What is the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar

The 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Chinese Ghost Festival, also known as Zhongyuan Festival. On this day, some places will kill ducks and make sacrifices in the hope of blessing peace. Meanwhile, on the 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, people usually rarely go out at night, because the night of this day is considered to be a day when the ghost gate is wide open.

Some places designate the 13th, 14th and 15th days of the 7th month as festivals, and there are even sayings of "13 chickens, 14 ducks and 15 pounds of pork". On July 14th, there are many taboos, such as not basking in the sun at night, not picking up money from the roadside, not turning back easily, and so on.

While these sayings have no scientific basis, people will treat it as some traditional customs and cultural heritage, and will not easily break or eliminate such sayings. Some places also regard the Mid-Yuan Festival as an important festival, so what is the origin of this festival?

The origin of the festival

The term "Zhongyuan" originated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and is a Taoist expression. Legend has it that among the Taoist gods, there are "three great emperors", namely the Heavenly Emperor, the Earthly Emperor, and the Water Officer, who are the representatives of the Heavenly Emperor sent to the earth to examine the merits and crimes of the earth for the Heavenly Emperor, and thus to decide on rewards and punishments. "The three are the representatives sent by the emperor to the earth to examine the merits and crimes of the earth and to decide on the rewards and punishments," he said. "The heavenly official gives blessings in the upper yuan, the earthly official pardons sins in the middle yuan, and the water official solves the problems in the lower yuan.

The birth of the Zhongyuan Festival can be traced back to the worship of ancestral spirits and related seasonal rituals in ancient times. The month of July is generally considered to be auspicious, and the half of the seventh month is the day when folk reward the earth and celebrate the harvest in early fall. When crops are ripe, it is customary for folk to make ancestral offerings to report the harvest to their ancestors.

Many people may be confused Zhongyuan Festival is obviously July 15, why say July 14 is also Zhongyuan Festival? In fact, there is an allusion: it is said that in the Song Dynasty, due to the war in the north, making a group of Han people fled south. But in the process of escaping, they encountered a problem, that is, how to take their forefathers away. According to tradition, the spirits of ancestors can only be gathered together on festivals such as the Mid-Yuan or Ching Ming or Chung Yeung.

At this time, there was still one day left before the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar (Zhongyuan Festival), but there was no time to wait until that day. So they had to decide to move up a day and celebrate the Mid-Yuan Festival on the 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. So in the future this custom was passed down, and some places celebrated the Mid-Yuan Festival on the 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, while others celebrated the Mid-Yuan Festival on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar.

Nowadays, every place treats the Mid-Yuan Festival differently. Depending on the local customs, some places will go over this festival very solemnly, while others don't pay much attention to it. For example, in Guizhou, the half of the seventh month is usually 14 days, in the lunar calendar on the 14th day of the seventh month is very lively. But in Hunan, Anhui and other places the importance of this festival will be more diluted.

Conclusion

The 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Chinese Ghost Festival, which is also known as Zhongyuan Festival. There are many allusions and legends about this festival, which can be said to have a long culture, and at the same time the existence of the Zhongyuan Festival itself is also a manifestation of cultural heritage.