The three major ghost festivals in China are: Qingming Festival, Ghost Festival and Hanyi Festival.

1. Qingming Festival

Qingming Festival is one of the twenty-four solar terms in my country and one of the four major ghost festivals in China. It is a relatively grand and serious traditional festival in China. Qingming Festival falls at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, usually 106 days after the winter solstice and the day after the Cold Food Festival. In the past, the Qingming Festival was also called the Cold Food Festival, which once lasted for a hundred days. Cao Cao changed it to one day, and the Tang Dynasty changed it to three days before the Qingming Festival. All fires had to be extinguished. After the Cold Food Festival, new fires came from the palace.

2. Hungry Ghost Festival

The Hungry Ghost Festival must be the most familiar ghost festival to everyone. It falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month (in some places, especially in South China, it is the 10th day of the seventh lunar month). On the 4th, it is said that the Mongols invaded a certain place at the end of the Song Dynasty, and the residents celebrated the festival one day early to escape). Taoism calls it the Ghost Festival, Buddhism calls it the Bon Festival (referred to as the Bon Festival), and it is commonly known as Ghost Festival, July Festival. Half.

3. Cold Clothes Festival

Every year on the first day of October in the lunar calendar, it is called the "October Dynasty", also known as the "Ancestor Worship Festival". The festival for sending cold clothes is also called the Hades Festival. On October 1st, burning cold clothes expresses the memory of the deceased and the compassion of the living for the deceased. At the same time, this day also marks the arrival of severe winter, so it is also a day for parents and loved ones to send warm clothes to those they care about.

The Origin of the Hungry Ghost Festival on July 15th

The origin of the Hungry Ghost Festival can be traced back to the ancestor worship and related festivals in ancient times. July is an auspicious month and a month of filial piety. The first half of July is a folk festival in early autumn to celebrate the harvest and reward the earth. When certain crops are ripe, it is customary for folk to worship their ancestors and use new rice as offerings to report the autumn harvest to their ancestors. This festival is a traditional cultural festival to remember ancestors. Its cultural core is to respect ancestors and show filial piety.

"July 15th" was originally a folk ancestor worship festival in ancient times, and it is called "Zhongyuan Festival" because it originated from Taoism after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Buddhism calls the half of July "Obon Festival". In a certain sense, the Half-July Ancestor Worship Festival belongs to the folk world, the Ghost Festival belongs to Taoism, and the Obon Festival belongs to Buddhism.