What are the customs of the Mid-Yuan Festival What are the traditional customs of the Mid-Yuan Festival?

The customs of the Mid-Yuan Festival include offering sacrifices to ancestors, burning paper ingots, releasing river lanterns, worshipping the souls of the dead, eating ducks, and offering sacrifices to the land. The release of river lanterns on the Mid-Yuan Festival is said to have evolved from the custom of opening lanterns on the Shangyuan Festival. Folk believe that the first yuan is a human festival, the middle yuan is a ghost festival, man is yang, ghost is yin, land is yang, water is yin, so the first yuan lanterns in the land, the middle yuan is in the water.

River lamps, also known as "lotus lamps", river lamps are generally placed on the base of the lamp or candle, the night of the New Year in the rivers, lakes and the sea, let it float. The purpose of the river lanterns is to pray and Pudu. This ancient custom of releasing river lanterns on the Mid-Yuan Festival originated around the time of Emperor Wu of Liang in the North and South Dynasties, when it was only monks releasing river lanterns in the release pool, which was later spread to the people. It has become a beautiful custom to express people's thoughts about their dead relatives and blessings to the living people.