Radical 艹

5 strokes

grass 艹 (218a) + seal 卩 (560a) = festival 节

In this character the first stroke of “seal” (560a) is lengthened and the vertical stroke starts part-way along it.

The character also means “a node or segment”, “an agenda” or “to economize”.

节目 (93) jiémù (TV, radio) program

节日 (6) jiérì festival day

Once a year the king allows his seal to be hidden in a huge pile of grass and the children have to find it — the resulting scrum is the highlight of the festival. / Two fairies prepare a huge jelly for the feast afterwards (picture them having to keep plucking stray pieces of grass out of the jelly).

This has several variant forms (see 560, 562a and 564a).

It refers to a seal for authenticating documents, which could be carried around and served as a badge of office.