Chinese Huazhao Festival: Celebration of Flower Goddesses' birth?

Published : 2025-03-14

Editor︰Ryu

The Chinese Huazhao Festival (花朝節), or Festival of Flowers, is generally held around the 15th day of the lunar February, which is the birthday of the Flower Goddesses in Chinese culture.

In recent years, there has been a Hanfu revival craze in Mainland China, with many Hanfu enthusiasts wearing Hanfu, the Chinese Han people's traditional clothing, to participate in celebrations on the Huazhao Festival.

Through exchanges in culture, art, and entertainment, they have a romantic encounter with spring while revitalising this once forgotten traditional festival.

To celebrate Flower Goddesses' birthday?

The Huazhao Festival can be regarded as the annual grand celebration for Hanfu enthusiasts.

Every year around the 15th day of the lunar February, scenic spots all over China hold Hanfu Huazhao Festivals. While promoting traditional Chinese cultural festivals, they also provide more opportunities for Hanfu to step into the public's view.

Although the Huazhao Festival celebrations held in different places may vary, the segments are generally the same.

In addition to enjoying performances and parades by renowned Chinese costume KOLs, there will also be an ensemble of new Chinese folk music, performances by the intangible puppet show, and an antique bazaar, which will immerse visitors in a carnival full of Chinese cultural flavours.

Every year during the Flower Festival, various Hanfu festivals are held across the mainland, bringing Hanfu enthusiasts together to celebrate the holiday.

In some cities or regions, the Huazhao Festival features the traditional custom of "Hundred Flowers' Birthday" with the theme of Intangible Culture Heritage, as well as activities such as flower viewing, enjoying red decorations, and garden tours, which combine tradition with fashion and allow the public to experience the charm of traditional culture from a close distance.

Huazhao Festival and Hanfu culture

During the Flower Festival, girls wearing Hanfu are holding a ceremony to worship the Flower Goddess. (Image Source: VCG)

During the Huazhao Festival, people worship the flower god, burn incense at the flower god temple, pray for blessings from the flower god to ensure the prosperity of the flowers and plants, and young women cut five-coloured paper and paste it on flower branches as decorations.

People also go out to enjoy flowers and have picnics, compose poems and paint. In some places, there are additional customs such as reciting flower orders, releasing flower god lanterns, and making flower cakes. It is a traditional Chinese cultural festival full of poetic and artistic charm.

However, at some point, this festival, which has been recorded since the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), gradually disappeared and became unknown. Many people can only learn a little about it from textbooks.

Fortunately, in recent years, the revival of traditional culture has become a popular trend in Mainland China. As people's attention to traditional culture grows, many traditional arts and festivals are being revitalised.

Nowadays, the Huazhao Festival has become an important festival activity in many famous scenic spots in the mainland, attracting tens of thousands of tourists to participate in the grand event, which ensures the continued transmission and preservation of Chinese traditional culture.