In a few days, it will be China's traditional festival - Zhongyuan Festival. Zhongyuan Festival has been circulating in China for a long time and is also called ghost festival in the people. Since the Zhongyuan Festival is a traditional festival in China and has a long historical accumulation, it must have left a lot of traditional customs. This article brings you an inventory of Zhongyuan festival customs. Let's get to know it.
People believe that the Zhongyuan Festival is a ghost festival, and lights should also be put on to celebrate the festival for ghosts. But people and ghosts are different, so Zhongyuan zhangdeng is different from Shangyuan zhangdeng. Man made Yang, ghost for Yin; Lu is Yang and water is Yin. The mysterious darkness under the water reminds people of the legendary ghost hell, where ghosts sink. So the Shangyuan lantern is on land and the Zhongyuan lantern is in water. Today's lanterns have become a happy activity. According to the Buddhist ritual of Yulan basin meeting, putting on the river lantern is only one of the small programs, which doesn't seem to matter much. In the folk activities of Zhongyuan Festival, lighting is more important.
River lanterns are also called 'Lotus lanterns'. River lanterns are usually placed on the base with lamps or candles. Zhongyuan night is placed in rivers, lakes and seas, allowing them to float. The purpose of putting river lanterns is to ferry drowning ghosts and other lonely ghosts in the water. A passage in the biography of Hulan River by Xiao Hong, a modern female writer, is the best footnote to this custom: 'July 15 is a ghost festival; The dead soul is angry with the ghost. It can't support life. It's very hard to linger in hell. If you want to support life, you can't find the way. On this day, if a dead ghost holds a river lamp, he has to give birth '. The road from the underworld to the sun is very dark. You can't see the road without lights. So it's a good thing to put the lights on. It can be seen that the living gentlemen have not forgotten the dead ghost.
Ancestor worship
The ancestor worship Festival is on July 15 of the lunar calendar, so it is referred to as' July and a half 'for ancestor worship. At this time, the midsummer has passed and the cool autumn has just begun. People believe that ancestors will also return home to visit their children at this time, so they need to sacrifice their ancestors. The worship ceremony is generally held in the evening before the end of July, not limited to a specific day. In ordinary days, we should worship our ancestors and generally do not move their memorial tablets. In the "July and a half" festival, the memorial tablets of our ancestors should be invited out one by one, respectfully placed on the dedicated sacrificial table, and then incense should be inserted in front of each ancestor's memorial tablet. Tea and dinner should be provided three times a day in the morning, afternoon and dusk until they are returned on July 30. If there are portraits of ancestors, please hang them up. During the worship, kowtow to each ancestor, pray silently, report to the ancestors, and ask the ancestors to examine their words and deeds this year, so as to bless their peace and happiness. When returning, burn paper money and clothes, which is called burning coating, or Buddhist or Taoist transcendental Dharma. In some areas of Jiangxi and Hunan, the Zhongyuan Festival is more important than the Qingming Festival or the Double Ninth Festival.
Sheep Festival
The 15th day of July in the lunar calendar is also known as the 'sheep Festival'. In Shuowen Jiezi, written by Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty, it is said: 'sheep are auspicious.' It is also called Yang Tongxiang in oracle inscriptions. It can be seen that in ancient times, sheep, an animal, always represented auspiciousness. In old Beijing and the rural areas of North China, the folk custom of sending live sheep to your nephew by your grandfather and uncle on July 15 is popular. It is said that this custom is related to the legend of aloes splitting the mountain to save its mother. After Chenxiang split the mountain to save her mother, she wanted to hunt down her uncle Erlang God, who abused her mother. Erlang God sent a pair of live sheep to Chenxiang on July 15 every year in order to rebuild the friendship between brother and sister and uncle and nephew. It is said that this is the homonym of Erlang God and Chenxiang's mother 'Yang' to reunite the two families. Since then, the custom of Uncle sending live sheep has been left among the people, and later gradually evolved into sending a opposite sheep.
Before the 15th festival of July, dough sculpture activities were popular among folk women, especially in northern Shanxi. A family steamed steamed buns, and the neighbors came to help. First, according to the actual number of people in the family, give everyone a big steamed bun first. The steamed buns given to the younger generation should be made into a flat shape, which is called the noodle sheep. Take the meaning of the lamb to eat milk and kneel on both knees. I hope the younger generation will not forget the kindness of their parents' upbringing; The steamed buns given to the elders should be kneaded into an adult shape, which is called dough man, which means that the hall is full of children and grandchildren, and both happiness and longevity; The steamed buns given to the people of the same generation should be kneaded into a fish shape, which is called noodle fish, which means more than one year in a row. Now it is completely based on the owner's taste. There are steamed buns in various shapes of sheep, tigers, cattle, fish, rabbits and people. After the steamed buns of one animal per capita are kneaded, many steamed buns in the shapes of melons, fruits, peaches, plums, lotus, chrysanthemums and plum are kneaded, dotted with flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies and squirrels. It's smaller than before. It's a gift for relatives and friends. After these dough sculptures are steamed and colored, they look lifelike. Each can be called an excellent handicraft. Watching dough figurines on July 15 has become a program for peasant women to show their dexterity.
Rob the orphan
In some parts of Taiwan, the activity of "robbing orphans" was popular in the middle Yuan Dynasty. The orphan shed was composed of four columns covered with butter. The contestants were divided into four teams and climbed up the orphan shed from four directions. At the top of the orphan shed, there were sacrifices on all sides. The team who grabbed it first won. This activity has become the most important activity in Zhongyuan, Toucheng, and has attracted many tourists.
July 15 is the Chinese New Year's day. It is mainly to sacrifice ancestors, so it is also called ghost festival. Watermelon is indispensable in the offering, so it is also called melon Festival. According to Buddhist legend, the mother of Mulian (Mulian is a Buddhist figure and one of the ten disciples of Sakyamuni) fell into the hungry ghost Road, and the food entrance turned into a fire. Mulian asked the Buddha for help. The Buddha read the Yulan basin Sutra for him and asked him to make a Yulan Basin on July 15 to sacrifice his mother. In modern times, offering melons and fruits and Chenhe hemp to sacrifice our ancestors, of course, has a new meaning, which is also the legacy of pot sacrifice. In the old days, on the Zhongyuan Festival, a Yulan basin meeting was held to save Mulian's mother. Later, it gradually evolved into a river lantern to offer sacrifices to ownerless souls and accidental deaths. The Zhongyuan River lantern scene in Dezhou is very spectacular. People use melon skin, flour bowls and paper to make lamps, and take streets and lanes as units to make a large paper boat. Paper Zha Mulian stands on the boat and holds a nine ring Zen stick. On the night of the Zhongyuan Dynasty, people put lamps and paper boats into Hanoi and went down the river. The lights on the river were bright and swaying like stars in the sky. In the coastal area of Jiaodong, Taoists put lights in the sea by boat and played silk and bamboo music. People on both sides of the Dezhou canal flocked to the riverbank to watch the lights. Tengzhou also has the custom of putting river lanterns in the same form as Dezhou. The difference is that in front of the river lanterns, incense tables are placed and Buddhist scriptures are read. While chanting scriptures, Buddhist teachers sprinkle small steamed buns under the stage. Children flock up and grab it. It is said that eating them can eliminate disasters. In order to offer sacrifices to their relatives who drowned in the sea, long island fishermen made small boats from wood and sorghum straw. The memorial tablets and offerings for those who drowned in the sea, such as candy and cakes, some even loaded cotton padded clothes, shoes and hats and daily necessities loved by the dead, then lit candles, and the married men of the same generation put the boat into the sea.
The custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors on the Zhongyuan Festival is more common in Shandong. Generally, they bring sacrifices to the grave in the afternoon. The sacrifices in Shan county are particularly abundant, including Yulan pots made of bamboo, clothes and hats made of paper and a vegetarian table. Zichuan invited the ancestors to sacrifice at home. Every family put grain ears on the top of the gate. It is said that the grain is used as a horse. After the sacrifice, the ancestors can go back with the horse.
The diet of the Zhongyuan Festival is generally steamed stuffed buns, dumplings and steamed bread. After dinner, we eat apples, pears and other seasonal fruits. Lingxian county is the only exception to call the Zhongyuan Festival pinch mouth Festival and eat plain food.