Each February, villagers in eastern China gather at a centuries-old ancestral hall to greet the arrival of spring, a seasonal ritual that has long been a part of local life
BEIJING, Feb. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A traditional ceremony to welcome the Beginning of Spring, one of China's Twenty-Four Solar Terms, took place on February 4 in Miaoyan Village, Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. The event was held at the historic Wutong Ancestral Hall, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation of the Jiuhua Beginning of Spring Ceremony. Titled "Spring Awakens in Quzhou: Where China's Season Begins," the occasion set ancient custom alongside contemporary celebration.
The ceremony opened with twenty-four chimes of a bell, accompanied by drumming, as the Beginning of Spring flag was raised. Villagers presented ten ceremonial offerings, among them spring cakes and local pastries, to Gou Mang, the God of Spring, symbolizing completeness and good fortune. The traditional ritual known as "Whipping the Spring Ox" then took place, signaling the start of the farming season and expressing the wish for a fruitful year. Children passed out peanuts and candies to the crowd, lending a lighthearted touch to the proceedings.
Wu Haigen, a cultural inheritor of the ceremony, noted that its origins date back to the Song Dynasty. He said that the Wutong Ancestral Hall is the only temple in China devoted exclusively to honoring the Spring God. "The ceremony maintains the core of Jiangnan's farming traditions," Wu said, "and rituals like whipping the spring ox carry forward enduring hopes for abundance and prosperity."
For the past decade, Quzhou has returned to this heritage each year. Alongside the ceremony, a Beginning of Spring Culture Exhibition Hall now stands nearby, and the ritual has found a place in the lives of the town's visitors as well as locals. These steps have helped the local observance gain national recognition less as an organized event than as a seasonal moment where tradition is watched, shared, and passed on.
As the season turns, Quzhou moves with the rhythms of an old tradition that continues to be observed, welcoming a spring that is both historically meaningful and still unfolding in the present.
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