Four festivals for ancestor worship

New Year's Eve, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Double Ninth Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival (except, Qing, Jiu and Yu) are the four major festivals for ancestor worship in Chinese traditional festivals. In ancient times, this custom was very popular. Due to different local customs and habits, the forms of ancestor worship are also different.

On December 30 or 29 of the lunar calendar, ancestor worship is held on New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve refers to the night on the last day of the lunar calendar, that is, the eve of the New Year's Day. Because it often falls on the 29th or 30th day of the twelfth lunar month in the summer calendar, it is also called the 30th anniversary, which is one of the most important traditional festivals of the Han nationality. Han people attach great importance to it. Every household is busy cleaning the courtyard, welcoming ancestors home for the New Year, and offering sacrifices with rice cakes and three sacrifices. In some parts of our country, there is a custom of going to the grave on New Year's Eve, which is called giving new year's goods. The time to go to the grave is usually New Year's Eve afternoon. People send the prepared New Year's Eve dinner to the graves of their deceased relatives, so that the deceased relatives and the living can enjoy the delicious food on New Year's Eve together, in order to pin people's grief over their deceased relatives. There are different forms of ancestor worship, such as sweeping graves in the wild and ancestor worship in ancestral temples. Most of them put their ancestors' tablets in the main hall in turn at home to show their offerings, and then worshippers worship in order of age. Han people worship their ancestors and make more fish tanks filled with high bowls, which means ringing bells. Southerners live in Beijing, and ancestor worship is particularly grand.

Tomb-Sweeping Day worships his ancestors.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, the first 108 day from winter to the future. It is a traditional festival in China, and it is also one of the most important festivals to worship ancestors and sweep graves. The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day of the Han nationality in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Influenced by the Han culture, 24 ethnic minorities in China, such as Manchu, Hezhe, Zhuang, Oroqen, Dong, Tujia, Miao, Yao, Li, Shui, Jing and Qiang, also have the customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day. Although customs vary from place to place, grave-sweeping and outing are the basic themes.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Mid-Autumn Festival worships ancestors.

The festival of ancestor worship is on the fifteenth day of July in the lunar calendar, so it is called "July and a half" for short. At that time, the midsummer was over and the autumn coolness had just begun. Folk believe that ancestors will return home to visit their children and grandchildren at this time, so they need to worship their ancestors. Worship ceremonies are usually held in the evening before the end of July, and are not limited to a specific day. You should worship your ancestors on normal days, and generally don't move their tablets. At the time of ancestor worship in July and a half, the ancestral tablets should be invited out one by one, respectfully put on the sacrificial table dedicated to worship, and then burn incense, drink tea and eat rice in front of each ancestor's tablet three times a day in the morning, middle and faint until July 30. If there is a portrait of your ancestors, please come out and hang it. When worshipping, kowtow to each ancestor in the order of seniority and seniority, pray silently, report to the ancestors and ask others to check their words and deeds this year first, so as to protect their peace and happiness. Burning paper money and clothes when you go back is called burning: "painting", or a Buddhist or Taoist ceremony. In some areas of Jiangxi and Hunan, Mid-Autumn Festival is more important than Tomb-Sweeping Day or Double Ninth Festival.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the Double Ninth Festival is a festival to worship ancestors.

Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is called "Double Ninth Festival". People have the custom of climbing mountains on that day, so the Double Ninth Festival is also called "Mountaineering Festival". There are also sayings such as Double Ninth Festival, Cornus officinalis and Chrysanthemum Festival. Because the homonym of "99" on the ninth day of September is "long" and has a long-term meaning, activities to worship ancestors and respect the elderly are often carried out on this day.