On the fifteenth day of the first month, the Han people called Shangyuan Festival, which celebrated Yuanxiao, which has existed since ancient times.
On July 15th, the Han people called the Mid-Yuan Festival to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.
On October 15th, the Han people called the Next Yuan Festival, which is a cold food to commemorate the sages.
It is a traditional folk custom of the Han nationality that Han people light river lanterns on the Mid-Yuan Festival and Taoist priests pray. Buddhism and Taoism have different interpretations of the significance of this festival, and Buddhism emphasizes filial piety. Taoism focuses on "Purdue" for those orphaned souls released from the underworld.
July 15th of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Yuan Festival, which is the same as the Shangyuan Festival on the 15th of the first month and the Xiayuan Festival on October 15th.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a Taoist festival. Taoism believes that "Sanyuan" is another name for "Three Officials". Shangyuan Festival, also known as Shangyuan Tianguan Festival, is the birthday of Emperor Ziwei who was blessed by Shangyuan. The Mid-Yuan Festival, also known as the Mid-Yuan Official Festival, is the birthday of Qing Xu, the official who pardoned sins in the Middle Yuan Dynasty. Xiayuan Festival, also known as Xiayuan Shuiguan Festival, is the birthday of Emperor Dong Yin, the Shuiguan of Xiayuan. Taoism's "Three Official Classics of Taishang" says: "heavenly god blesses the people, the local officials forgive sins, and the water officials relieve Eritrea", and "all sentient beings are under the control of heaven, earth and water officials". On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Taoist temples, such as the Temple of Fire in Di 'anmen and the Baiyun Temple outside Xibianmen, routinely hold "Dojo for Blessing Good Luck" in order to pray for "good weather, peaceful country and people's safety".
Buddhists will hold a grand Bonsai on this day, which is also called Bonsai and Bonsai. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were more than 840 temples in Beijing, such as Guangji Temple, Fayuan Temple, Nianhua Temple, Guanghua Temple, Jiaxing Temple, Changchun Temple, etc., where conditions permit, all held different scales of Yulan Club and Zhongyuan Law Club. Since the Republic of China, Beihai Park, Zhongshan Park Music Hall and other places have held "memorial ceremonies for fallen soldiers" at this time over the years. Three scriptures, Fan (Lama), Tao (Taoist) and Zen (Monk), were used to provide a memorial tablet of "fallen soldiers of the army, navy and air force" for public sacrifice.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, activities such as making boats, putting lotus lanterns, lotus lanterns, ancestor worship and singing "Ying Jing Opera" were held in old Beijing.
[Edit this paragraph ]2. The source of the festival
The ceremony for Buddhists to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is called the "Orchid Festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated not only to pay homage to their dead relatives, but also to commemorate Mu Lian as a day for Buddhists to praise his filial piety.
Mulian's story of saving her mother comes from the Tripitaka Sutra (Buddhism introduced from India). According to the records in the Tripitaka Sutra, Mulian saw his dead mother, Liu Siniang, tortured by a group of hungry ghosts after experiencing hardships in the underworld. Mulian gave her vegetable rice in a bowl, but the vegetable rice was taken away by the hungry ghosts. Mulian asked the Buddha for help, and the Buddha was moved by Mulian's filial piety and awarded the Orchid Sutra. Mulian, as instructed, offered her mother a vegetarian meal filled with rare fruits in an orchid basin on July 15th, and the starving mother finally got food. In order to commemorate Mulian's filial piety, Buddhists hold a grand "Orchid Club" every year.
Taoists believe that from the beginning of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the underworld opened the gate of ghosts and released ghosts to the world to receive sacrifices. In order to avoid the interference and harm of ghosts and gods, the "Zhongyuan Pudu" was set up on July 15 to offer food and burn ghost paper to appease those lonely souls without owners.
On the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival
The first statement:
July 15 of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Ghost Festival or Yulan Festival, which is a big festival to worship ghosts and ghosts.
The Mid-Autumn Festival originated from Taoism, and later Buddhism changed to what is now commonly known as Ghost Festival. In Indian, Yulan Festival means "hanging upside down". "Hanging upside down" means that the mother of Mulian, the top ten disciple of Sakyamuni, suffered from a hungry ghost after her death and could not eat. Later, I got help from Sakyamuni. Support the ten gods and buddhas with hundreds of flavors and five fruits and save the mother through merits. So now, in order to sacrifice the lonely souls, Purdue Festival is held in July in the lunar calendar, which is now called Ghost Festival.
Generally speaking, in ancient times, people were reluctant to make important things such as marriage this month.
The second statement:
About the origin of Ghost Festival, it is said that Bodhisattva Diksitigarbha, whose mother died, came to the underworld and was imprisoned in his cell. He was a filial son, and he couldn't bear to see his mother suffer. On July 15th, he had an affair and let the kids guarding the cell secretly open the prison door for his mother to come out. Who knows, it doesn't matter if this door is opened. The kids in the cell flocked out to the world to harm the people. Those ghosts who ran back to their hometown asked their families for money so that they could go back to live and get through their joints, hoping to support their lives as soon as possible. Later, people designated this day as Ghost Festival.
On Halloween, people will burn paper money and offer offerings to pay homage to the dead of their deceased relatives.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, both Buddhism and Taoism summed up their criticisms, and both of them conducted corresponding textual criticism activities. The difference is that the Taoist investigation and report point to the people, that is, the birth date of the school. Buddhism's summary comments are made internally. Both the external school birth date and the internal criticism meeting show that both Buddhism and Taoism attach importance to July 15th. Or explain the importance of this day in Buddhist and Taoist festivals. Coupled with the so-called ghost festival among the people, this time is even more colorful. The birthday of the school and the day of self-indulgence are only a very small part of the customs activities in this season. In addition, there are also important customs-saving activities in the year, such as offering sacrifices to ancestors and recommending new ones, putting lights on the ghosts, and the Bonsai Festival.
The Bonin Festival is an important ceremony in Buddhist New Year's Day rituals. For example, it is held on July 15th every year, so the Mid-Yuan Festival is also known as the Bonin Festival.
Despite thousands of years of active obedience and passive domestication, the trace of Buddhism clearly remains in the activities of the common people in the Mid-Autumn Festival. The first is the name. Euglena is a transliteration of Sanskrit, which means "hanging upside down". Together, Euglena and basin are lifesavers, that is, "rescuing the upside down"; In addition, the orchid basin can also be interpreted as "saving the hanging basin", highlighting its characteristics of "putting a hundred meals".
Pang Long, a poet in Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem titled "Bamboo Branches with Mixed Effects in Chang 'an", which depicts the scene of children playing with lotus leaf lanterns on Mid-Autumn Eve.
Chang' an hybrid bamboo branch
Thousands of trees are cool, frosty and clear, and the mid-January moon is bright.
Children compete for green lotus leaves, and thousands of silver flowers scatter the fire city.
According to the etiquette of the Buddhist Bonsai, the river lantern is just one of the small programs, and it doesn't seem so important. In the folk activities of Mid-Autumn Festival, it is more important to put on lights.
River lanterns are also called "lotus lanterns". Generally, they put lamps or candles on the base, and they are placed in rivers, lakes and seas at Mid-Autumn Festival, leaving them floating. The purpose of the river lantern is to drown ghosts and other ghosts in Pudu water. A passage from the biography of Hulan River by Hong Xiao, a modern woman writer, is the best footnote of this custom: "July 15th is a ghost festival; Dead ghosts can't support themselves, and lingering in hell is very bitter. They want to support themselves, but they can't find their way. On this day, if a fool holds a river lamp, he will have to support his life. " Probably this road from the underworld to the dead is very dark, and you can't see the road without a lamp. So putting on the lights is a good thing. It can be seen that the living gentlemen have not forgotten the dead ghosts.
[Edit this paragraph ]3. Celebration methods
The Mid-Autumn Festival is commonly known as Ghost Festival. Folk traditional festivals. It's on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, and it's also on the fourteenth of July. On this day, families offer sacrifices to their ancestors, and some even hold family dinners, and salute them like a ritual. Three rounds of wine shows that after the ancestors' feast, the family will sit together and have a holiday dinner. After the blackout, take firecrackers, paper money and incense sticks, find a quiet riverside or pond flat, and sprinkle a circle with lime to indicate the restricted area. Then pour some water and rice in the circle, burn some paper money, set off firecrackers, send our ancestors on their way and turn to the "underworld". In the past, on the seventh day of July, the people would take the ghosts of their ancestors home through a certain ceremony, and provide tea and rice for three times every morning, noon and dusk until July 15th. Now, superstition is gradually eliminated, and the form of memorial service is retained as a memory and commemoration of ancestors.
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the "Mid-Autumn Festival". It is a folk custom to go to the grave on July 15th to pay homage to the ancestors. Some people burn paper money in front of their doors or at the corners of streets. In the old society, on this day, someone in the city carried the wooden Lord of the city god temple to the summer for three days, which was called "city god trip". People spend temple fairs in palaces and set up Lu operas. At that time, the palace was located in Dongjiao, and the place was named Hejiayuanzi.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is scheduled for July 15th of the lunar calendar, commonly known as July 30. Legend has it that all ghosts were released in the underworld on that day, and people generally carried out activities of offering sacrifices to ghosts. Where there is a new funeral, people will go to a new grave, but in general, ghosts and ghosts will be sacrificed at local places. Therefore, it is a festival centered on ghost worship as a whole, and it is the largest ghost festival among the people in China.
July used to be a small autumn, and a number of crops were ripe. As a rule, the people wanted to worship their ancestors, offering sacrifices such as new rice, and reporting to their ancestors about Qiu Cheng. Song Meng's "Dream of China in Tokyo" said in Volume 1: "The day before the Middle Yuan Dynasty, I bought exercise leaves (leaves of a plant with fragrance) to line the table when I enjoyed the sacrifice, and I also bought a nest of hemp seeds, which was also tied at the foot of the table, which was the intention of my ancestor Qiu Cheng. "China people, who pay attention to filial piety when the crops are ripe in the autumn of July, will report to their ancestors and ask them to taste new things, so they make a routine sacrifice to their ancestors in July. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoism set three sessions and five lunar days, among which July 7th was the moral wax, and it was also the day when the regular Taoist people came to the institute for examination. The main content of the May Day is to offer sacrifices to ancestors. The date of ancestor worship in July was later fixed on this day with Taoism setting the birthday of Zhongyuan local officials and the corresponding date of sacrifice on July 15.
Taoist Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a religious festival in Taoism, but also a folk festival. At the beginning of Taoism, there was the worship of three officials. Zhengyi League believed in the three officials, namely, the heavenly official, the local official and the water official, which was later called the Three Officials Emperor. They each have their own responsibilities. Heaven officials bless Shangyuan, local officials forgive sins for Zhongyuan, and water officials call Xiayuan Jiee. It is said in the Taoist book that during these three days, the three officials should correct the crimes committed on earth to determine rewards and punishments. Among them, the local officials are in charge of the underworld, and of course the focus of the inspection is on ghosts from all walks of life. So on this day, all the ghosts will leave the underworld and accept the examination. On this day, Daomen made a routine ceremony to celebrate the birthday of the local officials. At the same time, the believers also funded a fast to pray for the ancestors' blessings, asking the local officials to forgive their sins and ascend to heaven early. This is the main reason why the Mid-Autumn Festival has become a folk festival.
July 15th is the Buddhist Bonne Festival. "Euglena Basin" is a Sanskrit transliteration, the original meaning is to solve the problem of hanging upside down. It is said that the Buddha's apprentice had a healthy eye and was sent to the depths of hell because of his mother's evil deeds before her death. He asked the Buddha what the salvation method was, and the Buddha told him that fasting on the day of the monks' liberation (July 15 in China) could save the ghost from the suffering of hell. According to Buddhist rituals, people begin to sit in summer in mid-April, that is, they enter monasteries for meditation, and are not allowed to go out during the day. It ends on July 15th, which is called Jiezhi Day, so they can come out to receive charity from believers. Buddhists in China created the "Orchid Sutra" to publicize it, and later formed the custom of setting up a welcome to eat and sacrifice ghosts. In this way, the Mid-Yuan Festival is characterized by the integration of the righteousness of Taoism and Buddhism, and the activities of worshipping ancestors, ghosts, ghosts and ghosts in the Mid-Yuan Dynasty have become the biggest "ghost festival" among the people.
The folk activities in the Middle Yuan Dynasty revolved around offering sacrifices to ancestors and wild ghosts. There were city gods patrolling to offer sacrifices to Li (ghosts who died violently), Taoist temples and Buddhist temples held Purdue Dharma meetings to turn over the dead, and people went to new graves. As the Chinese came to Southeast Asia and other regions, they also brought the customs of the Mid-Yuan Festival to those places. The Zhongyuan activities in Penang, Malaysia have a broad mass base and are well known.
July KTV
In the traditional customs of the Chinese people, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an important day to offer sacrifices to ancestors, and every household will celebrate it.
Every July of the lunar calendar, Chinese people in our country will hold a grand celebration of Zhongyuan, and all over the country, whether in commercial areas or housing units, you can see the red paper celebrating Zhongyuan, decorated with lanterns, set up altars and rewarded the gods. Temples are also built separately, and local operas or singing platforms are staged in the streets and lanes to add to the fun, presenting a lively and extraordinary scene.
Due to the differences in organizational forms, the "Pudu" ceremony of the Mid-Autumn Festival can be divided into several categories, such as Jiepu (also known as Hongpu), Shipu, Miaopu (or Gongpu) and so on. The so-called street pu refers to the neighborhood-based purdue; Market popularity is a market-oriented popularity; Temple Pu is the Pudu hosted by the temple.
Zhongyuan pudu
In many Chinese societies, such as Chinese mainland, Hongkong, Macau, Taiwan Province and Singapore, Zhongyuan Pudu is a very important folk festival. Many people will hold sacrificial activities with offerings such as wine, meat, sugar cakes and fruits during the first day of July to the 30th day of July in the lunar calendar, so as to comfort the ghosts who are playing in the world and pray for their peace and success throughout the year. Those who are more solemn even invite monks and Taoists to recite the scriptures. During this period, some people will invite Buddha statues such as Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Mu Lian Zun to place high platforms, or invite artists to play the exorcism god Zhong Kui (some of them invite artists to manipulate Zhong Kui's puppet), so as to eliminate the rage of the dead.
It is the custom of Minnan people and Taiwan Province people to insert a wick incense and triangular colored paper flag on each offering. On the flag, words such as "Celebrate the Zhongyuan", "Give the orchid widely", "Worship the Yin light" and "The Yin light shines brightly" are written with a brush, and their names are written. Before paying homage to the dead, they will pay homage to a god named Face Burning Master, commonly known as "Great Master".
According to legend, in July of the lunar calendar, all the dead in Yangshi were under the management of "Master Da Shi". There are two reasons for this god: first, he is the embodiment of Guanyin, so he is called "Master". Second, he used to be the leader of the ghosts, but he was converted to his door because of the enlightenment of Master Guanyin. From then on, he was called "Master Master" and became the god who protected the Purdue in Zhongyuan.
In order to be grand, some worshippers will set up a memorial tablet or tie up a statue of Master Da with paper. During the sacrifice, they will put the memorial tablet or statue of Master Da before the altar in order to make the sacrifice smooth. Generally speaking, the appearance of the Grand Master is: he has two horns at the top, green face and fangs, and he is tall and mighty. There is also a Buddha statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva on his head, which symbolizes the compassionate Guanyin Grand Master.
On the Mid-Yuan Festival in southern Fujian, there is a ceremony called "robbing orphans", in which offerings or flags are placed on high columns, and the columns are covered with grease, so that everyone can climb the columns together, and the flag and the object will win first. Not only can you win prizes, but you will also be blessed by ghosts and gods. However, this is a very dangerous activity, with casualties from time to time. In the Qing Dynasty, Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Taiwan Province, once banned it. Today, this ceremony is still held at the Yulan Victory Club held in Toucheng, Taiwan Province, Hengchun and Hong Kong Fulao Community.
offer sacrifices to ancestors
Folks believe that ancestors will also return home to visit their descendants at this time, so it is necessary to worship their ancestors, but the sacrificial activities are generally held before the end of July and are not limited to a specific day. In some areas, through certain ceremonies, ancestors' souls are taken home at night, and tea and rice are served three times a day in the morning, noon and dusk until July 30. When returning, burning paper money and clothes is called burning "coating", or a Buddhist or Taoist ritual of crossing over. In some areas of Jiangxi and Hunan, the Mid-Autumn Festival is more important than Tomb-Sweeping Day or the Double Ninth Festival.
Celebrating Zhongyuan is very common.
Locally, Street Puduo takes a townhouse or street as the Pudu unit of the Mid-Yuan Festival; Bazaars, hawker centers, shopping centers and shops are the main parts of the city. As for the temples, there is no doubt.
It is popular in China. Besides, local factories and industrial buildings generally have Purdue organizations.
In recent years, due to the improvement of people's living standards, it is also very common to celebrate the Chinese Yuan Festival, and it is also very particular about ostentation and extravagance. Some non-governmental organizations or companies have also established the Chinese Yuan Festival. Judging from this trend, this traditional Chinese custom is flourishing year by year in the local area.
In Singapore, ordinary street people and street people will worship big candles and incense in rows, some of which are more than ten or twenty feet high, which is spectacular.
In the sacrifice shed, please paste a statue of Pudu Gong, who is six feet long or two feet long, with a blue face and fangs, which is extremely scary. Put it in a cloth shed to offer sacrifices, and burn three big incense sticks and two big candles in front of him. The more ways of offering sacrifices, the better. There are roast pigs, chickens, ducks, white rice bags, fruits, canned food, sugar and oil.
As for the temple, there is an altar in the temple, and the big mirror of the "Orchid Club" or "Migong Emperor" is hung in the center. As for the god table, there are three lanterns, statues and incense burners. There are white rice, bronze mirror, Gu Jian, small scale, scissors, ruler, umbrella and lighted kerosene lamp in the bucket lamp, which the ancients believed could ward off evil spirits.
On the long table in front of the altar, sacrifices are offered, and flour is used as material to make birds and animals, fish, crabs and aquatic animals and other supplies, which is extremely rich.
There are many kinds of bidding blessings
In addition to offering sacrifices, these local organizations' Pudu meetings are also full of blessings. Some of them are donations from members and enthusiastic people organized by the China Yuan Association. There are many kinds of blessings, such as gods, charcoal commonly known as "Wujin", rice barrels, stuffed ingots, big lottery tickets, hair cakes, wine, electrical appliances and children's toys.
After the worship, it is inevitable to bid for wonderful gifts, which is also one of the characteristics of local Zhongyuan Purdue.
When bidding, the owner of the furnace often goes out and shouts out the price of the bidder like a bell. I always hear the voice of bidding for the blessing in the banquet room here and there. Compared with the other, the bidder is very lively, and the bidder is also very rich. Because most people believe that "bidding" a thing can bring some wealth, everyone is very generous, especially business people.
Usually, the members in charge of the Chinese Yuan Festival will use this considerable sum of money from the bid opening as a charity fund or a welfare fund for members. At the same time, they can also make a good reserve for the activities of the Chinese Yuan Festival next year, such as inviting singing stations or local operas to entertain.
There are so-called "three yuan" in China's lunar new year season, which refers to the upper yuan on the 15th of the month, the middle yuan on the 15th of July and the lower yuan on the 15th of October.
In addition to the Zhongyuan Festival and the Orchid Festival, the people also call July 15th the Ghost Festival, which is combined with Qingming Festival and October 1st as the Three Ghosts Festival. The folk ghost festival is closely related to the Mid-Yuan Festival and the Bonin Festival of Buddhism, and has its own unique color. In this way, the combination of monks, Taoism and customs constitutes a rich festival of customs on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
Wang Kaitai, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem "Feeling on the Mid-Autumn Festival" which described the custom of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Fujian.
Thoughts on Mid-Autumn Festival
The Dojo is full of ghosts, and the original orchid is ancient.
However, it is strange that the red note is attached to the door, and the meat mountain wine sea celebrates Zhongyuan.
On July 15th, Taoism is called Zhongyuan Festival, Buddhism is called Yulan Festival, and folks used to call it Ghost Festival. For the sake of good luck, people in Shanxi, especially in northern Shanxi, renamed it dough sculpture festival today. Cultural connotation is very rich.
The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival should be related to the land worship popular in ancient China. After the prevalence of Taoism, it attached to the tradition and founded the gods of heaven, earth and water. It is said that Tianguan's birthday is on the fifteenth day of the first month, which is called Shangyuan Festival. Its main duty is to bless the world. The official's birthday is on July 15th, which is called the Mid-Yuan Festival. Its main duty is to forgive sins for the world. Shui Guan's birthday is on October 15th, which is called the Ten Thousand Yuan Festival. Its main duty is to relieve the world.
In contrast to Taoism, Buddhism decided that July 15th was the Yulan Basin Festival. Buddhism advocates compassion for good. During the rainy season in ancient India for three months, Buddhist rituals prohibited monks and nuns from going out, saying that going out would easily hurt plants, insects and ants, and asked monks and nuns to meditate in the temple and accept support. This period is called the period of settling down. After Buddhism was introduced to China, according to the seasonal changes in our country, the period of residence was stipulated as April 16th to July 15th. Later, according to the scriptures, the Buddhist legend story of "Mu Yi Lian saved his mother" was produced. Mu Jianlian, a disciple of Buddha Sakyamuni, saw his dead mother suffering in hell, which was terrible. All efforts to rescue him failed, so we had to turn to Buddha for help. Sakyamuni explained that his mother's criminal career was quite large before her death, and it was impossible for one person to save her. He told Mu Gelian that only on July 15th, the day when the monks settled down, could he prepare a hundred flavors of food and feed the ten monks, and only with the help of all the monks could he free his mother from suffering. Mu Jianlian did as he was told, and it really worked. This kind of Buddhist activity is called the Bonsai. Yulan is a transliteration of Sanskrit in ancient India, which means hanging upside down and describing the suffering of the dead. A basin is Chinese, which refers to a vessel for holding offerings. Bonsai refers to such Buddhist activities, which can relieve the suffering of the first dead.
With the help of the Confucian tradition of "filial piety", Chinese Buddhism evolved July 15th into a "filial piety festival" to promote Buddhism. Not only has it been recognized by Chinese traditional culture, but it has also been widely welcomed by the government and the people, so it has the greatest influence on the folk activities on July 15th.
On July 15th, the Buddhist community in Wutai Mountain will hold the Orchid Club as usual to chant Buddhist scriptures and turn over the dead. Some religious people around will go to the temple to offer confessions, fire guns and pray to atone for their ancestors and wish the dead relief.
In the folk, every family goes to the grave to pay homage to their ancestors.
Jinnan area is used to making lamps out of paper and burning them in front of graves, which means that the dead have a bright future. The food in memory of ancestors likes to use steamed stuffed buns. If the ancestors have died for three years, the children should take off their mourning clothes and change into ordinary clothes on this day, commonly known as changing filial piety.
In the northern part of Shanxi Province, people go to graves to pay homage to their ancestors. They like to use steamed buns and flour to make them round with a red dot in the middle. After putting out the confession and burning the paper, when you go home, you should pull a few millet and hemp from the ground, wrap them with green paper, and stand in front of the window to offer a statue to the dough maker. After the festival, the roof is moved, the roots are facing inward, and the ears of grain are exposed outside, which is called picking up hemp grains. The popular folk saying is to bless the harvest of grain. However, the ritual of offering sacrifices to dough figurines seems to be a relic of the early custom of human martyrdom.