How deep is your misunderstanding of the Ghost Festival?

Today is the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, which is the traditional Chinese "Zhongyuan Festival". People have the custom of paying tribute to their deceased relatives on this day. In fact, Zhongyuan Festival is more than just burning paper. It is a festival with rich cultural connotations. How it evolved and what should be paid attention to when worshiping ancestors? There are many details involved...

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1. How is the Zhongyuan Festival related to the "Ghost Festival"?

When I was a child, I often heard the older generation say that the Ghost Festival falls on the 15th day of the seventh month when the gates of hell open. You must not run around on this day, especially at night, otherwise you will get sick at best, or worse... Because of this, in the eyes of many people, the Ghost Festival is full of weirdness.

In fact, the Ghost Festival has a history of thousands of years and rich heritage. It can even be called a " complex festival ."

In the Book of Changes, "seven" is a changing number, a number of rebirth, and contains the laws of the movement of heaven and earth and the cycle of yin and yang. July is also a month of auspiciousness and celebration.

In the seventh month of the first lunar month, crops mature. Around the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the first full moon day after the beginning of autumn, the ancients would offer newly harvested fruits, vegetables, and grains to their deceased ancestors, thanking them for blessing the harvest and praying for a good harvest in the coming year. This was called "autumn ancestor worship," commonly known as "the mid-July festival."

The "mid-July" is what we call the Zhongyuan Festival today. Because it has absorbed the rituals and customs of the Buddhist "Yulanpen Festival", it is also called the "Yulanpen Festival".

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The word "Yulanpen" comes from the Chinese Buddhist classic "Yulanpen Sutra", which means "to save the soul from hanging upside down", that is, to rescue the soul from distress. The "Yulanpen Sutra" tells the story of the Buddha's disciple Mulian who wanted to save his mother from the sea of ​​suffering in the evil ghost world. According to the Buddha's instructions, he set up a Yulan basin on the 15th day of the seventh month and offered hundreds of fruits and food to the monks from all directions. With their joint efforts, he successfully rescued his mother. Thus, the Yulanpen Festival on the 15th day of the seventh month was formed.

At almost the same time, Taoism also named the 15th day of the seventh lunar month as the "Zhongyuan Festival". In the Taoist world, the basic elements that make up all things in the world are the "Three Yuans" of heaven, earth and water. There are the Heavenly Official, the Earthly Official and the Water Official, collectively known as the "Three Officials", who are in charge of blessing, pardoning sins and resolving disasters respectively. Their birthdays are the 15th day of the first lunar month, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month, which are called the "Three Yuan Days". The Heavenly Official of the Shangyuan Festival blesses, the Earthly Official of the Zhongyuan Festival pardons sins and the Water Official of the Xiayuan Festival resolves disasters.

Because the Earth Official is in charge of the underworld and focuses on inspecting ghosts, the Zhongyuan Festival is called the "Ghost Festival" for this reason.

Although the Zhongyuan Festival is a festival for the dead, the connotation behind it is very rich: it contains the belief in souls, Confucian filial piety, and ancestor worship. Therefore, if we simply and crudely regard the Zhongyuan Festival as a scary "ghost festival", we will definitely lose 100 million yuan.

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2. What should we eat during the Ghost Festival?

1. Eat duck

On the day of the Ghost Festival, people in many places eat ducks. The Chinese character for duck is pronounced the same as the Chinese character for pressure, and people believe that eating ducks can suppress the "souls".

2. Make eggplant cake

It is believed that eggplant cakes can be used as dry food for deceased ancestors. Every Ghost Festival, every household in Nanjing makes eggplant cakes by cutting fresh eggplant into strips, mixing it with flour, and frying it in oil.

3. Eat simple meals

The Zhongyuan Festival is also known as the "Pinching Mouth Festival" in Shandong, and there is a custom of eating simple meals.

4. Eat Dumplings

According to the custom in Dongxian Township, Jiangsu Province, flatbread is a food made of flour and sugar in the shape of a dustpan.

5. Dough Modeling

The dough modeling activity is most popular in northern Shanxi. The flower buns given to younger generations should be shaped flat to teach them not to forget their parents' kindness; the flower buns given to elders should be shaped like people, implying a large family; and the flower buns given to peers should be shaped like fish, wishing for abundance year after year.

Today, the Ghost Festival is known as one of China's four major traditional festivals for ancestor worship, along with New Year's Eve, Qingming Festival, and Double Ninth Festival.

Folklore experts believe that the Zhongyuan Festival is an intangible cultural heritage. It is a cultural tradition of remembering ancestors and an ancient "filial piety festival" that focuses on emotional gratitude and remembrance of ancestors.

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3. Celebrate the Ghost Festival in a green way and perform sacrifices safely and civilizedly, which is the best way to remember the past.

In most people’s minds, as descendants, burning some “money” for deceased relatives during tomb sweeping is both a tradition and a form of commemoration.

But now, more and more people are beginning to realize the importance of civilized tomb sweeping. We advocate:

1. Civilized sacrifice and green tomb sweeping

There are various civilized and safe ways of sacrifice, such as online sacrifices, flower offerings, tying ribbons, and planting trees. These transform physical sacrifices into a focus on spiritual inheritance, creating a solemn, environmentally friendly, economical, and low-carbon civilized sacrificial atmosphere.

2. Green sacrifice, avoid hidden dangers

The weather is dry around the Ghost Festival and the forest fire risk level is high. If you want to use a fire source, please go to the designated area to carry out sacrificial activities. Do not burn paper money, scatter ghost money, fire paper and the remains of the deceased in public places such as main and secondary roads in the urban area, city squares, public green spaces, residential areas, etc., and jointly maintain a beautiful, clean and fresh urban environment.

3. Respect and love the elderly, and be frugal in funeral arrangements

Observe social ethics, uphold the tradition of respecting the elderly, advocate filial piety to the living elderly, care more about the elderly, and make sure they have a good life in their old age. When remembering deceased relatives, do not burn indiscriminately, waste money, or compete with each other, and express your grief in a frugal way.

Let's do it in a civilized way

Expressing thoughts for the deceased

Comprehensive source: Xinhuanet, etc.