival falls on the day of the first full moon of the New Year. The night of the Lantern Festival, children parade through their neighborhood with lanterns in hand. Temples are decorated with the fancy lanterns hung by visiting pilgrims seeking a favor from the deities. The most common wish made on a Lantern Festival is the prayer for a male offspring to be born to the family. The word for male offspring, "Ding", and the word for lantern have similar sounds in many Chinese dialects.
About 15 days after the Vernal Equinox on the day of "Ching Ming", "the Clear and Bright", is when the Grave Sweeping Festival is held. It is a somber festivity for offspring to pay honor to their ancestors. On this date, families visit the graves of their ancestors or temples where their ancestor's ashes are kept to clean the "homes" of the bygones. Fresh flowers are placed by the graves, fresh fruits offered and incenses burnt for descendants' prayers to be heard.
The Birthday of the Goddess of Mercy on the nineteenth day of the third month, the Birthday of Matsu on the twenty-third day of the third month and Buddha's Birthday on the eighth day of the fourth month are important holidays for the followers of Buddhism. In the southeastern part of China and on the island of Taiwan, Matsu is regarded as the Goddess of Mercy. The different birthdays could be local variations where for Buddhists everywhere else the Goddess of Mercy's birthday is held on the nineteenth while in Southeastern China and on Taiwan it is the twenty-third. Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was recognized as the founder of Buddhism. Celebration of his birthday took on various forms in different regions through out Asia. The "Bathing of Buddha" Festival, popular in Southeastern Asia, is probably the better-known celebration.
The festivals of the west during the springtime include St. Valentines Day for lovers (February 14th), the merrymaking on Mardi gras, the parades and everything green on St. Patrick's Day and the celebration of flowers on May Day. Christians celebrate their most important holy day, the Resurrection of Christ, on "the first Sunday after the first full moon on or following the Vernal Equinox", that is, Easter Sunday. Passover, which has a moveable date in March or April, is when the Jewish remember the account in Exodus about them being freed from Egypt's slavery.
All in all, spring has a theme of birth and rebirth across cultures. It is an affirmation of a common ground for different cultures, races and religions where nature's inspiration results in the exultation of human spirits.