Customs Related to the Chinese New Year Festival

Customs associated with the Mid-Yuan Festival include ancestor worship, Mid-Yuan Pudu, releasing river lanterns, setting off fireworks, bidding for blessings, robbing orphans, and so on.

1, ancestor worship

Folklore has it that on the 15th day of the 7th month, the souls of ancestors will return home to visit their children and grandchildren, so people need to worship their ancestors. There are many kinds of rituals for ancestor worship, either going to the grave and burning paper, or making offerings at home, or releasing river lanterns. In some places, there are also specific rituals to take the souls of ancestors home on this night and offer them meals three times a day, in the morning, in the middle of the day and in the evening, until they are sent back at the end of July.

2. Zhongyuan Pudu

Folklore has it that people become ghosts after death, wandering between heaven and earth. Zhongyuan Pudu, is to worship those lonely ghosts without descendants, so that they can also feel the warmth of the earth, which is also a form of expression of the idea of "fraternity" in our traditional culture. Between July 1st and 30th of the lunar calendar, people will put up all kinds of offerings to sacrifice to these ghosts and pray for peace and good luck and good weather.

3, put the river lamp

Put the river lamp, also known as "put the water lamp" "put the river lamp", is also a traditional custom of our Chinese people. River lanterns, also known as lotus lanterns, because the base of this kind of lamp is often made of paper, wood in the shape of lotus petals, and even sometimes directly with the lotus leaves to make the base. When releasing the river lanterns, people light the lamps or candles on the lamp bases and let them float and sink beautifully in the rivers, lakes and seas. Legend has it that in this way, all the dead spirits can be transcended to the ideal world on the other side.

4. Release of fireworks

Release of fireworks is a Buddhist ritual of feeding hungry ghosts according to the Dharani Sutra for the Salvation of Hungry Ghosts in the Flame. According to Buddhism, giving food to hungry ghosts is called releasing the flame. After the puja, people will also burn incense in front of their houses and worship, hoping for good weather and good harvests in the coming year.

5, bidding for blessings

After the end of the festival, there is a recreational activity - bidding for blessings. These blessings are members of the organization of the ritual activities and enthusiastic people donated, many varieties and patterns, such as daily necessities; children's toys, Yuanbao, rice buckets and so on. Because it is believed that "bidding" on an item can bring one good fortune, so everyone is very generous, and the money from these open bids will usually be used as charity funds, and can also be used to accumulate funds for the next Mid-Yuan Festival activities.

6, snatch the orphan

Snatch the orphan is a kind of folk temple activities, generally in the middle of the yuan after the sacrifice, the host will be ordered, the sacrificial offerings available for people to snatch, which is called "snatch the orphan". Legend has it that because of the July Midland Pudu, many ghosts gathered here to share the offerings, in order to prevent these ghosts from lingering, people invented this "robbing the orphan" activities, when these ghosts see those more fierce than them in the grabbing of the offerings, they will be scared to run away in all directions.