Happy Human Day!

February 8th, 2017

Illustation Artist: Janice Liu

According to Chinese customs, the 7th day of the first lunar month is also called Renri in Mandarin, which means the birthday for all mankind.

In traditional Chinese folklore, Nuwa is known as the God who created the world together with her husband Fuxi. It is believed that Nuwa created different animals on different days- human beings were created from yellow clay with her divine power on the 7th day.

Although people no longer celebrate their individual birthdays on Renri, it has evolved into a part of the Lunar New Year festival in China, Japan and Taiwan.

In China, people celebrate the day with food that symbolize prosperity and surplus in the coming year, such as pancakes, jidi congee and seven-coloured raw fish. Whereas in Taiwan, people celebrate it with seven-vegetable soup. Even though Japan does not follow the Lunar Calendar anymore, they still celebrate Renri, or Jinjitsu in Japanese on the 7th of January every year. Japanese celebrate the day with a similar dish called “seven herb congee” that symbolizes good health for the rest of the year.