The Blog · 博客
Festival Stories · 节日故事
A bicultural look at the festivals on the calendar, in English and Chinese together (bank holidays excluded).
以双语、跨文化的视角讲述日历上的每个节日（法定银行假日除外）。
Chinese New Year: two thousand years of fire, family, and the world's biggest commute home
春节：两千年的烟火、团圆，与人类史上最大规模的回家路
From the legend of the Nian monster to shifted office calendars and billions of train tickets, Chinese New Year is a festival that reorganises an entire country — and, for bicultural families, quietly reorganises two calendars at once.
从年兽的传说到被重新编排的公司假期，再到数以十亿计的火车票，春节是一个能让整个国家为之调整作息的节日——对跨文化家庭而言，它也悄悄让两套历法在同一个家里和平共处。
Lantern Festival: the ordinary workday that used to be China's biggest party
元宵节：那个曾是中国最盛大狂欢，如今却连假都算不上的日子
Riddles on silk lanterns, a curfew lifted just for one night, and a food fight over what to even call the dumplings — the festival that closes out Chinese New Year is also the one modern China quietly forgot to give anyone the day off for.
写在丝绸灯笼上的谜语、为一夜之欢而破例解除的宵禁，还有一场关于“汤圆到底该叫什么”的历史闹剧——这个为春节画上句点的节日，却是现代中国唯一“忘了”放假的重头节日。
Qingming Festival: tomb-sweeping, spring outings, and a legend about loyalty
清明节：扫墓祭祖、踏青春游，以及一个关于忠诚的传说
One of the few Chinese festivals set by the sun, not the moon — a day that is somehow a funeral and a picnic at once.
中国少数几个由太阳位置而非月亮决定日期的节日之一——一个既像扫墓又像春游的奇特日子。
Dragon Boat Festival: poets, poison, and the world's most competitive rowing tradition
端午节：诗人、毒日与全世界最卷的划船传统
A patriotic poet's suicide, a month the ancients thought was cursed, and the sticky rice dumpling that ties it all together.
一位爱国诗人的投江之死、一个古人眼中的凶月，以及那颗把这一切串联起来的糯米粽子。
Qixi Festival: Rebranded as China's Valentine's Day
七夕节：被重新包装成“中国情人节”
Long before it was about romance, Qixi was a competitive needle-threading night for women asking a star goddess for skilful hands — the Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend, and the marketing, came later.
在被定义为“浪漫节日”之前，七夕原本是女子们向织女星祈求巧手的一场穿针竞技之夜——牛郎织女的传说，以及后来的商业包装，都是后来才叠加上去的。
Mid-Autumn Festival: moon worship, mooncakes, and the loneliest woman in Chinese mythology
中秋节：拜月、月饼，以及中国神话里最孤独的一位女性
A festival that took a thousand years to settle on what it was actually about — and landed, eventually, on family.
一个花了上千年才想清楚自己到底该庆祝什么的节日——最终，答案落在了“团圆”二字上。
Double Ninth Festival: mountain climbing, chrysanthemum wine, and a national day for grandparents
重阳节：登高望远、菊花美酒，以及一个属于长辈的节日
A festival built on numerology and star-worship that quietly evolved into modern China's official day for honouring the elderly.
一个源自数字崇拜与星象祭祀的节日，如今悄然演变成了现代中国官方的敬老节。
Laba Festival: how a Buddhist enlightenment story and an ancient hunting sacrifice ended up in the same bowl of porridge
腊八节：一个佛教证道的故事，如何与一场古老的狩猎祭祀熬进了同一碗粥里
Part harvest sacrifice, part Buddha's origin story, part unofficial start of the Chinese New Year countdown — all bound together by a bowl of porridge with over twenty regional variations.
一半是丰收祭祀，一半是佛陀的证道故事，还是春节倒计时的非官方起点——这一切都被熬进了一碗有着二十多种地方版本的粥里。
Winter Solstice: the ancient Chinese new year hiding inside the modern calendar
冬至：藏在现代日历里的那个古老新年
A day so important it once outranked Chinese New Year itself — and the reason half the country eats dumplings while the other half eats rice balls.
一个曾经比春节还重要的日子——也是为什么这个国家一半人吃饺子、另一半人吃汤圆的原因。
Valentine's Day: The Truth Behind the Cards, the Saint, and the Myth That Never Was
情人节：贺卡、圣徒与一个从未存在的传说背后的真相
No, it wasn't really born from a Roman orgy festival. The real story runs through a beheaded priest, a 14th-century poet, and a Victorian paper-lace industry.
不，它并非真的源自古罗马的狂欢祭典。真正的故事，是一位殉道教士、一位14世纪诗人，以及一整个维多利亚时代纸蕾丝产业的历史。
Saint David's Day: The National Day Wales Still Isn't Allowed to Take Off
圣大卫日：威尔士至今仍无法正式放假庆祝的“国庆日”
A 6th-century monk, a Tudor king's political gamble, and a Welsh symbol Victorians couldn't even agree on — the peculiar history of March 1st.
一位6世纪的修士、一位都铎国王的政治豪赌，以及一个连维多利亚人都搞不清楚的威尔士象征——3月1日背后那段奇特的历史。
Mothering Sunday: older than Mother's Day, and not really about mothers at first
母亲节（英式）：比“Mother's Day”更古老，最初其实与母亲无关
A Lent tradition of returning to your 'mother church' slowly turned into a day for actual mothers.
一个大斋期“回母堂”的传统，是如何慢慢演变成一个属于母亲的节日的。
Father's Day: a young American holiday, adopted worldwide
父亲节：一个年轻的美国节日，如今被全世界采纳
Unlike Mothering Sunday, Britain's Father's Day is a straightforward American import.
与英式母亲节不同，英国的父亲节其实是一个不折不扣的“美国进口”节日。
Halloween: a Celtic fire festival that went to America and came back louder
万圣节前夜：一个凯尔特火焰祭典，去了美国又更热闹地回来
Samhain, turnip lanterns, and how Britain re-imported its own festival with an American accent.
萨温节、萝卜灯，以及英国如何带着美国口音，把自己的节日重新“进口”回来。
Bonfire Night: the only UK festival that celebrates a failed act of terrorism
篝火之夜：英国唯一一个庆祝“恐怖袭击失败”的节日
Guy Fawkes, 36 barrels of gunpowder, and 400 years of burning him in effigy for it.
盖伊·福克斯、36桶火药，以及四百年来焚烧他模型的传统。
Remembrance Day: why a poppy, and why the 11th hour of the 11th day
国殇纪念日：为何是虞美人花，为何是“十一月十一日十一时”
The precise timing behind the two-minute silence, and how a battlefield flower became its symbol.
两分钟默哀背后的精确时刻，以及一朵战地野花如何成为纪念的象征。
New Year's Eve: why the last night matters more than the first day
除夕（公历）：为何最后一夜比新一年的第一天更重要
Fireworks, Auld Lang Syne, and Edinburgh's Hogmanay — one of the world's biggest street parties.
烟花、《友谊地久天长》，以及爱丁堡的“Hogmanay”跨年庆典——世界最大的街头派对之一。