Folk Taboos of July Half Ghost Festival in 2022
1, avoid hanging clothes in the middle of the night
In the haunted ghost month, hanging clothes in the middle of the night is like setting a trap ghost. Who does it bother you?
2, avoid sleeping with long hair.
Ghost Moon, there are wandering ghosts everywhere. If you have long hair, be careful to be mistaken for the same kind by them and insist that you get up and chat.
3. Night tour
People with eight characters should never travel at night, let alone go to remote or sparsely populated places, otherwise they will only ask for trouble.
4, avoid celebrating your birthday in the middle of the night
It's better to celebrate during the day instead.
5, avoid saying the word "ghost"
When you are in Zhongyuan Pudu, you'd better be careful what you say and do. Besides the word "ghost", don't talk casually. Be careful that ghosts are around you.
6, avoid stepping on paper.
The ghost paper is a sacrifice for ghosts. When burning it, ghosts will gather around to grab it. If you step on it and jump around, it will not hinder their actions. When the ghosts are angry, it will naturally be bad for you.
7. Avoid slapping others' shoulders.
Folk believe that everyone has three fires, which gather on his shoulders and overhead, which will make ghosts afraid to get close. Therefore, slapping others' shoulders at random in Zhongyuan Purdue, where ghosts are the most, is not to put out each other's fire and let ghosts find trouble with him.
8. Don't put chopsticks in the bowl.
This is the mode of worship, just like putting incense on an incense burner, which will only attract good ghosts to share food with you.
9. Avoid hanging wind chimes on the bedside.
Because wind chimes attract yin.
10, avoid stealing sacrifices for worship.
Fighting with ghosts for food may bring bad luck.
1 1, avoid turning back easily.
When walking in the wild or sparsely populated places, you feel "as if" someone is calling you. Don't turn back easily, or you will get into trouble.
12, avoid swimming in the water
Don't go swimming in dangerous waters. It is said that the "water ghost" will find someone to be a reincarnation.
13, avoid whistling
Whistling at night is easy to attract the attention of ghosts.
The custom of ghost festival in July and a half
Sacrifice to ancestors: remember ancestors and worship local officials. People in the dead will prepare rich sacrifices, burn incense and paper, and worship these ancestors from the underworld.
(2) River lanterns: River lanterns, also called "lotus lanterns" and "water lanterns", are generally paper-pasted or origami lotus flowers. Put small candles or oil lamps on the base, and put them in rivers and lakes at midnight to let them drift, illuminating the way home for the dead.
(3) Making eggplant cakes: According to some elderly people, there is an old custom in the south of the Yangtze River to make eggplant cakes on the Mid-Yuan Festival. Some large families should make more and give them to their relatives. The main purpose of eggplant cakes is to "serve". After serving, adults and children will share them so as not to waste them. Deep-fried eggplant cake, shaped like a half moon, with fluffy and crisp skin and delicious stuffing, is also an attractive food.
(4) Praying for a bumper harvest: The Mid-Autumn Festival is near the autumn harvest season. Besides offering sacrifices to lonely souls, it also undertakes the task of praying for a bumper harvest. On the night of shi gu, every family will burn incense and pray for a bumper harvest of rice at their doorstep, and put incense sticks on the ground. This is called "planting rice" (transplanting rice), and the more you insert, the better, which symbolizes the bumper harvest of rice in autumn.
(5) Burning sky lanterns: There are also two sayings about putting sky lanterns on Ghost Festival. One is to take away your family's bad luck as far as possible. At this time, it is very taboo for other people's sky lanterns to fall in their own places. If they fall, they must be released again. Secondly, every family wants their deceased ancestors to enter the Elysium, and putting sky lanterns on Ghost Festival is to light up the way for the ancestors to ascend to Elysium.
(6) Eating Duck: On the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, many places in China will choose to eat duck. Why? It turns out that "duck" means "pressure", which is homophonic. Eating ducks is to suppress ghosts. As for how to eat, you can do it according to your own preferences. As a "duck capital", it goes without saying that there are many ways to eat ducks. On the day of Ghost Festival, you might as well "chop a duck" to eat and suppress evil spirits.