Why is the seventh half of the seventh lunar month July 13 and not July 15?

The half of the seventh lunar month is the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

The fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the Chinese New Year's Day, also known as the half of the seventh month and the Bon Festival, but more familiarly known as the "Ghost Festival". It is believed that the whole month of July is the month of ghosts, and the King of Hell opens the door of the ghosts on the first day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year, releasing the ghosts to come out to feed on the sunny side of the world and to enjoy the people's sacrificial offerings.

Chinese New Year's Day evolved from the ancient times, "half of the seventh month," the agricultural harvest of the fall tasted ancestor worship. July half is a folk festival in early autumn to celebrate the harvest, pay thanks to the earth, there are a number of crops ripe, folk routinely worship ancestors, with new rice and other offerings, to report to the ancestors of the fall into a cultural tradition, is to remember the ancestors of a cultural tradition of the festival, the core of its culture is to honor the ancestors of filial piety.

"Half of July" was originally a festival of ancestor worship in ancient times, and was called the "Festival of the Middle Ages", which originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty after Taoism. Taoism believes that the half of the seventh month is the birth date of the earth official, praying for the earth official to forgive sins on the day, the netherworld will release all the ghosts, the deceased ancestors can go home to reunion, so the half of the seventh month of the Autumn Taste ancestor festival known as "in the Yuan Festival"; Buddhism known as the "Bon Festival".

Expanded information:

The most important centerpiece of the Festival of the Middle Ages is the word "filial piety". "Confucianism advocates that "new grain in July is sacrificed to the ancestors", and the Mid-Yuan Festival is just after the summer harvest, so it's customary for people to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, using new rice and other offerings, to report the success of the fall to the ancestors. Therefore, at the Mid-Yuan Festival, every family sacrifices to their ancestors and performs rituals when making offerings.

In addition to the appearance of the Ghost Festival, in Buddhist culture is also derived from the Buddhist allusion to "Meilian save mother", that is, has the meaning of filial piety and respect for parents. In the past, people would slaughter chickens and ducks, burn incense and clothes, and worship hungry ghosts from hell in order to dissolve their grievances and prevent them from harming the earth.

Additionally, it was customary to use wooden boards with multicolored paper to make colorful lanterns, with candles in the middle, and then put them in the river to float. In fact, the purpose is because the road from the underworld to the sun is too dark, put the river lamps can light up the road to light up the road, better superdeath.

The Eastern Chinese New Year's Day has many similarities with Halloween in the West, and is a day when the dead return to the earth, and there are specific lamps as the logo of the festival, the Chinese New Year's Day is the lotus lamp, Halloween is the pumpkin lamp.

Baidu Encyclopedia - July 15th