How many traditional ghost festivals are there in China?

There are three traditional ghost festivals in China, namely, Tomb-Sweeping Day Festival, Kasahara Festival (Zhongyuan Festival) and Hanyi Festival.

Ghost Festival, as its name implies, is a festival related to ghosts and a festival to worship ghosts.

Ghosts are an extension of human life in the period of ignorance. The concept of prolonging life in eastern and western cultures is slightly different, but people who die as ghosts have always been the mainstream of ghost culture. There are Chinese and western Halloween, and there are many Halloween in China, such as July 30th, Tomb-Sweeping Day, March 3rd, 10/day. There is a Mexican Ghost Festival in the West, but the most famous one is Halloween. This entry will introduce the origin culture of various ghost festivals at home and abroad in detail.

Qingming Festival

Tomb-Sweeping Day went to the grave and had the custom of going for an outing. In the past, Tomb-Sweeping Day was also called Cold Food Festival, which lasted for one hundred days. Cao Cao changed it to one day, and the Tang Dynasty changed it to three days before Qingming. All fires must be put out. After the cold food was served, a new fire broke out in the palace. [ 1] ? Mostly in the winter solstice [2]? 108 days later (that is, around the first day of March).

Tomb-Sweeping Day sticks willow branches, wears wicker hats, flies kites, swings, forbids fires and sweeps graves, as well as outings, cuju, polo, willow shooting and silkworm flower parties (a unique folk culture in the silkworm town, mainly in the south).

Grave-sweeping in Tomb-Sweeping Day is related to funeral customs. According to records, in ancient China, "tombs were not graves", that is to say, only graves were dug, and no graves were built, so there was no way to offer sacrifices to sweep them. Later, graves and graves, the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves, were supported. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, offering sacrifices to tombs has become an indispensable custom. "Once"? The Book of Ming Di quoted the official etiquette of the Han Dynasty as saying: "In ancient times, there was no tomb sacrifice, and Qin Shihuang slept next to the tomb, so Han remained unchanged. All tombs serve meals with gloom, hope, 24, dog days, society, wax and four o'clock. " The emperor is almost a festival. Ordinary officials and ordinary people don't have so much time and money, so Tomb-Sweeping Day gradually freezes in the 24 solar terms. At that time, the government will allow officials to take time off to offer sacrifices to sweep, and the people will also "go to their parents' graves for fields and roads, full of scholars and women, humble servants and beggars." "In the Tang Dynasty, the sacrificial sweeping has combined cold food with Qingming, and it is spring, so you can go to the grave with wine in your hand. Tomb-Sweeping Day is not only a ghost festival for sacrifice, but also a day for outing and entertainment. From a secular point of view, the setting of these two ghost festivals is just right. Qingming coincides with the melting of snow and ice in the north. After rain erosion in autumn and winter and snow cover in winter, some loess on the tomb was washed down and became shorter and smaller. Sweep it with Qingming and add some soil to prevent the ancestors' houses from leaking and getting wet. July 15, beginning of autumn has passed, and the weather is getting colder and colder. It's time to add clothes. It's time to send some money to the underground ancestors to buy some clothes so as not to catch cold in winter.

Ghosts'Festival

The Central Plains (July 15), also known as the Orchid Festival, was originally a folk festival to worship ancestors, and later it was designated as Christmas in the underground palace, and the underground palace was in charge of the gate of hell. On this day, the underground palace opened the door of hell, and it was also a day when the dead ancestors could go home and reunite. Therefore, it is also Ghost Festival, which is the most important of the three Halloween festivals in China. It is equipped with Dojo and steamed bread for ghosts. The Taoist temple held a grand ceremony to pray for the auspicious Dojo, the content of which was to cross over the soul of the deceased.

Buddhism is the day of Orchid Club, and the content is to cross over for the dead. The original intention of orchids is to liberate and hang upside down, which comes from the story of Mulian saving her mother.

It is generally believed that July 15 is the day of Ghost Festival, and it is also the day when the gates of hell are wide open. At this time, Yin Qi is the heaviest, so it is best not to go out of the street that night to avoid hitting ghosts. In addition, it's best not to go to the river or the seaside, lest you accidentally slip and become body double, a water ghost. In addition, it is best not to say anything unlucky or offend the spirit world, so as not to provoke the ghost.

Halloween taboo:

Avoid bringing red ropes, bells, wind chimes and other ghosts, and try to avoid going out. If you meet a ghost, it hits the wall.

Wait for the paranormal, don't panic, concentrate all your attention and open your eyes.

Mid-Autumn Festival is the Christmas of the three officials and emperors, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is the land official. On this day, Taoism will turn over its ancestors and pull the dead out. The so-called: God bless the people, the local officials release their sins, and the water officials solve problems.

Winter clothing festival

The first day of October is called "October Dynasty", also known as "ancestor worship festival" and "cold clothing festival". Since ancient times, China has had the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors in the new harvest season to show filial piety and not forget one's roots. Sacrificing ancestors on the first day of October is the custom of family sacrifice.

The first day of October is also the first day of winter, and then the climate is getting colder. People are afraid that their ancestors' souls in the underworld are short of clothes and clothes. Therefore, in addition to food, incense sticks, paper money and other general offerings, there is also an indispensable offering-ghost clothing. When offering sacrifices, people incinerate ghost clothes to their ancestors, which is called "sending cold clothes". Therefore, the first day of October is also called "Clothing Burning Festival".

Later, the custom of "burning cold clothes" changed in some places. Instead of burning cold clothes, people burned a lot of ghost paper in a paper bag with the names of the recipients and senders and their corresponding names written on it. This is called "baggage". There is a name of cold clothes, but there is no reality of cold clothes. People think that the underworld, like the dead, can buy many things with money.