Why kill ducks on July 14th in Guangxi

Guangxi July 14 to kill the duck reason: according to legend, has been ancient ancestors in the netherworld is a "Naihe" separated, need to kill the duck sacrifice, more than crossing the bridge, will cause traffic congestion, it is necessary to pass from the surface of the water, the family raised only ducks can swim, so let the ducks to the sacrifices pack across the river.

Sayings two: "duck" is the harmonic "pressure", eat duck will be able to suppress the day to come up to swim away "earn food" ghosts. And chicken claws are rake-shaped, easy to grab the ghost's clothes off (probably afraid of accumulating bad grudges, refused to return to the original place), so it makes sense to choose the duck with flat feet.

Saying three: the table can not be for the chicken, because the chicken's claws back planing, the money sent to the chicken claws will be shaved out of the descendants of the heart can not be in the hands of the ancestors, so that our descendants have no protection, so this task is given to the duck. Saying four: "the Festival" this time is the duck season, due to the ancient people live in poverty, only to the festival to kill ducks to eat. So once the "Ghost Festival" families will kill ducks, eat ducks, and over time, also formed a tradition.

Other Customs of Zhongyuan Festival in Guangxi

On the 14th and 15th days of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, there is a custom of sacrificing to the river god (pomelo lamps are lighted and put into the river at night), and the ceremony lasts for about 2-3 hours. In order to worship the river god, people use wooden planks and strips to make a two-meter-long, one-meter-wide, one-meter-high five-color paper glued into a beautifully decorated hut. Candles and incense are inserted in the hut. The purpose of releasing the river lanterns is to ferry ghosts and other lonely souls in the water.

There is also the custom of "burning the bag", which is usually done by offering sacrifices to the ancestors first and then burning clothes for the ghosts. Ancestors must be placed in a flat colander, meaning that the ghosts may not snatch. "Half of July, ghosts run amok", in addition to the home, ancestral temple offerings to ancestors, Guangxi, most people also want to go outside to sacrifice to the ghosts, in the offerings to the ancestors written on the name of the ancestors, accompanied by "big ghosts and small ghosts, the same name and surname, you do not (do not) come to snatch," and so on. The first thing that you need to do is to get a good deal of money to burn the ghosts.