Renri
| Renri | |
|---|---|
| Also called | Human Day |
| Observed by | Chinese people |
| Type | Cultural, religious (Chinese folk religion) |
| 2016 date | Sunday, 14 February |
| 2017 date | Friday, 3 February |
| 2018 date | Thursday, 22 February |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Chinese New Year, Jinjitsu |
Renri (Chinese: 人日; pinyin: Rénrì; Wade–Giles: Jen2-jih4; literally: "Human Day") refers specifically to the 7th day of zhengyue (正月, the first month in the Chinese calendar). According to Chinese customs, Renri was the day human beings were created. It is celebrated not only in China, but also in other regions influenced by Chinese culture.
In Chinese mythology, Nüwa (女媧) is the goddess who created the world. She created the animals on different days, and human beings on the seventh day after the creation of the world.Questions and Answers on Rites and Customs (答問禮俗說) by Dong Xun (董勛) of the Jin dynasty and the Book of Divination (占書), an earlier of publication by Dongfang Suo (東方朔) in the Western Han dynasty, both specify the order of creation:
Hence, Chinese tradition has set the first day of zhengyue as the "birthday" of the chicken, the second day of zhengyue as the "birthday" of the dog, etc. And the seventh day of zhengyue is viewed as the common "birthday" of all human beings.
According to legend, the custom dates back to the Han dynasty, and gained importance after the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty. Ancient Chinese had a tradition of wearing head ornaments called rensheng (人勝), which were made of ribbon or gold and represented humans. People also climbed mountains and composed poems. Emperors after the Tang dynasty granted ribbon rensheng to their subjects and held festivities with them. If there were good weather on Renri, it was considered that people will have a year of peace and prosperity.
...
Wikipedia