Ghost Festival丨During the Ghost Festival, pray for blessings and remember the dead... Please keep these tips for civilized tomb sweeping and safety

The coolness of the trees creates a refreshing frost

The Mid-Autumn Festival moon is bright on the nine streets

Children compete to pick up the lotus leaves

Thousands of silver flowers scatter in the city of fire

"Chang'an Miscellaneous Feelings in the Style of Bamboo Branches" by Qing Dynasty poet Pang Kai describes the scene of children holding lotus leaf lanterns and playing together on the night of the Ghost Festival. Today is the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Ghost Festival, also known as Shi Gu, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Ghost Festival.

Along with New Year's Eve, Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival, Zhongyuan Festival is a traditional festival for ancestor worship in China. The origin of Zhongyuan Festival can be traced back to the ancient seasonal sacrifices and the ancestor worship related to them. Ancestor worship is done in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and the "autumn festival" is particularly important.

At this time, many people will pay tribute to the deceased and express their grief in various ways. Release Kongming lanterns, worship the land, make eggplant cakes... Do you know these traditional customs of the Ghost Festival?

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1. Release river lanterns

River lanterns, also known as "lotus lanterns", are lanterns or candles placed on a base and placed in rivers, lakes and seas on the night of the Ghost Festival to pray for the salvation of drowning ghosts and other wandering spirits in the water.

2. Burning street clothes

As soon as the seventh month of the lunar calendar begins, people will bring incense, candles, gold and silver paper, tofu, rice and other offerings to worship on the roadside after dark, so that the lonely souls will have clothes to keep warm and food to fill their stomachs.

3. Make eggplant cake

It is believed that eggplant cakes can be used as dry food for deceased ancestors to take to the Yulan Festival. Making eggplant cakes is an old Nanjing custom. Fresh eggplants are cut into strips, mixed with flour, and fried in oil.

4. Pray for a good harvest

The Zhongyuan Festival combines offering sacrifices to lonely souls with praying for a good harvest. On the night of offering sacrifices to lonely souls, every family burns incense at their doorsteps to pray for a good rice harvest and sticks incense sticks into the ground, which is called "putian" (transplanting rice), symbolizing a good harvest of rice in autumn.

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5. Ancestor worship

People believe that their ancestors will return home to visit their descendants on the Ghost Festival, so they need to worship their ancestors. The worship ceremony is usually held in the evening before the end of July and is not limited to a specific day.

6. Worship the Land and Crops

On the day of the Ghost Festival, people often offer sacrifices to the land and crops. They scatter offerings on the fields and burn paper. They then use strips of colored paper to wrap around the ears of crops to avoid hail and pray for a good harvest.

7. Release sky lanterns

There are two theories about releasing sky lanterns. One is to take away one's bad luck; the other is to illuminate the way to the paradise and guide the ancestors to enter the paradise.

However

Due to dry weather

Increased use of outdoor fires

Burning incense, burning paper, setting off Kongming lanterns and other sacrificial activities

It brings many fire hazards

It has also caused many tragedies

The Ministry of Emergency Management reminds:

Safe and civilized sacrifices are the best way to commemorate the past!

Comprehensive sources: Xinhuanet, Ministry of Emergency Management, etc.

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