The article is devoted to the ethnographic analysis of the traditional Chinese festival Lichun – the Beginning of Spring. Its origin is associated with the Chinese agricultural calendar, and its history can be traced back to the Zhou era. In the article, based on the analysis of the principle of compiling the Chinese agricultural calendar, the authors give a description of the Lichun season. Much attention is paid to such aspects of the holiday as the history of its origin, its most important traditions - "meeting spring", "announcement of spring", making a "spring bull", "lashing spring", "spring noise", "biting spring", etc., as well as their regional variations. The article also reveals the relationship of Lichun with folk arts and crafts and cooking. The study demonstrates the significant role of the Lichun festival in the modern culture of China. The following methods were used: analysis of studies devoted to ancient Chinese astronomy, historical sources, systematization and classification of ethnographic data on the celebration of the onset of the Lichun season, comparative analysis of similar customs of welcoming spring in different regions of China. Detailed studies of the holidays included in the cycle of the traditional agricultural calendar of China have not been conducted in Russian science, information about it is fragmentary, often concentrated in popular science publications and social networks. The purpose of the study is to fill this gap by turning to authentic sources about one of the most important spring festivals, accompanying their research with illustrative material. The article proves the important role of the Lichun festival, since despite changes in culture under the influence of globalization, the Chinese people continue to honor it and perceive it as one of the aspects of national culture.
Popova et al. (Thu,) studied this question.