"Feng Deceive" the origin of the Winter Clothing Festival one of the three major ghost festivals in China is what is the Winter Clothing Festival?

The first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar is called the "October Morning". Since ancient times, China has had the custom of ancestor worship to show filial piety, not forgetting the roots. Ancient people also sacrificed to their ancestors millet on the first day of October in the lunar calendar. On the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping are practiced in both the north and the south. Today, in many areas south of the Yangtze River, it is a custom to offer new graves on the first day of October.

The first day of October on the lunar calendar is also the first day of winter. The weather gets progressively colder thereafter, and people worry that the spirits of their ancestors in the netherworld will lack clothing. So in addition to the usual offerings such as food, incense, paper money, etc., there is also an indispensable offering - ghost clothes. During the festival, people burned the burial clothes for their ancestors, which was called "sending cold clothes".

Later, in some places, the custom of "burning cold clothes" changed. Instead of burning cold clothes, people "burned baggage". People put a lot of ghost paper sealed in a paper bag and wrote down the names of the recipient and the sender and their corresponding titles. It is called "baggage". It has the name of cold clothes, but it is not actually cold clothes. It was thought that there were many things that could be bought with money, just like in the world.

History

According to evidence, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar was the first day of the month of Lunar New Year, and a grand festival was held on this day. It describes the Lunar Festival of the Zhou Dynasty: the emperor sacrificed to plunder, worshipped the gods of the sun, moon and stars on the altar of the society, worshipped five generations of ancestors at the entrance of the city, pacified the peasants, and enacted a new system of work and rest. It was once said that "July is hot, but September is the time to change clothes", meaning that the weather would gradually become colder from September onwards. It was time for people to buy clothes to protect themselves from the cold. For this reason, the first day of October is often called the Clothing Festival. That's why most clothes are shipped in September of the summer calendar, on an indeterminate date.

The Rituals of the Moon, Tang Dynasty, Volume 77:The Poetry Classic Winds of July was written in August, 2000. It says, "Those who honor the gods, honor them with sincerity, and those who recommend the new gods, report the frost and dew." . When you know how to give gifts and hide your feelings before the king. Since the period of combustion, the business wind changes, the load is deep, the pursuit is far, the sense of things increases. Poetry was written on clothes to make deposits still. It was courtiers, Jews and private, devotion to the garden, and non-standard style. From now on, every year on September 1, the clothes are recommended in the tomb, delaying Fan Qianzai and filial piety. And the Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival is unruly and shallow and vulgar. So it is changing the winds, which is filial piety. People are taught by their parents, thinking they are wearing Han Dynasty clothes, reported to show the vulgar stream, know me. "This holy decree directly affects China's Chong tomb gift clothes of folk customs. Because winter begins in October, September is slightly earlier, so this custom continues into October.

The October customs of the Song Dynasty were mainly manifested in three aspects: giving clothes, sacrifices and stoves. Lu Xizhe "Tang Da Zhaoji" wrote: "October, the capital guard school, give brocade robes. Thank you all. The border guards, Du Chao and Zheng Renhou all received brocade robes. The old Hebei, Shaanxi, and Hedong transits were not given to this deputy. In the Zu dynasty, some people gave themselves clothes and coats. All the generals wore brocade robes. According to the Tang Xuanzong Tianbao, in September, the capital of Tokyo "sold official robes, boots, shoes, hats and dresses in the second half of the year, and burned the theater in October. "By October 1, "soldiers left the city and horses were forbidden to leave the road. "clan carriages and horses such as the cold food festival, Liang Lu's dream, the Southern Song Lin'an in October is also a tomb-sweeping festival. Inner House riding, send the royal family to save the Palace of South Class, line "court order" ceremony. Miscellaneous Records of the Old Year, said: "If you worship the grave, you will

Tokyo Dreams of Flowers for the Ming Dynasty, Liu Dong, Yu Yi Zheng made. It has a detailed record of the Cold Clothes Festival of that time: "On October 1, paper was cut into five colors to make clothes for men and women. The feet are long and straight, so-called cold clothes, with sparse marks. It's like giving a book. Every family fixes a nightcap, makes a phone call, burns a door, and says they are sending some cold clothes. New mourning, the white book says, new ghosts can't wear clothes. Send white clothes cried, female voice 19, male voice 11.

Pan Rongbi's "Henan Plan Suicide Book" in the Qing Dynasty. Show "Cold Clothes Festival": "October. Xiu Cai's family sacrificed to their ancestors and swept their graves, like a bell. In the evening, I sealed the book and made a crown with five colors of clothes and shoes. I drank it outside the door and burned it, saying that I would send some warm clothes."

Origin of the folklore

It was born out of pre-Qin winter rituals.

According to the Jingdi Jingwei, the tenth month of the lunar calendar was the month of winter. On this day, Tian Zi led three workers and nine secretaries to the northern suburbs for a winter welcoming ceremony, returning after the ceremony to reward those who had died in the service of the country and to give pensions to their wives and children. How do you reward those who died? For them, "sending cold clothes" is the right meaning of the theme will be up and down. But this view can only be inferred, because Chinese folklore begins on the first day of October. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the ritual of "boots, shoes, mats, and hats for longevity clothes" appeared in the customs of the literati. If the Cold Clothes Festival was formed in the pre-Qin period, then it is difficult to make a reasonable explanation for such a long period of black and white records. Therefore, it can be inferred that the formation of the custom of the Cold Clothes Festival would not be earlier than the Song Dynasty.

The legend of Zhu Yuanzhang's "giving clothes"

The tenth month of the lunar calendar was an important month in ancient times. At this time, rice was harvested and stored. "It was also the month when the emperor began to descend to earth." During the ceremony of putting on winter clothes, the emperor told people that winter was coming. According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed emperor in Nanjing at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. To show that he was adapting to the weather, he held a ceremony of "giving away clothes" on the first day of October, making hot soup with newly harvested red beans and glutinous rice and giving it to the princes to taste the new products. A Nanjing folk proverb says: "Wear a cotton jacket in October and eat bean soup to protect yourself from the cold." This is the origin of the "Cold Clothes Festival". People also send winter clothes to those who do business or study far away from home to show their care and love while they are warming up.

Meng Nu sent winter clothes for thousands of miles.

Legend has it that during the Qin Dynasty, the two families of Meng and Jiang, from Songjiang Province in Jiangnan, planted gourds with their husbands, Fan Qiliang, and had daughters. Later, Qiliang was arrested for building the Great Wall on the northern border. Meng Jiangnu traveled a long way to find her husband and sent her warm clothes to the foot of the Great Wall. Not wanting her husband to die, she buried him in the wall. Meng Jiangnu wept by the Great Wall day and night, and finally felt the shock of the earth. She wept down the Great Wall to reveal her husband's bones. For thousands of years, this faithful love story has been widely spread.

After weeping on the Great Wall 800 miles away, Meng Nü fought face-to-face with Qin Shi Huang, avenging her husband's death and venting her anger. In the end, she hugged her husband's body and jumped into the sea to kill herself. The moment she jumped into the sea, the sea was rough and two reefs slowly arched up. It is said that the grave of a river woman in the sea is roofless, no matter how high the tide is.

Because of the story of Meng Jiangnu looking for her husband to send warm clothes, the first day of October in the lunar calendar is known as the "Warm Cold Festival" inside and outside the Great Wall. "Burning cold clothes on October 1 is a custom in northern China to honor relatives of the dead.

Promotional tactics of merchants

There is also a theory that "burning cold clothes on October 1" originated from promotional tactics of merchants.

According to not entirely reliable sources, the shrewd merchant, who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty, was the sister-in-law of Cai Lun, the inventor of paper-making.

Seeing that Cai Lun was making paper profitably, sister-in-law Huiniang encouraged her husband, Cai Mo, to learn papermaking from his brother. Cai Mo was a short-tempered man. Before he returned home, he planned to open a paper store. As a result, the quality

Late one night, a terrifying ghostly cry rushed out of Cai's compound. The neighbors were terrified. The next morning, they rushed to look for it, only to find that Huiniang had suddenly fallen ill and died last night. Seeing a coffin in the house, Cai Mo cried and burned the paper. While it was burning, a voice came from the coffin and Huiniang's voice cried out, "Open the door! Open the door. I'm back!" They froze, and after a long time, they went up to open the coffin. I saw a woman jump out of the coffin, but who was Huiniang?

Hui Niang shook her head and sang loudly, "Money in the sun goes everywhere. Paper is money in the grave. It's not the husband who burns the money. Who let me go home!" She told everyone to sweep the grave and send her to grind noodles when she died. She paid off all her children with her husband's paper money, and all the children fought to grind money for her. - - Yuan can be used by ghosts! She bribes Yan with money again, and Yan lets her come back.

Cai Mo pretends to be puzzled and says, "I didn't send you any money!" Huiniang pointed to the burning pile of paper and said, "That's money! In the underworld, food and drink depend on this stuff." Upon hearing this, Cai Mo immediately took two bundles of paper and went to burn them, saying that this would make his parents' graves suffer less.

The couple's performance of this double act would make the neighbors fall for it! When they saw the miraculous effect of the bills bringing the dead back to life, they paid for the paper to be burned. When word spread, within a few days, Cai Mo's hoard of paper was sold out. Because Huiniang's return to spring was on the first day of October, people in the afterlife went to their graves to burn paper to honor the dead.

The two legends are both sad and happy. Although the props are different, they both play on the dead and both strike a chord.

The Legend of Jiangsu Red Beans and Rice

Later generations used October 1 as a day of mourning and red beans and rice as a drink. There is still a legend in Dafeng, Jiangsu Province, to the effect that once upon a time there was a cowherd who was hacked to death by a landlord because of a fight with the landlord, and the rice scattered on the ground was dyed red with blood. This day was the first day of October. From then on, the poor had to eat red beans and rice on the first day of October to commemorate him, and there is a nursery rhyme to prove it: "In October, watch the oxen run home; if you refuse to go, the landlord will give you three plows and a thin knife.''

Allusions and legends

There are also stories of Cai Lun's papermaking and Cai Mo's burning of paper to honor his ancestors.

When Cai Lun first invented paper at Chinese Folklore, business was good. Cai Lun's sister-in-law Huiniang asked her husband Cai Mo to learn paper making from Cai Lun. When he came back to open a paper mill, Cai Mo's paper was of poor quality and could not be sold. They were anxious. Later, Huiniang thought of a way out of the situation.

Late one night, Huiniang pretended to be dead to sue for help. Cai Mo was very sad and mourned in front of her coffin. He cried as he burned paper, "I learned paper making from my brother, but I don't care. The poor quality of the paper made you angry. I'm going to burn this paper to ashes to get rid of my hatred." After burning it, he brought the paper to burn. After burning it for a while, I heard Huiniang shouting from the coffin, "Open the door, I'm back." It was scary. When people opened the coffin, Huiniang sang in triumph, "The dead man's money can travel all over the world, and the paper in the grave is used for business. If my husband didn't burn the paper, who let me come home?

Huiniang sang many times, saying: "I was a ghost just now, but now I am a human being. Don't be afraid. When I got to the underworld, Yan made me gnash my teeth and suffer. When my husband gave me money, many children helped me. Money makes the ghosts go away. Three Cao officials also asked me for money. I gave him all the money and he opened the back door of hell to let me come back." Cai Mo pretended to be confused, "I didn't send you any money?" Huiniang said, "The paper you burned was money from the underworld." So Cai Mo took a few bundles of paper and burned them to his parents.

On hearing this, everyone present felt that burning paper was beneficial and bought paper from Cai Mo. Huiniang generously gave it to the villagers and it soon caught fire. People from near and far came to buy Cai's paper and burn it for their dead relatives. In less than two days, the backlog of papers was snapped up. Huiniang's "return to spring" was the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar. So the descendants of the ancestors in the first day of October, An

On the first day of October, some places have the custom of sacrificing to the king of cattle. Legend has it that this custom originated in the state of Qin during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. One day, Duke Wen of Qin ordered someone to cut down a catalpa tree, which suddenly turned into a bull. Duke Wen of Qin was pursued. The cow jumped into the water and never came back up. The people built a "Nat Temple" to worship the cow god. Nat was a tall, strong and majestic bull. In people's minds, this kind of cow has the role of driving away epidemics and evil spirits to protect the cattle.