Spring begins in Chinese lunar calendar

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Wednesday marks "Lichun", which literally means "Spring Begins". People across the country are performing traditional rituals to celebrate the beginning of warm spring days.











Wednesdaymarks"Lichun",whichliterallymeans"Spring
Begins".

Lichun is a day when Chinese people traditionally hold a ceremony called "Whip the Spring", which promotes farming and production.

In the traditional ritual "Whip the Clay Ox", a senior person in the village symbolically whips a clay ox three times to announce the start of farming for the year and make a wish for a big harvest.

Zhao Shu, researcher Beijing Research Inst. of Culture %26 History, said, "The rituals of Whipping the Spring Ox have another significance meaning to whip away the coldness and to brace the warm spring. Another ritual is Paying the Spring Call. People visit their friends and colleagues as work begins in the spring. A third ritual is Biting the Spring. People usually eat spring pancakes and spring rolls."