What festival is the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the "Orchid Festival". In some places, it is commonly called "Ghost Festival" and "shi gu", also known as the Day of the Dead and July 30.

"Ghost Festival", commonly known as "July and a half" (13th or 14th in some areas). It is said that the ancestors who died were released by Yan for half a month at the beginning of July, so there is a custom of receiving ancestors at the beginning of July and seeing them off at the end of July. When sending the ancestors, a lot of paper money was burned for the "ancestors to enjoy". At the same time, put money paper in a paper envelope with the name of the owner written on it, and burn it at the time of sacrifice, which is called "burning the bag". Those who died during the year burned new bags, and those who died more than one year burned old bags.

No matter the rich or the poor, they should prepare dining tables and paper money to pay homage to the dead to show their memory of the dead ancestors. The Mid-Autumn Festival is usually seven days, and there are new and old dead people. Those who died within three years are called new dead, and those who died three years ago are called old dead. It is said that the new and old dead will go home to see them during this period of time, and that the time when the new and old dead come back is not the same. The new dead will return first, and the old dead will return later. Therefore, it is necessary to pay homage separately. The time to burn paper money is in the dead of night. First, sprinkle a few circles with lime in the yard, saying that the paper money is burned in the circle and ghosts dare not come to grab it, and then burn it in piles. When burning, I still keep chanting: "So-and-so will get the money." Finally, we have to burn a pile outside the circle, saying it's for ghosts. On the day when the dead go back, both rich and poor should cook a good meal to honor the dead, which is also called "seeing the dead off".

In Indian Buddhist ceremonies, Buddhists held a "Bonbon Meeting" in order to recommend their ancestors. The Bonbon Sutra in Buddhist scriptures was used to cultivate filial piety and encourage Buddhist disciples, which was in line with China's popular belief of seeking after the first and mourning for the distant, so it became more and more popular. The story of Mulian's rescue of Muer is widely circulated among the people: "Those who have Mulian monks have great powers. His mother fell into the hungry ghost road, and the food entrance turned into flames, and the hunger was too bitter. Mulian couldn't save her mother, so she asked the Buddha for advice. In order to talk about the scriptures of the orchid basin, she taught to make an orchid basin on July 15 to save her mother. "

China began to follow this example from the Liang Dynasty, and became the Mid-Yuan Festival. Later, however, in addition to setting up a fast for monks, activities such as confessing and setting fire to the mouth were also added.

The origin and legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival

The story of Mulian's rescue of Muer is widely circulated among the people: "Those who have Mulian monks have great powers. His mother fell into the hungry ghost road, and the food entrance turned into flames, and the hunger was too bitter. Mulian couldn't save her mother, so she asked the Buddha for advice. In order to talk about the scriptures of the orchid basin, she taught to make an orchid basin on July 15 to save her mother. "

China began to follow this example from the Liang Dynasty, and became the Mid-Yuan Festival. Later, however, in addition to setting up a fast for monks, activities such as confessing and setting fire to the mouth were also added.

On this day, the division seat and shi gu Terrace were set up in front of Jiekou Village in advance. In front of the teacher's seat, there is a Tibetan king bodhisattva who crosses the "hell" ghost, and below it is a plate of peaches and rice. There are three spirit tablets standing on the stage of shi gu. After noon, families put whole pigs, whole sheep, chickens, ducks, geese and all kinds of cakes, fruits, melons and fruits on the shi gu stage. The person in charge inserted a triangular paper flag in blue, red and green on each sacrifice, and wrote the words "Yulan Festival" and "Ganlu Gate Open". The ceremony began with a solemn temple music. Then, the teacher rang the bell and led the monks under the seat to recite various mantras. Then feed, sprinkle a plate of peaches and rice in all directions, and repeat it three times. This ceremony is called "Flame Opening".

At night, every household has to burn incense in front of their own homes and put incense on the ground. The more, the better, which symbolizes the bumper harvest of grains. This is called "spreading fields". In some places, there are water lanterns; The so-called water lamp is a lamp tied to a small board, and most of them are made of colored paper in lotus shape, which is called "flood and drought lamp" According to tradition, water lanterns are designed to guide the ghosts. When the light went out, the water lamp completed the task of leading grievances across the Naihe Bridge. Shops were closed that day, and the streets were given to ghosts. In the middle of the street, there is an incense table every hundred steps, which is filled with fresh fruits and a kind of "ghost steamed stuffed bun". Behind the table, there are Taoist priests singing ghost songs that people can't understand. This ceremony is called "singing songs".

Shangyuan Festival is the Lantern Festival on earth, and people decorate lanterns to celebrate Lantern Festival. "Zhongyuan" comes from Shangyuan. People think that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a ghost festival, and lanterns should also be put on to celebrate the festival for ghosts. However, people and ghosts are different, so the lantern in Zhongyuan is different from the lantern in Shangyuan. Man is yang and ghost is yin; Land is yang, water is yin. The mysterious darkness under the water reminds people of the legendary hell, where ghosts sink. Therefore, the lantern in Shangyuan is on land and the lantern in Zhongyuan is in water.

The significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival

From the legends about the Mid-Autumn Festival, we can deeply realize that the sacrifice of the Mid-Autumn Festival has a dual significance, one is to show filial piety for remembering ancestors, and the other is to carry forward the righteous act of pushing others and being charitable. This is all from the perspective of compassion, which is very human. Therefore, while celebrating Zhongyuan, we should get rid of the ghost's point of view and look forward to mutual love.