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Unique and rich traditions in Tongli have developed through its long history.
At the beginning of the year, the first thing local people do, customarily during the first five days of the lunar year, is to visit the South Temple and pray for peace. Dances of dragon lanterns, horse lanterns and lions are performed at the community's New Year night parties.
On the 15th day of the first lunar month, local people celebrate the Lantern Festival. Families get together in the evening and eat delicious sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour. Then, they go onto the street where shops and houses are decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers. The cheers of jubilant crowds are joined by music and drumbeats. Ensembles of traditional stringed and woodwind instruments play in the streets until midnight.
During the time between the Lantern Festival and the beginning of the third month is the busy "Spring Stage" season, when Peking operas are staged in Tongli. Local people, men and women, old and young, row their decorated "fast boats" to see one performance after another.
On the 28th day of the third lunar month, an event called "Zhutian Hui" is convened locally each year to commemorate Zhu Youjian, one of the emperors in the late years of Ming Dynasty. Participants tend to be older women, who enjoy sitting together on hassocks and eating vegetarian food.
The 14th day of the fourth lunar month is considered the day the immortals meet on the earth. People try to please them on the day with a parade, in which people walk on sticks, dance land-boat and clam-spirit dances.
Dragon-boat races are held in the fifth month every year. Since there are numerous bodies of water in Tongli, people are especially keen on it. The meticulously painted boats vie with each other to win races.
The 23rd day of the sixth month is the day of "letting the water dragons go." It is actually an annual fire control activity, when water is pumped from the "Great Temple" towards a stream. Large crowds of people join in and get themselves soaked wet by the "water dragons."
On the 30th day of the seventh month, the birthday of the legendary Dizangwang Bodhisattva (king of the underworld), families in Tongli light candles and burn incense in front of their houses or in their yards. Then, the candles are taken to a river or stream and set adrift. Thousands of drifting candles form a fabulous picture like a mobile starry sky.
The Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the eighth month is an important holiday in Tongli. When the sun is setting, families load their tables with all kinds of fruit, water chestnuts, lotus roots and other local foods. They enjoy the food and the beautiful full moon, but do not eat their moon cakes till midnight.
The 20th day of the last month is considered a "minor New Year." During the day, people give their house a thorough cleaning before sitting down and making rice flour dumplings with assorted sweet stuffings. They make rice flour cakes on the 28th day. The different flavored – some with sugar and osmanthus flowers, some with red beans and brown sugar – last till Lantern Festival of the coming year. On New Years’ Eve, families sit together and enjoy a sumptuous feast after working hard for a whole year. After dinner, they talk over rice wine until the New Year. Then the whole town comes out and burns New Year scrolls and firecrackers in celebration. Although the salvos shake the ancient town, happiness and peacefulness is shown on their faces.
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