Names and variants
- Simplified
- 三元节
- Traditional
- 三元節
- Other names
- San Yuan Festivals, Sanyuan Jie, Three Yuan Festivals
- Pinyin
- Sān yuán jié
- English
- Sanyuan Festivals
Overview
The three dates form a religious calendar linked to the Three Officials. In Daoist belief, the Heavenly Official bestows blessings, the Earthly Official pardons faults, and the Water Official relieves adversity. The festival dates are also observed as their sacred birthdays.
The source connects their development with earlier Celestial Masters community meetings and the religious assessment of conduct. However, it records different dates for those earlier meetings. The later three-festival calendar should therefore not be projected unchanged into every early Daoist community.
Each festival also belongs to a wider field of seasonal customs. Shangyuan overlaps with the lantern celebrations of the first lunar month; Zhongyuan and Xiayuan include traditions of remembrance for the dead. The shared three-part calendar does not mean that the three days have identical ceremonies or the same prominence in every place.
References
- [1]Dictionary of Daoism