Mid-Autumn Festival and Cold Food Festival

Category: Social/Cultural Festivals and Holidays

Analysis:

Every year, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is called the Orchid Festival, which is also called the Mid-Autumn Festival. In some places, it is usually called the Ghost Festival and the Stone Drum Festival, and it is also called the Day of the Dead and the Half Moon Festival.

"Ghost Festival", commonly known as "July and a half" (13th or 14th in some areas). It is said that the dead ancestors were released by Yan for half a month at the beginning of July, so there is a custom of picking up their ancestors at the beginning of July and seeing them off at the end of July. When sending ancestors, a lot of paper money was burned for "ancestors to enjoy". At the same time, put the money paper in a paper envelope with the owner's name written on it and burn it during the sacrifice, which is called "burning the bag". Burn new bags that died during the year, and burn old bags that died more than one year.

No matter rich or poor, they should prepare dining tables and paper money to pay homage to the dead to express their memory of their dead ancestors. Mid-Autumn Festival is usually seven days, with new and old dead. Those who die within three years are called new deaths, and those who died three years ago are called old deaths. Superstition is that old people and new people will go home to visit during this time, and old people and new people will come back at different times. The new one will come back first, and the old one will come back after the meeting. Therefore, it is necessary to visit the shrine alone. The time to burn paper money is in the dead of night. Sprinkle a few circles of lime in the yard first, saying that the ghosts dare not rob the paper money when it is burned in the circle, and then burn it in piles. When I was burning, I kept saying, "So-and-so will get the money." Finally, we have to burn a pile outside the circle, saying it is for ghosts. On the day when the deceased goes back, both the rich and the poor should cook a big meal to commemorate the deceased, which is also called "farewell".

In Indian Buddhist ceremonies, Buddhists hold a "Bonbon Conference" to recommend their ancestors. Bon Jiao Jing, a Buddhist scripture, is used to cultivate filial piety and encourage Buddhist disciples, which is in line with the popular belief of pursuing the first and mourning for distant places in China, so it is becoming more and more popular. The story of Mu Lian saving his mother's ear is widely circulated among the people: "Those who have Mu Lian monks have great power. His mother fell into the hungry ghost road, and the food entrance turned into a flame. Hunger was too bitter. Mu Lian couldn't save his mother, so he asked the Buddha for advice. In order to talk about the Lanpen Sutra, she taught people to make a Lanpen to save their mother on July 15. "

China followed this practice from the Liang Dynasty and became the Mid-Yuan Festival. However, later, in addition to setting up fasting for monks, activities such as repentance and setting fire to burners were added.

On this day, the master stage and the stone drum stage were set up in front of Jiekou Village in advance. In front of the master's seat, there is a bodhisattva-the king of earth treasure who crossed the hell. Below is a plate of peaches and rice. Shigu stood on the stage, holding three spiritual tablets and evocative complications. After noon, every household puts whole pigs, whole sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, as well as various cakes, fruits and melons on the stone drum stage. The person in charge inserted a triangular paper flag of blue, red and green on each sacrifice, and wrote the words "Yulan Festival" and "Manna Gate Open". The ceremony began with solemn temple music. Then, the mage rang the bell and led the monks in the seat to recite various spells and mantras. Then feed, sprinkle a plate of peaches and rice in all directions, and repeat three times. This ceremony is called "Flame Opening".

At night, every household should burn incense in front of their own house and put incense on the ground. The more, the better, which symbolizes the bumper harvest of grain. This is the so-called "field expansion". In some places, there are water lanterns.

The so-called water lamp is a kind of lamp tied to a small board, mostly in the shape of a lotus made of colored paper, which is called a "flood and drought lamp". According to tradition, water lamps are used to guide those who are unjust and die. When the light goes out, the water light has completed the task of guiding the ghost across the Naihe Bridge. The shops were closed that day, and the streets were closed to death. In the middle of the street, there is an incense table every hundred steps. There are fresh melons and fruits and a kind of "ghost steamed stuffed bun" on the incense table, and Taoist priests sing ghost songs that people can't understand. This ceremony is called "serving Gore".

Shangyuan Festival is the Lantern Festival on earth, and people decorate lanterns to celebrate it. The Central Plains comes from Shangyuan. People think that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a ghost festival, and lanterns should also be put on to celebrate the festival for ghosts. But people and ghosts are different, so the lights in the Central Plains are different from those in Shangyuan. People are yang, ghosts are yin; The earth is yang and the water is yin. The mysterious darkness underwater reminds people of the legendary hell, where ghosts sink. So Shangyuan's lamp is on land, and Zhongyuan's lamp is in water.

The Cold Food Festival is held three days before and after the Tomb-Sweeping Day of the China lunar calendar. According to legend, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, traveled around the world and experienced hardships. Once, when he was hungry and helpless, Jie Zhitui cut off the meat on his thigh for him to eat. Later, when Zhong Er became king (Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period), he and his mother went to look for Jie Zhitui hiding in the mountains. I couldn't find it anywhere, so I ordered the release of Yamakaji and tried to force Jietui out, but in the end I found Jietui and his mother burned to death. Zhong Er regretted it very much, so he stipulated that no fire was allowed at this time of the year, and all cold food should be eaten. This is the so-called Cold Food Festival (the local residents in Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province still have a deep memory of this, but it was limited to their thoughts, and there was no activity of eating cold food within three days of the actual festival). In fact, the real origin of the Cold Food Festival originated from the ancient system of drilling wood for fire. Because of different seasons, the ancients used different trees to drill fires, which is the custom of making fires in different seasons. And every time you change the fire, you have to change a new one. It was a great event at that time that people were forbidden to make a fire before a new fire came. The customs of the Cold Food Festival include going to the grave, hiking, cockfighting, swinging, playing with carpets, pulling hooks (tug of war) and so on. The custom of going to the grave is very old.

In the past, the Spring Festival in China was held at the Cold Food Festival until it was changed to Tomb-Sweeping Day. However, South Korea still retains the tradition of holding Spring Festival activities at the Cold Food Festival.

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