What are the festivals for ancestor worship?

Festivals for ancestor worship include Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Yuan Festival, Han Festival and Winter Solstice.

As an ancient cultural country with thousands of years' history, China has a tradition of ancestor worship since ancient times.

Life, things with ceremony, death, burial with ceremony, sacrifice with ceremony. (The Analects of Confucius is a political article)

Ancestor worship culture is also an important part of filial piety culture, which can be said to be the extension and sublimation of filial piety. In addition to commemorating one's ancestors and deceased elders, there are festivals related to sacrifices, such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the First Silkworm Festival.

Today, I will mainly talk about the festival of ancestor worship:

Tomb-Sweeping Day: April 4th-6th every year.

When it comes to sacrifice, Tomb-Sweeping Day is the most familiar person. Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from Qingming in the twenty-four solar terms. Legend has it that it originated in the Zhou Dynasty before BC and has a history of more than 2,000 years. But as a festival, it began in the Tang Dynasty, and it was only a solar term before.

Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs will vary from place to place, but there are usually activities to worship ancestors, in addition to hiking and planting willows. When I am in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I will make green meatballs, which are filled with shredded radish and red bean paste with shredded pork and pickles.

There will also be an annual silkworm flower festival (there will be one in areas where silkworms are raised). At the silkworm flower party, there will be activities such as welcoming the silkworm god, rocking the clippers, making noise in the Taiwan Pavilion, worshipping incense benches, boxing, dragon lanterns, lifting poles and singing operas, which are very lively. Every year, a girl is chosen as the queen of silkworm flowers.

Mid-Autumn Festival: July 15th of the lunar calendar every year.

The Mid-Yuan Festival, also known as Ghost Festival, is called the Kasahara Festival in Buddhism.

Legend has it that the gate of hell will open on the Lantern Festival, and ghosts will come to the world. People will offer sacrifices to ghosts to prevent them from harming human beings, and families with new funerals will go to new graves.

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the biggest folk festivals in China. The customs of Mid-Autumn Festival include setting off river lanterns and inserting incense on the roadside. When it comes to the Mid-Yuan Festival, we have to mention the Upper Yuan Festival and the Lower Yuan Festival. Shangyuan Festival is on the fifteenth day of the first month, which is also the Lantern Festival. The Central Plains is actually equivalent to the Lantern Festival in the underworld. The next Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, is actually a festival to worship the dead, but now most people don't have it.

These three elements all come from Taoism, namely Shangyuan, Zhongyuan and Xia Yuan. Shangyuan blessed Tianguan, Zhongyuan exempted the local officials, and Xia Yuan exempted the water officials. On the Mid-Yuan Festival, Buddhism calls it Bonsai Festival. At that time, Buddhists will hold a Bonsai Festival to pay tribute to Buddhists and Monks, aiming at educating all living beings, transcending the Six Ways and repaying the care and kindness of parents and relatives.

It has been recorded in the Buddhist Sutra of the Eye Bug Basin. In Sanskrit, the eye bug means to save the hanging device, the eye bug hangs upside down, and the basin means to save.

It probably means to fill a container with hundreds of fruits to worship the monk and Buddha, and let the Buddha help the poor.

Cold clothing festival: the first day of October every year.

Hanyi Festival, also known as October New Moon, is an important festival in ancient times, which was recorded as early as the Zhou Dynasty. After Qin Shihuang unified the Six Dynasties, October was originally the beginning of a year, which was equivalent to the first day of the first lunar month. Naturally, this is an important festival. Sacrificing ancestors at the beginning of the year is also the practice of many families now. The custom of offering sacrifices on Cold Clothes Festival has been handed down.

In October of the lunar calendar, the weather has begun to turn cold, and people think that the dead are also afraid of the cold. Clothes are delivered on this day, and cold clothes are delivered on 1 October1day, so it is also called cold clothes festival.

Winter solstice: every year from 65438+February 2 1 to 65438+February 23.

Like Tomb-Sweeping Day, the winter solstice is also a solar term. It is also a day to worship ancestors. Many people remember that the solstice in winter is to eat jiaozi, glutinous rice balls and wonton. In some places, there is a saying that the winter solstice celebrates the New Year. The winter solstice festival originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, the winter solstice was just a celebration festival. After the Tang dynasty, the activities of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors began to appear, and have been passed down to this day.

In addition, some families will worship their ancestors on New Year's Eve and the Double Ninth Festival. The above is the festival of ancestor worship. I've listed these days to inform you that you can worship your ancestors and burn some incense paper when it's convenient.