In Guangxi, the traditional customs of the Day of the Mid-Yuan Festival in the day to eat "duck", but why this day to eat duck?

Every year on the 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar Ghost Festival will always see the people of Guangxi side of the family are killing ducks to eat ducks, with the killing of ducks to worship ancestors. Every ghost festival this day Nanning various food market sold duck basically can be sold out, very best-selling. Why is there a tradition and custom of killing and eating ducks on the Ghost Festival in Guangxi?

Legend has it that a long time ago, people are from the beginning of spring, that is, in March and April began to raise ducks, about four to five months later, that is, the "Ghost Festival" this time is the ducks grow into the season. Because people in ancient times lived in poverty, they could only kill ducks for food on festivals. So when the ghost festival families to the "ghost festival" on the kill duck, eat duck, over time, also formed a tradition, a ghost festival to eat duck. Later, it was given a variety of legends by people in different places, which generally means that it is to drive away demons and evil spirits.

The 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar every year, commonly known as the Ghost Festival, is the Guangxi Zhuang folk worship ancestors of the longest festival. On this day every family makes rice flour, mochi, sugar cake as dinner and kills ducks to worship ancestors. Legend has it that the ancestors who have passed away are separated by a "Nai River" in the underworld, so they need to kill ducks to make sacrifices and let the ducks carry the sacrifices across the river. Therefore, they kill a good cooked duck in addition to the hall **** sacrifice, but also put the duck in the doorway worship, and then burn black, purple, blue, yellow, white and other five-color paper cut into clothes and paper money, so that the ducks brought to the ancestors for a year to wear. This custom is carried on to this day.

I think fifteen is the ghost festival, and fourteen is the day of ancestor worship. In our case, we will kill the ducks, cook a lot of dishes, and then offer sacrifices to our ancestors on the 14th. But also burn clothes, my family each ancestor to do a bag, which puts the paper made clothes shoes and all kinds of money and so on, each bag to write a good name, what is the grandmother, the old ancestor too. And then mean to burn. But also to worship a tandem clothes man, he is responsible for the burned clothes with a stretcher to pick back to the ancestors. Is a courier role.

Then on the fifteenth day, we would make some small shoes, which we called wooden shoes, and make so many dozens of pairs, and then each family would buy tofu and hollowed out vegetables, and in the evening they would go to the nearest road in front of a house. Burn incense, put rice, tofu and hollow vegetables, come to worship, and finally burn the wooden shoes. Said that tonight there are many lonely souls wandering in the street, so in order to keep them from entering their homes, they offer them food and drink, and give them shoes to wear. Let them have the strength to go back to the netherworld. Finally the meal with the bowl upside down on the side of the road, the next day before the bowl back. But now they all take disposable bowls.