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The origin of the Ghost Festival: Sacrifice
The Ghost Festival is commonly known as the Ghost Festival , Shigu, July and a half, Buddhism calls it Obon Festival. Together with New Year's Eve, Qingming Festival, and Double Ninth Festival, these three festivals are traditional ancestor worship festivals in China, and they are also traditional cultural festivals popular in countries in the Chinese cultural circle. During the Hungry Ghost Festival, there is the custom of setting off river lanterns and burning paper ingots.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called the Shangyuan Festival, which celebrates the Lantern Festival, and has existed since ancient times; the fifteenth day of the seventh month is called the Zhongyuan Festival, where ancestors are worshipped; the fifteenth day of October is called the Xiayuan Festival. Eat cold food to commemorate the sage. The Hungry Ghost Festival falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, and in some areas it falls on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month.
The Hungry Ghost Festival was originally Xiaoqiu, when some crops were ripe. It was customary for the people to worship their ancestors and use new rice as offerings to report the autumn harvest to their ancestors. Therefore, during the Hungry Ghost Festival, every family worships their ancestors and performs rituals when doing so. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, people visit the tombs and pay homage to their ancestors. Overseas Chinese will send money during the four festivals of Qingming, Zhongyuan, Winter Solstice and New Year. Otherwise, they will be considered disrespectful to their ancestors, unfilial to their elders, and irresponsible to their wives.
It is said that all ghosts will be released from the underworld on the day of the Ghost Festival, and ghost worship activities are widely held among the people. Whenever a family has a new funeral, they usually visit a new grave, and sacrifices to lonely ghosts are usually held locally. This has become one of the largest sacrificial festivals among Chinese people.
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Legends of the Ghost Festival
Legend One
< p> July 14th of the lunar calendar every year is the Ghost Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival, or the Bon Festival. It is a major festival for worshiping lonely ghosts. The Ghost Festival originated from Taoism, and later Buddhism was changed to what is now commonly known as the Obon Festival. Obon means "hanging upside down" in Indian, and "hanging upside down" refers to the fact that after the death of the mother of the tenth disciple of Sakyamuni, Lotus, she suffered from hungry ghosts and could not eat. Mulian later received help from Sakyamuni and used the five flavors and five fruits to make offerings to the gods and Buddhas of the ten directions and save his mother through his merits. So now, in order to worship the lonely souls, a Purdue Festival is held in the seventh lunar month of the ghost month, also called the Ghost Festival. Generally speaking, people in ancient times were not willing to do important things such as marriage in this month.Legend 2
Regarding the origin of the Ghost Festival, it is said that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, also known as the "Lord of Hell", came to the underworld of the Yin Dynasty after his mother died and was imprisoned. In the cell, he had to endure all kinds of tortures in the 18 levels of hell. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was a filial son. He couldn't bear to see his mother suffering. On July 15th, he indulged in an affair and asked the ghost guarding the cell to secretly open the cell door and let him out. When the mother came out, she didn't know that it didn't matter if she opened the cell door. The ghosts in the cell swarmed out and came to the human world to harm the people. Therefore, there is a saying that "in the middle of July, ghosts are scurrying around". Those ghosts who ran back to their hometowns asked for money from their families so that they could use it to live and heal their joints, hoping to give birth to children as soon as possible. Later, people designated this day as "Ghost Festival". On Ghost Festival, people burn paper money and place offerings to pay homage to the souls of their deceased relatives.
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The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is also the day when Buddhism and Taoism summarize their criticisms. Every school carries out corresponding evaluation and evaluation activities; the difference is that Taoist inspections and reports are directed at the public, that is, school registration Chen. The summary and commentary of Buddhism are conducted internally. Whether it is the external school registration ceremony or the internal criticism meeting, it shows that Buddhism and Taoism attach great importance to July 15th, or the importance of this day in Buddhist and Taoist festivals. Coupled with the so-called Ghost Festival among the people, this The days become more colorful. School registration day and Ziyi Day are only a small part of the customary activities in this season. In addition, there are ancestor worship, lighting of lanterns to illuminate the dead, Bon Festival, etc., which are also important festivals and customs in the year.
The Bon Festival is an important ritual in Buddhist rituals. It is held on July 15th every year, so the Ghost Festival is also known as the "Obon Festival". Despite more than a thousand years of active obedience to customs and passive domestication, the traces of Buddhism still clearly remain in ordinary people's customary activities during the Ghost Festival. The first is the name. Bon is a transliteration of Sanskrit, which means "hanging upside down". Bon orchid and basin together are a rescue tool, that is, "rescuing hanging hanging device"; in addition, Bon Bon can also be interpreted as "saving hanging hanging basin", highlighting its "placement" The characteristics of "Baijiaweishi".