What festival is Shangsi Festival? Is Shangsi Festival a traditional festival?

What is the Shangsi Festival? Is the Shangsi Festival a traditional festival? The Shangsi Festival is a traditional festival of the Han nationality, commonly known as "March 3".

The Shangsi Festival was the most important festival in ancient times where people went to the waterside to bathe together, which was called "Exorcism". Later, it also included sacrificial banquets, meandering water drinking glasses, spring outings in the countryside, etc.

In ancient times, the Shangsi Festival was a day to "cure away evil spirits". There was a custom of holding sacrificial rituals on the waterside to ward off bad luck.

The Shangsi Festival has a long history and has a history but no records.

The word "Shangsi" was first included in the literary works of the Han Dynasty.

After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Shangsi Festival was changed to March 3rd, and gradually became a festival for drinking banquets by the waterside and spring outings in the countryside.

There is a saying that the Shangsi Festival originated from the witchcraft activity of Lan Tang to ward off evil spirits.

When orchid soup bathing became a kind of ward off evil spirits, this bathing activity had to be organized and led by a professional witch.

The Shangsi Festival originated from the witchcraft activity of orchid soup to ward off evil spirits. In this activity, orchid grass was used as a spiritual object.

Orchid grass has the characteristic of being fragrant. The ancients had to fast before holding major rituals to worship the gods, which included bathing in orchid soup, the best bathing method at that time.

The only difference between bathing in orchid soup is that bathing in orchid soup is an individual behavior, mostly indoors, and can be performed at any time, while exorcism is a collective activity, must be by the river, and must be held regularly.

Another view is that the Shangsi Festival originated from the ancestors’ reproductive worship activities.

As Tao Siyan pointed out, the exorcism activity is originally a religious act for men and women to rejoice in spring and for women to pray for pregnancy. Bathing with orchids or aromatic herbs can arouse sexual desire.

Water is a mysterious substance that induces life. When a woman comes to the river, she not only wants to wash away the dirt of winter, but she also hopes to touch the water to feel pregnant and have a child.

This belief in consecrating crops near water, which is related to primitive religion, must be the real reason for the custom of exorcising evil spirits on the first day of March ("Customs Exploring You").

It is also believed that the Shangsi Festival originated from a festival commemorating the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.

According to legend, March 3 is the birthday of the Yellow Emperor. There is a saying in the Central Plains that "on February 2, the dragon raises its head; on March 3, Xuanyuan is born."

Customs on March 3rd: 祓祊祥犊 (meaning to remove disasters, ancient witches used to remove evil spirits). Hot springs were popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the past, people bathed by the waterside and rivers, washed their bodies with orchids, and nodded with willow branches dipped in petals.

(a ritual with the meaning of blessing to eliminate disasters) because this is the change of seasons, the yin energy has not yet receded, and people are prone to illness, so they should go to the water to wash themselves.

The so-called "祊" means "clean", so "祓犊" is a ritual to eliminate disease-causing factors through self-cleansing.

Why choose the Si day? Ying Shao explained, "Si means good luck", which not only removes the disease-causing factors, but also prays for blessings ("Customs and Meanings·Sacrificial Code·禊").

This view is agreed by many scholars. For example, modern scholar Wu Bing'an believes that the original meaning of this festival is "the ancient health care custom of exorcising evil spirits and dispelling plague in spring." In ancient times, the function of the festival was to exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters. The actual reason was that winter

The water in the river is too cold and the water temperature is just right in early March. People are eager to take their first bath after winter. The most important activity in the Shangsi Festival is to worship Gaoji, the god of marriage and fertility.

, also known as Jiaohe, is named after it is offered in the suburbs. People use this witchcraft activity to ward off disasters and pray for fertility. Therefore, Shangsi Festival is also a festival for mating and fertility.

In ancient times, people went to rivers and watersides. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was popular to soak in hot springs, especially open-air hot spring pools, to wash away dirt with spring water. They believed that doing so could remove the diseases accumulated throughout the winter, making them clean and immune in the new year, and bringing good luck to people at that time.

It is believed that women's infertility is caused by ghosts and gods, so they use the bathing on the Shangsi Festival to treat infertility. Over time, this has become a habit, and bathing has become an important part of the Shangsi Festival.

Bathing is to eliminate disasters. Prehistoric humans believed that fertility was the result of totems entering women's bodies. Only after entering the patriarchal era did people understand that sexual intercourse was the cause of fertility.

It is recognized that women are the embodiment of fertility and that children are conceived by mothers. However, not every woman can give birth normally. Due to diseases, some women were often considered infertile.

The ghosts and gods used bathing during the Shangsi Festival to treat infertility. Over time, this became a habit, and bathing became an important part of the Shangsi Festival.

It got its name; there is also a saying that it was named "Feather Cup" because feathers can be inserted into its body. Its materials are various, including wood, jade, pottery, etc. Wooden Cups are lighter, while those made of other materials.

It needs to be placed on a lotus leaf to "walk" smoothly on the water. During the Shangsi Festival, the most important activity is to worship Gao Le, the god of marriage and fertility, also known as Jiao Le.

It was named after being offered to people in the countryside. The original Gaozi was female, and it was an adult woman with a gestational shape. In fact, some naked women in ancient times had very developed thighs.

There is also a belly protruding forward, which is a symbol of fertility. In the Han Dynasty stone portraits, there is an image of the God of Gao, which is also connected with the baby.