China's Farmers' Harvest Festival is here, and this year you can celebrate it on the autumn equinox

News from June 21: The State Council has agreed that, starting from 2018, the autumnal equinox of the lunar calendar each year will be established as the "Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival." Seeing in the news that the autumnal equinox each year is to be designated the "Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival," I felt a little surprised, because I studied agriculture and my hometown is in the countryside; I am a country person born and raised there. When I heard the news, I was still very happy.

Since this festival has been established, it certainly has a certain significance. Setting the autumnal equinox each year as a festival for farmers' harvest is actually very fitting. The autumnal equinox is one of the twenty-four solar terms, and on that day the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. In addition, autumn really is the harvest season: spring blossoms and autumn fruit, osmanthus fragrance everywhere, and the joy of harvest overflowing in every place. The autumnal equinox falls in September, in the latter half of the year; after the autumn harvest, farmers can take a rest and no longer need to labor in the fields.

Moreover, many ethnic minorities in our country also have special festivals to celebrate the harvest, such as the She ethnic group's Harvest Festival and the Tibetan Wangguo Festival, all of which are for celebrating the harvest. And our country is also a traditional major agricultural country, so the harvest has special meaning for the people. Celebrating the harvest also comes from the hearts of the people. It is also the inheritance and development of our country's traditional excellent farming culture.

In addition, many foreign countries also have festivals similar to harvest celebrations, such as Poland's Harvest Festival, Portugal's agricultural festival, and Russia's Field Day, all of which are festivals celebrating agricultural harvests and also serve as a certain reference for us.

At the same time, I believe that establishing the "Harvest Festival" also reflects the state's attention to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and helps farmers enhance their sense of honor and self-confidence. It encourages young people's enthusiasm to return to their hometowns and start businesses, and helps people pay attention to the development of agricultural science and technology. Moreover, the establishment of the "Harvest Festival" helps more people pay attention to rural areas, promotes the development of rural tourism, ecological agriculture, and so on, promotes the construction and development of rural areas, and meets people's needs for a better life.

The above comes from Kexue Xingnong.