How did the July Ghost Festival come about?

The 15th day of the 7th month

Legend has it that every year from the 1st day of the 7th month, the king of hell ordered to open the gates of hell, so that those who have suffered all year round and confined in hell, out of the hell, get a short time to roam around, and enjoy the earth's blood food, so people call the 7th month as the month of ghosts, and this month is considered to be an inauspicious month, and neither marriage, nor moving house.

On the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar every year is the Yu Lan Festival, also known as the Mid-Yuan Festival, the Ma Gu Festival, the half of the 7th month, or the Ghost Festival, in the past, in addition to worshipping their ancestors on this night, they also prepare some dishes, wine, rice, gold, silver, paper and other clothing to the intersection of the ghosts and gods to pay tribute to the ghosts and goddesses.

July 15 inclusive of the festival is more complex, both folk ghosts, but also the Taoist Festival of the Middle Ages, the Buddhist Bon Festival, monks, Taoist and popular three streams of unity. Taoism has the so-called Heavenly Officials, Earthly Officials, and Water Officials, collectively known as the Three Officials, which are the representatives of the Jade Emperor sent to the earth, and every year, they have to examine the good and evil on the earth, and report to the heaven. The three officials have their birthdays on the fifteenth day of the first month, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and the fifteenth day of the tenth month, which are also called Sanyuan. The 15th day of the 7th month, called Zhongyuan, is the time when the magistrate of the earth schools the registers and pardons sins. On this day, he has to take out a thick roster, and according to the performances of the gods, mortals, and animals, he ticks off the names and pardons the sins and removes the punishments. Folk in the Day of the Mid-Yuan Festival to engage in some ritual activities to save those lonely souls and wild ghosts, should be related to the magistrate's pardon of sins. The 15th day of the 7th month is also the Buddhist Bon Festival, and the legend is the story of Meilian saving his mother, which originated from the Buddhist legend: Meilian (Meilian is a Buddhist character, one of the ten major disciples of Sakyamuni)'s mother fell into the path of the hungry ghosts, and lived a life of not having enough to eat. Meilian used his divine power to turn food into food and gave it to his mother, but her mother did not change her greed, seeing food coming, fearing that other evil spirits would snatch the food, greed together with the food in her mouth immediately turned into charcoal and could not be swallowed. Although Meilian had magical powers and was the son of a human being, he could not save his mother and was in great pain, so he asked the Buddha what to do. The Buddha recited the Bon Sutra for him and instructed him to make a bon on the fifteenth day of the seventh month to sacrifice to his mother. According to the Buddha's instructions, on the 15th day of the 7th month, Meilian prepared all kinds of fruits, flavors and all kinds of utensils, put them into the basin, and made offerings to the monks of the ten directions, and only then did his mother get out of the realm of evil ghosts and ascended to heaven. In view of this, the Buddha extended the idea and asked Buddhist disciples to do filial piety by making a bon on the 15th of July every year to give alms to the Buddha and the monks in order to repay their parents for their kindness. The significance of the Buddhist Bon is in harmony with Confucian filial piety, and this day has become a ghost festival for the people to pay tribute to their deceased parents and ancestors.

July 15 of the lunar calendar is the biggest festival in the netherworld - the Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival or Bon Festival, is one of the three major festivals of the underworld in China. There is a folk legend that the ghost festival is celebrated in the netherworld during the Lantern Festival in the sunny world. It is said that on that day, the King of Hell will also be dressed in costume and ghosts crowd **** degree of festivities, and let us living people together for their blessings, wishing people in the other world to wish for success, happy to enjoy the happiness of the earth did not have the time to enjoy. Therefore, many local boundaries in our country will organize rituals, visit Buddha, purify graves, review, enjoy flowers, fishing and other activities to celebrate the time.

July 15, the day when the ghost gate is wide open. Whether it is burning paper money to send blessings, or hold a daisy to send condolences, or the Internet to sacrifice ancestors, or release the river lamp, today the living together to miss the past, *** with the same to send the blessings of the ancestors, is the spontaneous human spirituality, is the extension of feelings, is the most basic beliefs. And at the same time, "the living should cherish every day of their lives, not to be ashamed of society and friends, not to be ashamed of their loved ones who have gone away forever. Because, someday we have to meet with them, and then, you can proudly say, on earth is a good man, in the netherworld also to be a ghost hero!"

. Ghost Gate Pass: This is the necessary barrier to enter the Ghost Kingdom. No matter who comes here must be checked to see if they hold a ghost country pass a all the way to lead. This is the basis for people to report to the ghost country after death. Road citation 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, is printed with yellow soft paper made, on the book "for the Fengdu Tianyu Yanluo Emperor issued by the road citation and the whole world must have this citation, in order to be able to go to hell reincarnation ascension". At the same time, the road above the citation is stamped with "yin division city god, fengdu county government" three seals. Anyone who died in the coffin (1ian) or cremation when burned, it will come with the soul to hell, the only way to go unimpeded.

Road guide a said originated in Tang Taizong Zhenguan years asked. Prime Minister Wei Zheng dreamed of beheading the old dragon in Jinghe River, Tang Taizong Li Shimin was implicated by the King of Yanluo summoned to the hell, when the King of Yanluo asked about the situation, know that Li Shimin is a wise monarch, he is not only civil and military strategy, but also to stabilize the country and create a prosperous situation in the early years of the Tang Dynasty that is the "Zhenguanzhi". So he decided to release Li Shimin to return to the sun. Before his departure, the Prince of Yin commissioned the Prince of Yang to bring the passport of the ghost country "road guide" back to the yang world, and send it to the good ministers and good people, so that they could enter the capital of the ghost country, Fengdu, with this road guide after their deaths, and be free from the bullying and torturing of the ghosts in the hell. Therefore, since the Tang Dynasty, the road guide has been passed down like a holy relic and has never changed. Therefore, this kind of road guide can only be bought by good people, but not by evil people. In the past, people who traveled to Fengdu had to buy a copy of the road guide for the old people in their families to show their filial piety. Therefore, road guides were very popular in Fengdu city in the past, and many people made a living by selling them, making Fengdu Ghost City famous.

The sixteen ghosts in front of the Ghost Gate Pass are newly engraved, and legend has it that they are a group of evil ghosts specially selected by King Yama to come here to guard the mountain. They have a bad track record, the evil nature of the dead ghosts have been extraordinarily harsh, strict, do not make a muddle through. This group of stone carvings embodies the ghost town folk culture of "punish evil and promote good" and "no good deed goes unpunished, evil goes unpunished", revealing the rich humanistic spirit contained in the ghost town folk culture. It combines realism and exaggeration and shapes distinctive and vivid artistic images according to the requirements of popular aesthetic psychology, rendering the unique cultural atmosphere of the ghost town, with outstanding image personality, vivid demeanor, novel modeling, and a certain visual impact.