The Origin and Cultural Connotation of Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival, alias July 30th and July 14th, includes ancestor worship, Arahara Festival and local officials' day, mainly including ancestor worship, setting off river lanterns, worshipping the dead, burning paper ingots and offering sacrifices to the land. The following is the origin and cultural connotation of the Mid-Autumn Festival I compiled for you, hoping to help you.

The origin of the Mid-Autumn festival

The name "Central Plains" originated from the Northern Wei Dynasty and is a Taoist saying. According to ancient books, the fifteenth day of the first month of Daojing is "Shangyuan", and God blesses the people. July 15th is the "Central Plains", which is the day when local officials forgive sins. 1October 15 is "Xia Yuan", which is the day for water conservancy officials to help Eritrea. "The Book of Laws" records: "On the Mid-Yuan Day in July, the local officials fell, and the good and evil on earth were decided, so the Taoist priests chanted scriptures at night to save prisoners from hunger." Therefore, on July 15, people will prepare rich sacrificial ceremonies to worship local officials and their ancestors.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the product of the combination of Taoism and traditional folk customs in China, which can correspond to each other, mainly based on the same world view: the three realms of heaven, earth and water are deified into three realms of government under the jurisdiction of the officials of heaven, earth and water. The so-called "Duke of Three Realms" refers to the three gods and three officials.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, Taoism in Shi Tian had integrated the world outlook of the former Taoism, and for the first time, it was necessary to put the calligraphy of the three officials in heaven, earth and water to express repentance to the three officials and pray for peace. After the development of the Six Dynasties, the three-day meeting was combined with the ternary thought. Under the official advocacy of the Tang Dynasty, the three-day festival of Shangyuan, Zhongyuan and Xia Yuan became a three-day festival to pray for Naji and worship ancestors. The emperor led hundreds of officials to attend the festival ceremony. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Sanyuan Festival became a folk festival.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Taoist temples such as the Fire Temple in Di 'anmen and the Baiyun Temple outside Xibianmen hold the "Dojo for Blessing Auspicious" as usual every year, in order to pray for "good weather, peace and prosperity". Because of fear, people combine Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in their daily lives, and call the Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15th of the lunar calendar "Ghost Moon".

After the introduction of Buddhism, there is also a ritual of recommending ancestors in Buddhism, which is called "ULLAMBANA" (Indian word), also known as "Menglan Basin Society". Dream orchid basin means hanging upside down. The pain of life is like a bat hanging upside down from a tree, which is very miserable. In order to save all living beings from the suffering of hanging upside down, it is necessary to recite the scriptures and give food to ghosts. This coincides with China's worship of the ghost moon, and Buddhism also holds a prayer meeting on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, so the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dream Orchid Festival are handed down at the same time.

The Cultural Connotation of Mid-Autumn Festival

The customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival contain incomparably rich cultural contents, which fully reflect our local culture, cultural filial piety and primitive religious beliefs.

1, Zhongyuan Festival is the online of traditional filial piety culture.

Filial piety is the traditional virtue of China, the culture of filial piety and the traditional culture of China. "Filial piety culture refers to the content and way of Chinese culture and China's filial piety consciousness and behavior, as well as the sum of its historical process, political attributes and extensive social behavior extension." The connotation of filial piety in China culture can not be understood only from ethical concepts and norms. It can be said that it contains spiritual phenomena of various forms of consciousness, including religion, philosophy, politics, law, education, folk customs, art and many other cultural connotations. The origin of filial piety should be in the Zhou Dynasty. "Ancestor worship didn't really have educational significance until the Zhou Dynasty." People worship their ancestors in the Mid-Autumn Festival only by following the traditional culture and filial piety of China.

Mid-Autumn Festival is the carrier of ancestor worship.

China has not formed a complete religious belief culture system since ancient times. The religious beliefs of our ancestors are complex and sometimes even contradictory. Today, some scholars regard Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as the religion of old China, but this view is still controversial in academic circles. An obvious feature of our ancestors' choice of religion is that those who are used by us can use it at any time. Primitive religions (including nature worship, ghost worship, reproductive worship, totem worship, ancestor worship, etc.). ), Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism all occupied the conscious space of our ancestors. But they don't cling to a certain ideology from generation to generation, and only pay attention to an idea when they think it is beneficial. The content of ancestor worship is mysterious and rich. We can use the word "cautious to the end" to summarize the content of ancestor worship. "Careful death" refers to handling the funeral of elders according to certain etiquette; Chasing the distance' refers to offering sacrifices and mourning for one's distant ancestors on time to show that one does not forget the root. "

3. Mid-Autumn Festival is a continuation of China's ghost concept.

The concept of ghost is one of the earliest religious concepts of human beings and a mysterious understanding of human life. In ancient times, human beings thought that man was a combination of spirit and flesh, spirit and flesh were separated from each other, and soul was attached to flesh. Man is dead, but the soul is not dead. The soul is intangible and eternal in the world. It shows itself as a soul before death and becomes a ghost after death. However, ghosts, after all, belong to the spiritual category and are invisible and intangible. What people can touch and place is only the body they are attached to-the body that has lost its life. Moreover, ancient and modern people believe that "ghosts care about their bodies and roam around cemeteries, so ghost worship is mainly reflected in the ceremonies of burial and sacrifice to the dead, and the mourning and wishes of the living are pinned on some funeral customs."

What are the taboos for going to the grave on Mid-Autumn Festival?

1, pregnant women are forbidden to sweep graves

It is best for pregnant women to avoid grave-sweeping activities in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is not only the influence of heavy yin. In other ways, the Mid-Autumn Festival is very crowded. For the safety of the fetus, pregnant women are not recommended to participate. Moreover, the weather of sweeping graves and the surrounding environment are not conducive to the health of pregnant women. In addition, if women have official holidays, they should also avoid such activities.

2. Don't take photos in the cemetery.

The purpose of sweeping graves is to worship ancestors, not to have fun. There is a god who holds his head three feet high. It is best to be respectful, careful and cautious when sweeping the grave. Never take pictures in the cemetery, or even take pictures at will, otherwise it will attract bad atmosphere, cause imbalance between Yin and Yang, and damage personal fortune.

3. Avoid wearing big red and purple.

You can't wear bright red and purple to the grave during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I believe everyone will not wear such clothes to participate in such activities. However, some people will be careless and inadvertently use red in clothes or underwear. Of course, the animal year is an exception, and underwear can be worn in red.

4. Outsiders should not participate in other people's grave sweeping.

It is taboo to participate in grave sweeping as an outsider during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is easy to cause unnecessary trouble. After all, it is not a family, and different blessings may cause disorder in the gas field, leading to disharmony and bad luck.

Those who are in poor health and unlucky avoid sweeping graves.

A person is in a state of illness or weakness, or has bad luck recently, and everything is not going well. It is best not to go to grave-sweeping activities, because such a person's overall fortune is very low and it is easy to bring bad luck. To put it bluntly, it is evil, because gloomy things are the most popular people, and such people lack popularity and are easy to be violated.

6. The long grass in front of the grave must be trimmed.

Plants that grow on graves must be pulled out and never grow into climate. This is the most important thing, but you should know that sweeping the grave is to clean up things that are not conducive to the cemetery. The vegetation on the grave will do harm to the family, including luck and health, which is greatly unfavorable.

7. Don't cover your forehead and don't buy shoes.

In fact, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a ghost festival. Of course, we should pay attention to the hairstyle, especially the hair can't cover the forehead. This is the magic lamp of the human body and can't be covered. At the same time, don't buy shoes on the same day, because shoes are the same evil, and most friends with common sense won't buy shoes on this day, so as not to be unlucky.

8. Don't beat and scold or criticize your ancestors.

After the grave-sweeping, someone took the children. It may be serious at first, but as soon as it's over, they start fighting and laughing. We should pay attention to this. You know, after all, the cemetery is the resting place of the ghost. Laughing and cursing will disturb yin qi, which is disrespectful and may lead to revenge. Criticizing ancestors is even more undesirable. If you pass by someone else's cemetery and judge the dead is blasphemy, then it is no wonder who is unlucky.