466 festivals: Asia and the Pacific ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BY MICHAEL ALLEN HOLMES Throughout Asia many ancient festivals had origins in the natural world As early agriculture rooted peoples in homelands, communities flourished not just because of individual efforts but also because of the intensified labor of extended family, friends, and neighbors Meanwhile, humans became more dependent on the cooperation of nature—and more endangered by its caprices, as droughts, floods, and brutal winters could all lead to great loss of life Festivals allowed communities both to recognize the powers of nature and to cement the social ties that allowed them to persevere through difficult times In ancient China most festivals featured some form of dancing During the Shang Dynasty (ca 1500–ca 1045 b.c.e.) kings would dance to avoid incurring the wrath of the demons believed to cause droughts During the ensuing Zhou Dynasty, lasting until 256 b.c.e., kings welcomed barbarians into their courts for the performance of dances The men waved around the tails of yaks and also rods with pheasant feathers attached to the ends, likewise driving away destructive spirits Among the masses in the Sichuan region during the Han Dynasty (ca 202 b.c.e.–220 c.e.) general feasts and revelry grew so popular and disruptive that the government had to restrict such activity to designated festival times Popular Chinese festivals revolved around the changing of the seasons The end of winter and beginning of spring were celebrated with particular vigor, amplifying widespread feelings of joy and renewal Festivals at this time of year featured offerings to earthly spirits as well as human-oriented rites related to mating and fertility The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, generally occurred on the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice, thus falling during this celebratory time While various changes to the time of the New Year were made by various rulers, the New Year was oriented as it currently stands by Emperor Wu in 104 b.c.e Another seasonal celebration still held is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which has several other names, including the Mooncake Festival Falling in the middle of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually aligning with late September and the autumnal equinox), when the moon is especially bright, this festival is a celebration of the year’s harvest The general worship of the moon in China has been traced back through the second millennium b.c.e During the Zhou Dynasty moon worship centered on the Mid-Autumn Festival An ancient Chinese festival unrelated to nature is the Duan Wu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, commemorating the death of Qu Yuan (ca 340–278 b.c.e.) Qu Yuan was said to be a patriotic minister from the state of Chu who was exiled by his deceived king After long wandering and writing poetry near his hometown, he waded into a river and committed suicide when he learned that his state had been overrun by the state of Qin Local people searched for his body in boats while scattering rice as an offering to his spirit until his spirit told his friends that a river dragon was eating the rice and that they should wrap it in silk The honoring of Qu Yuan’s death and the search for his body evolved into a tradition of dragon boat racing, held on the fift h day of the fift h lunar month In India many festivals over time focused on events of a mythical or religious nature, similar to Christian festivals in the Western world Since the major Sanskrit epics are among the earliest surviving writings from the Indian subcontinent, the precise origins of festivals cannot necessarily be attributed to specific aspects of the annual cycle Also, in certain parts of India seasonal changes were not nearly as prominent as they were throughout more northerly Asian regions The most prominent ancient Indian festivals, which in modern times are celebrated as Hindu festivals, serve as commemorations of mythical and sacred events The majority of these events are narrated in the ancient Sanskrit epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the former dating from roughly the third century b.c.e., the latter from a less certain date in ancient times Both of these texts are considered not only great mythological epics but also compilations of much ancient philosophy and wisdom Given the ancient origins of these epics, the festivals associated with events described in them have presumably been celebrated since ancient times Some Indian festivals evolved from the more ancient recognition of the seasonal cycles Holi, also called the Festival of Color, occurs on the full-moon day falling in late February or early March and features carefree springtime revelry The name is derived from a mythical event in which Holika was burned to death when her father, the king of the demons, tried to set fire to her brother, a devotee of Lord Vishnu To commemorate the flirtatious playfulness of Lord Krishna, whose mother used color to darken the face of his fair-skinned consort Radha, Indians celebrate Holi by throwing colored powder and water at each other The festival is understood to have originated in the agricultural celebration of the arrival of spring and its variegated colors Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights and usually falling in October or November, is generally regarded as a celebration of the victory of good over evil Specifically, in the Ramayana, Lord Rama returned victorious from a war with Ravana, a demon king, on this day Upon his return, people lit lamps to reveal paths in the darkness Also, in accordance with the Mahabharata, Diwali commemorates certain events associated with the goddess Shakthi and Lord Krishna’s wife Diwali celebrations generally involve lighting lamps and lanterns and sharing time with family and friends In much of India, Diwali marks the opening of the New Year The festival of Dussehra, also called Dasara and occurring roughly a month earlier, is closely related to Diwali, as it marks the day on which Rama actually killed Ravana Other significant Indian festivals mark the birthdays of Lords Ganesha, Krishna, Rama, and Hanuman