Half of July (Chinese Traditional Festival)

The Half of July (Traditional Chinese Festival)

Five days after the long and romantic Tanabata Festival, comes the half of July, our traditional festival.

Many people would regard the half of July as a ghost festival, so they are not too willing to mention it, do you know the real meaning of the half of July?

The half of July is one of the three major ancestral festivals in the Chinese tradition, which can be traced back to the worship of ancestral spirits and the related time sacrifices in the ancient times. In the I Ching, seven is the number of rebirth, the number of change. Repeating its path, seven days to repeat the heavenly line also. Seven is the number of yang, the number of heaven, and the number of days after the extinction of yang energy between heaven and earth, after seven days can be resurrected.

This is the way heaven and earth run, the way yin and yang grow and recycle, so the folk chose to worship their ancestors on the 14th day of the 7th month of the 2nd lunar month. (This year's half of the seventh month will be on Thursday, August 11, 2022, the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar in the wu-shen month of the year renyin.)

July is the month of good fortune and filial piety, and the half of the seventh month is a folk festival to celebrate the harvest and reward the earth in early fall. Folk should offer sacrifices to their ancestors, make offerings of new rice, report the success of the fall to their ancestors, and express their longing for their ancestors and relatives. The July 30th Ancestor Sacrifice Festival known as Zhongyuan Festival originated after the Eastern Han Dynasty, roughly during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and in the Tang Dynasty, when rulers promoted Taoism, the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival began to flourish, gradually fixing Zhongyuan as the name of the festival. It is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and is still in use today.

(This year's Zhongyuan Festival will be held on August 12, 2022, on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, Friday, in the year of Wushen in the year of renyin.)Among the Taoist gods are the Heavenly Palace (Heavenly Officials), the Earthly Palace (Earthly Officials), and the Water Palace (Water Officials), collectively known as the Three Heavenly Palace Great Emperors or the Three Great Emperors, who are the representatives of heaven and earth on earth, and who respectively check the merits and sins of the people in the Heavenly Palace on the day of the Three Great Emperors in order to reward them for their punishments. The Earth Officer, on the other hand, opens the gates of hell to allow the dead souls to leave the underworld and visit their homes.

Since they have to come back from the earth, the descendants have to go to light a long bright lamp to illuminate their way back home, it may be that the hell is too dark, the light is the warmth of home, or it may be that they can't distinguish the way back home anymore. The reason they come back is that they are relieved for their descendants. So we need to show them the good life. A day or two in advance to do a big cleaning of the home, and then the ancestors loved ones before the life of the favorite items neatly displayed in the home.

To respect the elderly, but also more to enhance the spirit of self, so that the ancestors no longer worry about us, can rest assured that they can go to complete their things. This is the unique Chinese flavor of human feelings, ancestors, loved ones died, did not leave us, just to another world to live. Of course people can not be resurrected from the dead, and not superstitious, in order to remember ancestors for generations.

One of the customs is the money of the burden, to write the baggage list, as with the writing of courier lists, generally fill in the name of three generations, get it clear, you can fill in the seven generations, in order to let future generations of children and grandchildren can remember the name of the ancestors. This is also the Chinese people talk about filial piety, filial piety embodiment, for the elderly in life and after life to do filial piety.

The core significance of the half of July is a cultural expression of honoring one's ancestors and remembering them. When you burn paper for your ancestors, you also look after your neighbors' ancestors. In the past, when you were cleaning the graves of your neighbors, you would symbolically sweep the graves of your neighbors and say hello. This is also the embodiment of great love, great kindness and great beauty of the concept of caring for one's elders and caring for one's children.

There are many other customs of the half of the seventh month, listed here a little.

One of them is to recommend a new ancestor. In ancient times, people for the agricultural harvest, long to the refuge of the gods. Sacrifice ancestors in the spring, summer, fall and winter, but the early fall of autumn is very important. Autumn is the harvest season, and people held ceremonies to offer sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. Seasonal delicacies are first offered to the gods for their enjoyment, and then they taste the fruits of their labor and pray for a good harvest in the coming year.

Secondly, in some places there is the custom of grandmothers giving sheep to their grandsons and granddaughters. In the past, they used to give real live sheep, but later it was changed to face sheep. The purpose of giving sheep is to let the children know from an early age to be filial to their mothers, just like the crows feeding and the lambs kneeling to breastfeed.

Third, the custom of releasing river lanterns. Generally put the lotus leaf lamp, there are also that clam shells to put lamps. In order to light the lamp to light their way home, lead them to find their own home, there are fireworks, lights for the Chinese people have a special meaning. Symbolizing the prosperity of the people, the successor.

Fourth, the custom of the birth of Zhu Zi. The custom began in the Song Dynasty, in July, neighbors send each other dolls, blessing the childless families to give birth to a child early, to continue the flame. The recipient of the gift of the family to express gratitude, send a return gift, inherited the Chinese custom of courtesy, but also the development of a beautiful and harmonious neighborly relations.

The fifth, entertaining the gods race. This is a very important cultural and recreational activity for the local community during the apocalyptic festivals. In the past, when Shanghai held ceremonies, the city god would be carried out, accompanied by dragon dance, blowing and stilt walking.

Of course, there are rituals and customs all over the world, so here's the general idea. Suddenly I don't feel the need to say so much, I feel that I may not be able to use it in the future. Thinking about it is also, in the promotion and inheritance of Chinese culture at the same time, will not also in the loss of our culture? Of course it is very important to protect and maintain environmental hygiene, and there is no denying that. It is worth pondering whether we will lose our 5,000 years of Chinese culture and etiquette while we accomplish the maintenance of the environment?

If this goes on, will there be no difference between Chinese and foreigners? To know our five thousand years of culture and etiquette, it is by thousands of years of ancestor's sacrifice, ancestor sacrifice and passed down the etiquette, thus we have a standard set of etiquette, so that we can pass down the culture. It really feels sad. I can't help but think that as Chinese people can't even protect their own etiquette and culture and shed tears. But I believe everything will be fine.

While there have been some changes in the way we worship our ancestors, we can still do it in a civilized and traditional way. We can offer our ancestors with chicken, fish, pig, wine and rice, and then kneel down and talk to them more.

Filial piety is a behavior promoted by families, schools, places of worship, society and even the world. Filial piety is supposed to be a natural behavior, as the crow knows how to feed itself, and the lamb knows how to kneel down, not to mention human beings. The culture of filial piety that has been practiced in China for thousands of years is much more than filial piety to parents. China is a culture of bloodline, so ancestors are very important in the Chinese mindset. They are the pioneers of the family and the transmitters of the spirit. It is the ancestors of the family who created my grandfather, my father, my mother, and me.

The so-called ancestors of the eighteen generations refers to their own up and down nine generations of clan members, from small to large, respectively: ear grandson, cloud grandson, still grandson, descendant grandson, come grandson, Xuan grandchildren, great-grandson, grandchildren, son, father, ancestor, great-grandfather, great-grandfather, high ancestor, heavenly ancestor, martyr ancestor, great-grandfather, distant ancestor, nose ancestor. Special attention should be paid to the ancestors to fill in the baggage list, the ancestor's name must be written all correctly, can not be wrong a word can not write homophonic words can not omit the first name only to leave the last name is written as a certain family name.

Ancestors' names must be made clear, otherwise it is unfilial to the ancestors. And the name of the ancestors should know from childhood, in order to learn from childhood can not forget the ancestors can not forget their roots. Ancestors left a lot of experience we need to continue to learn from constantly amend their own, only so that they will not be proud and conceited, and will not follow the flow of a thousand more will not have lost their way. Ancestors are like a guardian god, always living in our hearts, always guarding us, urging us to good to go up to struggle to live.

There is no such thing as Mother's Day or Father's Day in traditional Chinese culture, and these have come from the United States. The Chinese culture of filial piety is reflected in day-to-day life. There is not only the worship of ancestors and the filial piety of parents, but also the respect for elders in the family, and even more respect for the elderly elders in the society. Therefore filial piety for each of us is a long-term behavior, rather than a specific time to appear in the circle of friends product.

Should be instinctive behavior, respect for the elderly elders, perhaps is to put down the phone and headphones and they talk, eat or do a table of food they love to eat, or just make a video phone call with the elderly at home, the culture of filial piety is so natural. Parents are getting old, and it's time to leave it to us to honor our ancestors. Maybe you put in a lot of time and energy, and maybe you're still being felt by your loved ones that you don't understand or deserve it.

What's the harm in that? I'm just doing my part to learn to take care of everyone and organize my life.

It has also improved my ability to communicate effectively and to understand and accept everyone. Now I am more confident, more willing to learn from others, and my family relies on me more.