1, Ghost Festival is the 15th of July
The 15th of the seventh month of the lunar calendar each year is the Festival of the Middle Ages, commonly known as Shi Kou, half of the seventh month, the Buddhist known as the Bon Festival. It is a traditional Chinese festival of ancestor worship, along with the New Year's Eve, Qingming Festival and Chungyang Festival, and is also a traditional cultural festival popular in the countries of the Chinese character culture circle. It is also a traditional cultural festival popular in the countries of the Chinese character culture circle. The Zhongyuan Festival has the custom of releasing river lanterns and burning paper ingots.
The Upper, Middle, and Lower Yuan Festivals are collectively known as "Sanyuan," and are traditional Chinese festivals. On the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it is called Shangyuan Festival, which is a celebration of the Lantern Festival, and has been practiced since ancient times; on the 15th day of the 7th month, it is called Zhongyuan Festival, which is a festival of ancestors; and on the 15th day of the 10th month, it is called Shimen Festival, which is a cold food festival to commemorate the wise men and women. July 15 is the first full moon night after the fall, when the summer heat has just faded, the golden wind is faying and diving, the night is as cool as water.
2, Ghost Festival food customs
1, eat Segen
In today's Dongguan, Dongguan has the custom of eating Segen, and almost in the whole of Dongguan are universal. Of course, the method of eating Segen is still different in different areas. Segen, a traditional food for Dongguan people's birthday feast, symbolizes long life and many blessings.
Dongguan is most famous for roast goose rase. Roasted goose, the most important thing is a pot of delicious soup, that has to use the whole chicken, large pieces of meat, large pieces of bone, plus many special herbs and spices boiled. When you eat it, you put the rase powder in hot water and put it into a bowl, then add a big spoonful of the soup, and the powder surface is then covered with a layer of roast goose with crispy skin and tender meat.
2, steamed noodles sheep
Old Beijing and rural areas of northern China, folk popular July 15 by the grandfather, uncle to the young nephews to send the custom of live sheep. Legend has it that this custom is related to the legend of Sinkiang's rescue of his mother. Shenxiang split the mountain to save his mother, to kill his mother's uncle abusive Erlang Shen, Erlang Shen in order to repair the brother and sister of good and nephew friendship, every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month to Shenxiang to send a pair of live goats, it is said that this is to take the Erlang Shen and Shenxiang's mother, "Yang," the harmonization of the surname, in order to re-establish the good of the two families. From then on, the custom of sending live sheep to the uncle was left behind, and then gradually evolved into sending a pair of sheep across the street.
Another version of this folklore is that mothers mold a pair of sheep with white flour for their daughters to get married, and of course they have to be steamed, and the head of the sheep has to be wrapped and hung with red cloth. The mother's family to form a small team to send sheep to the new aunt's home, by the new aunt's hands to cut the face of the sheep, and will cut the first piece of red rope hanging in the living room, the "face of the lamb" until July 15 of the next year to send the new face of the sheep to be taken down. The saying goes, "When the old sheep meets the new sheep, there will be plenty of food for the new year." After the new aunt cut the sheep, to eat the head of the sheep, the married girl to eat the feet of the sheep, and the rest of the distribution of the male elders to the neighbors, in order to table and beautiful, *** enjoy the celebration of good luck.
3, eat flower bun
July 15 before the festival, the folk women prevailed in the face molding activities, the northern part of the most intense. A steamed bun, four neighbors to help. First of all, according to the number of people in the family, to each person first pinch a large flower bun.
Given to the younger generation of flower buns to pinch into a flat type, known as the face of the sheep, meaning that the lamb ate milk kneeling down, I hope that the younger generation do not forget the parents of the grace of parenthood; given to the older generation of flower buns to pinch into the adult type, known as the face of the people, a metaphor for children and grandchildren, longevity and prosperity; given to the generation of the flower buns to pinch into the type of fish, known as the face of the fish, meaning that even the year has more than one.
4, eat duck
The 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar in the Yuan Festival, many places across the country will choose to eat duck. Why? The original "duck" is "pressure", to take its harmony, eat duck is to pressure the ghost. Moreover, the chicken claws were rake-shaped, easy to grab the ghost's clothes off (probably afraid of accumulating bad grudges, refused to return to the original place), so it makes sense to choose the duck with flat paws. Dongguan people usually eat lotus root boiled duck.
The duck is eaten at the Mid-Yuan Festival because, according to legend, ancestors who have passed away will go home to visit their relatives on the day of the Mid-Yuan Festival, and they have to cross the Naihe Bridge, but they can't do so without a boat. So, the living had to send some ducks down so that the ducks could swim to carry them back, and over time, a tradition was formed to eat ducks on the Ghost Festival.
5, eat flat food
In Jiangsu Province, Dongxian Township, many villagers in the day of the Mid-Yuan Festival will eat flat food (a kind of flour and sugar made into a dustpan-shaped food). Nowadays, some people also call flatbread dumplings, but in fact, flatbread is very different from dumplings. The difference between flatbread and dumplings is first in the skin and second in the filling.
In terms of skin, dumplings have a thicker skin, while flatbread has a thin, crystal-clear skin. The flat food is very different, not only meat, vegetables can be filled, even chicken, duck, fish, crab, deep-fried noodle, young soybeans and so on can be filled, and pay special attention to collocation, chicken with celery, pork with chestnuts, eggs with leeks and so on.
6, Eat "Dumpling Cake"
In Tiantai, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, they eat "dumpling cake", a kind of food similar to spring rolls, on the Mid-Yuan Festival. According to legend, the dumpling cake was left behind by Jigong: when Jigong was a monk at the Guoqing Temple, he saw many dishes left over from each meal and thought it was a waste, so he wrapped them in a paste la tai skin for the next meal, which was loved by all the monks and then spread to the people.
To make dumpling cake cylinders, the filling is first fried and set aside. Common fillings include pork, pork liver, shredded egg, tofu skin, asparagus, bean noodles, celery, bean sprouts, seaweed, and dried fish. Paste the prepared flour onto the griddle to form a thin, round skin (latta skin). Finally, wrap the ingredients in the batter in order, so that they are not too "fat" or too "thin", otherwise it will not look good. Dumpling tube wrapped up should also be placed on the "griddle" to fry a fried, until the outer skin is golden brown and shiny.
Also, in Shandong's Duling County, the Mid-Yuan Festival is locally known as the "pinch mouth festival", the family has the custom of eating tea and rice.