The dragon in Chinese culture is a symbol of the etheric force, the master of all elements. There is a dragon in the water, in the fire, in the earth, and in the snow, etc. People will gain the protection from such etheric force or gain growing and life forces from celebrating and worshiping the Dragon. We can see the dragon appear in many festival celebrations such as the Spring Festival, Dragon Head Lifting Festival, and .

The Dao (Tao) had a Yery strong influence on people's life and culture in the past. Some festival celebrations also have to do with Dao. The food, the time, and the procedures of ceremony have to follow certain regulations of Yi |ing or fengshui.

The ways in which Chinese festivals were celebrated in the past were quite rich and diverse. Of course' the main parts were wonderful banquets and family gatherings. Sharing a particular food is a way to show our gratitude to nature, earth and heaven. The family gathering and performing some kind of ceremony are ways to express our gratitude to the family, the ancestors, and the gods.

In addition to eating, having special rituals, the process of making food, d.ecorating the house, making crafts, playing special games, wearing fine clothes, parades of dragon dances, an4 dance were also elements of traditional celebrations in the old times according ti the different parts of .

Today, a festive celebration only consists of a banquet and family gathering and not much ceremony or ritual. Especially the younger generation no longer has much experience of the old ways of celebrating festivals.

Therefore as Waldorf teachers, we may have to dig up the old traditional ways of celebrating on the one hand, and we also need to create some new ways to celebrating festivals with children on the other.

For example, the traditional Winter Solstice festival (Dong Zhilie) is the festival that emphasizes bringing warmth to people through special foods, family gatherings and Chinese medicine. People hope this warmth and light can carry them through the dark cold winter. That is more focused on the physical body and etheric forces. But since we und.erstand our soul also needs to be nourished and lit up by the light and warmth, we also need something to carry us through the dark and cold winter with strength and hope. We can maybe bring the Mid-Winter Garden (Advent Garden) to our children before the Winter Solstice festival (Dong Zhilie).

From my understanding and research on Chinese festivals, I have found some key words for the characteristics of each festival. I hope you may get some sense of the meaning and pictures of each festival through these keys words.

Spring spring Festival or (chun fie) -the first day of first lunar month: Fire, warmth, nourishment , red, happiness, liveliness, family gathering , banquets, stay over night, gifts, overcoming the monster.

Lantern Festival or Sticky Rice Dumplings Festival (Yuan Xiao fie) - 15ft of first lunar month: Fire, creativity, colorfulness, happiness and joy, outings in the night on the street or park, ridd.les, sticky rice dumplings, end of the New Year celebration.

Page28 Dragon Head Lifting Festival (Long Tai rou lie) - 2"d of second lunar month: Air and water, waking up from winter sleeping, spring is coming, green, prayers for good feng shui, prayers for farming, preparations for work, shaving hair for good fortune, making ,roodl", and spring rolls.

Qing Ming Mernory Day or Sweep the Graves Day(Qing Ming fie) - 5 or 6 April, one of the 24 Division points Air and earth, healing, peace, calm, green and white, graveyard and ancestors, outings in nature, cold food and spring rolls.

Summer Dragon Boat Festival or Double Fifth Festival (Duan Wu fie) - 5s of fifth lunar month: Water, five colors according to five Chinese elements, puri$' and healing, herb medicine, boat racing, outings around river or lake, sticky rice cake wrapped with leaves. Qu yuan was a great person in history.

Autumn Double seventh festival (Qi Xi Iie) - 76 of seventh lunar month Stars, plants and the milky way, wondering, peace, sadness, love, faithfulness, young people, night, fruits.

Ghosts festival (ZhongYuan |ie) - 15ft of seventh lunar month Fire, night, ghosts, fear, the past, prayer, darkness.

Mid-autumn festival or Moon festival (ZhongQiu fie) , 15rt of eighth lunar month .Moon, air, memory, wonder, peace, wholeness, perfection, self reflection, seeking for home, family gathering , night, poets, singing , riddles, fruits, nuts and moon cake.

Double Ninth Festival or Elders Festival (Chong Yang |ie ) - 9ft of ninth lunar month Last part of warmth, double suns, hiking, respect for elders, death, missing one's friends and family members, outings in nature.

Winter winter Solstice festival (Dong Zhilie) - 23or 24Dec,one of the 24 Division points Red, fire, warmth, nourishment, light and darkness, banquets, family gatherings , dumplings with rneat. A little Chinese New Year.

La Ba festival or 8 Grains and Nuts Festival (La Ba |ie) - sth of twelfth lunar month. Healing, celebrating a good harvest, expressing gratitude to all the gods, cooking porridge with 8 kind of grains and beans, cleaning house to get ready for Chinese New year.

Kitchen God (Ji ZaoWang) - 23'd of twelfth lunar month Fire, stove, funny, sweetness, kitchen God, building up a good relationship with heavenly gods.

Li Zhang is a co-founder of the Chengdu Waldorf School, where she has taught as a kindergarten teacher and class teacher and helped to develop the kindergarten training there. She is also the chairperson of the Chinese Early Childhood Educators Forum (CECEF).

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