Barber shop honors tradition for Longtaitou

A barber gives free haircut to a sanitation worker at Silian Hair Salon in Beijing on March 11, 2024. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]

Silian Hair Salon, a time-honored barber shop in Beijing's Wangfujing area, opened its door two hours earlier than normal on Monday to accommodate more customers and provided free haircuts to sanitation workers in celebration of the Dragon-Head-Raising Festival.

Dragon-Head-Raising Festival, or the traditional Chinese Longtaitou Festival, falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year, and recognizes the start of spring and farming. This year it falls on March 11.

The festival celebrates ancient agrarian Chinese culture, and while some of traditional ways to celebrate it are no longer practiced, others persist.

The most famous tradition is getting a haircut. Some believe that going to the barber on this day gets rid of bad luck.

Sanitation workers queue up for a haircut at Silian Hair Salon in Beijing on March 11, 2024. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]

A barber gives free haircut to a sanitation worker at Silian Hair Salon in Beijing on March 11, 2024. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]

A barber gives free haircut to a sanitation worker at Silian Hair Salon in Beijing on March 11, 2024. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]