The Three Officials and Sanyuan Festivals
Follow the three observances of the Daoist lunar calendar and distinguish their shared religious framework from the different customs associated with each date.
Key terms: Sanyuan · Shangyuan · Zhongyuan · Xiayuan · Three Officials · Lantern Festival · lunar calendarLearning path
- Begin with the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water and their relationship to the three Sanyuan dates.
- Use the Sanyuan overview to locate the fifteenth days of the first, seventh and tenth lunar months; these are not fixed Gregorian dates.
- Compare Shangyuan's lantern celebrations, Zhongyuan's remembrance of the dead and Xiayuan's Water Official observance.
- Distinguish Daoist calendar meanings from Buddhist observances and local customs that share related dates or concerns.
Core entries
5 entriesDeities and Immortals
1 entryRituals and Customs
4 entriesSanyuan Festivals
The Sanyuan festivals are three Daoist observances associated with the Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water. Shangyuan falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhongyuan on the fifteenth of the seventh, and Xiayuan on the fifteenth of the tenth.
Read entry →Shangyuan Festival
Shangyuan is the first of the three Sanyuan festivals, observed on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. In Daoist tradition it honours the Heavenly Official. The same date is widely associated with Yuanxiao, or the Lantern Festival.
Read entry →Zhongyuan Festival
Zhongyuan Festival falls around the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. Daoist accounts of the Earth Official, Buddhist Ullambana traditions, and local ancestor remembrance overlap in this season without sharing a single origin or uniform practice.
Read entry →Xiayuan Festival
Xiayuan is the last of the three Sanyuan observances, held on the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month. Daoist tradition honours the Water Official on this date, associating the festival with relief from adversity as well as remembrance of the deceased.
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