Festivals & Celebrations in Hainan
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Hainan Island has rich folk culture, and there are many unique folk festive activities. Under the advocacy of the government, some new festive activities and celebrations have gradually appeared in Hainan. Nowadays people in Hainan have festivals to celebrate almost every month. Besides the traditional New Years's Day (January 1st), Spring Festival (January 1st according to Chinese lunar calendar), and Hainan International Coconut Festival (the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month) from January to March, there are Changjiang Mango Festival in May, Tianya Haijiao Mid-Autumn Day in September, Longevity Festival, Huanle (Joy) Festival, Dongjiao Festival, Haijiao Festival, and Tianya Haijiao International Wedding Celebration in October, November, and December.
Hainan International Coconut Festival
Date: the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month
Since the first Hainan International Coconut Festival was held in April 1992, it has been a tradition in Hainan to celebrate the Hainan International Coconut Festival in late March or early April every year (the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month usually falls in late March or early April). The festival is a large-scale international comprehensive commerce and culture festival that is open to all people. With tourism, culture, customs, sports, economy and trade integrated as a whole, the festival observes the tenet of "developing tourism, exchanging culture, promoting economy and trade, expanding openness", and features in Hainan coconut culture and "the 3rd Day of the 3rd Lunar Month" custom of the Li and Miao people.
Tianya Haijiao Joy Festival
Date: the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (Mid-Autumn Day)
A festive evening party is held in Tianya Haijiao Sightseeing Zone on Mid-Autumn Day with the theme of "Bright full moon seems to rise from the sea, Let’s cherish the present moment no matter where we are from". During the party, there are various kinds of activities: watching the moon and lanterns, "mountain song game", "dancing performance", "folk lantern exhibition", "enjoying moon cakes", and so on. With the sight of the bright moon, tens of thousands of lights in Tianya Haijiao Sightseeing Zone are turned on at the same time, mountains songs and dancing start, and colorful firecrackers rise to the sky, making the whole Tianya Haijiao the world of lights and the sea of songs.
China Nanshan (South Mountain) Longevity Cultural Festival
Date: the 9th day of the 9th lunar month (Chongyang Festival in China)
People over one hundred-year-old climb Nanshan to the "Longevity" tablet (the word "Longevity" on the tablet being written by Queen Cixi) to celebrate the festival. Large-scale performances are held so as to add festivity to it. Since the ancient time, Sanya has been famous in China for being the place of longevity. The old people climb the mountain on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month (Chongyang Festival) has meaningful implication, that is, life lies in doing exercises. At the same time, it offers wish for the elders to "be blessed with longevity and good health, and live longer than Nanshan".
Tianya Haijiao International Wedding Celebration
Date: 18th November
New couples, couples of Golden Wedding (50 wedding anniversary) and Silver Wedding (25 anniversary) both at home and abroad enroll in Tianya Haijiao International Wedding Celebration. The holding of activities like "meeting in deer city", "knowing each other in Tianya", "Praying in Nanshan", "Lovemaking in Donghai (the East Sea)", and so on make every couple experience the theme "Love even at Tianya (the skyline), and miss even at Haijiao (the cape)", and think to themselves the saying "Hope you love me forever, and accompany me to everywhere".
Hainan Joy Festival
Hainan Joy Festival is held in late November every year. Combined with the Miss World contest held in Sanya, the festival includes varied and colorful series of activities in tourism, recreation, sports, exhibition, and games, giving prominence to the characteristics of festivity in Hainan, trying to establish the nameplate of Hainan being "Health Island", and displaying the overall image of Hainan being "joy island and holiday paradise".
Huanhua (Exchanging Flowers) Festival
Date: the 15th day of the 1st lunar month
It is held in Qiongshan city on the evening of the 15th day of the 1st lunar month every year with its unique characteristics. The Huanhua Festival is an annual large-scale party in Qiongshan city. Huanhua Festival used to be a folk festival unique to Qiongshan, but in the past what is being exchanged is incense (Huanxiang) rather than its present-day flowers (Huanhua), literally meaning endless burning incense and actually meaning having offspring very generation. Now the traditional Huanxiang has been replaced with Huanhua. The forms, scale, scope, and area of the activities held are expanding every year, forming a new type of recreation with an integration of friendship, happiness, welfare, and joy.
Junpo Festival
It is held on the day ranging from the 9th to 19th day of the 2nd lunar month every year in Xinpo town Qiongshan city, and many other places in the province. The festival lasts for fours days. It is a festival of offering sacrifices in honor of Mrs. Xian.
The 3rd Day of the 3rd Lunar Month
Date: the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month
The Li and Miao people both have customs for festivity. They like singing and dancing, and hold activities like "dragon boat racing", "campfire singing" during which young men and women sing in response to each other, and if they both have affection to each other, then they will go into the woods and express their affection. The 3rd Day of the 3rd Lunar Month is traditional festival for young Li men and women to find their love and happiness. It coincides with the above-mentioned Hainan International Coconut Festival in late March or early April every year (the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month usually falls in late March or early April) that is a large-scale international tourism and culture festival with tourism, culture, customs, sports, economy and trade integrated as a whole.
Danzhou Folk Song Festival
Date: the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (Mid-Autumn Day)
The Mid-Autumn Day not only is the above-mentioned Tianya Haijiao Joy Festival, but also the Danzhou Folk Song Festival. The main activities of the Folk Song Festival are singing songs in the mountain, paired singing competition in certain rhythm, watching the moon, and so on.
Qixian (The Seventh Fairy) Ridge Water Festival
Date: the 7th day of the 7th lunar month
The 7th day of the 7th lunar month is the good day for the seventh fairy to get together with Dongyong on the Magpie Bridge according to the old-time tale (the seventh fairy in the Heaven fell in love with Dongyong, but they were separated, and were allowed to meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month). Nowadays that day has become Valentine’s Day in China. In Baoting County where the ethnic minorities live, people splash water over their love, expressing their affective love thoroughly. On that day, people splash and play with water, put on various performances in the square, display wedding performances of the Li and Miao people, exhibit costumes, sing folk songs in pairs, eat snacks with Li and Miao local flavor, have large-scale bamboo dancing in certain formation, hold jamboree attended by tens of thousands of people, have colorful vehicle parade dragged by cattle, and explore in the Qixian (Seventh Fairy) Ridge.
