There are three major ghost festivals in China: Ching Ming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival (July 15), and Cold Clothes Festival (October 1st). The Chinese people not only have a humane feeling for people, but also have a humane feeling for ghosts, which is highlighted by the Ghost Festival on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar.
According to legend, every year from the first of July, the King of Hell ordered the opening of the gates of hell, so that those who have suffered all year round imprisoned in hell of the souls of the ghosts out of hell, to get a short-term wandering, to enjoy the earth's blood food, so people called July for the ghosts of the month, the month is considered inauspicious month, neither marrying, nor moving.
July 14 or 15, the day of the ghost gate is wide open. Every family should prepare paper money, fruit plate, table offerings, "burning scripture". Special offerings steamed wontons, dumplings. If there is a new death in your family, you will burn the sutra on July 13th before you get rid of the spirit. What is burnt, generally understood as a form of ancestor worship - burning paper money to kowtow.
Whether it is burning paper money to send blessings, or hold a daisy to send condolences, or on the Internet to sacrifice ancestors, or release the river lanterns, today the living together to miss the past, *** with the same to send the blessings of the ancestors, is the spontaneous human spirituality, is the extension of feelings, is the most basic beliefs. And at the same time, "the living should cherish every day of their lives, not to be ashamed of society and friends, not to be ashamed of their loved ones who have gone away forever. For, one day we shall meet them, and then you can proudly say that you are a good man on earth and a ghostly hero in the underworld!"
July 14th/15th, is both the folk ghost festival, the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival, the Buddhist Bon Festival, monks, Taoists, and lay people in three streams. In Taoism, there are the so-called Heavenly Officials, Earthly Officials, and Water Officials, collectively known as the Three Officials, which are the representatives of the Jade Emperor sent to the earth to examine the good and evil of the earth every year, and report to the heaven. The three officials have their birthdays on the fifteenth day of the first month, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and the fifteenth day of the tenth month, which are also called Sanyuan. The 15th day of the 7th month, called Zhongyuan, is the time when the magistrate of the earth schools the registers and pardons sins. On this day, he has to take out a thick roster, and according to the performances of the gods, mortals, and animals, he ticks off the names and pardons the sins and removes the punishments. Folks organize some rituals on this day of the Mid-Yuan Festival to save those lonely souls and ghosts.
July 15 is also the Buddhist Bon Festival. It is said that Shakyamuni had a disciple named Meilian, whose mother, though young and beautiful, had no good words or deeds, loved money and was petty, and especially hated monks, and after his death, he was put into the ranks of evil spirits, and was haunted by hungry ghosts, and was unable to eat. He asked the Buddha for help, and the Buddha, sensing his filial piety, granted him the Bon Sutra, allowing him to prepare all kinds of fruits and fruits and all kinds of utensils in a basin on the 15th day of the 7th month and make offerings to monks in ten directions, so that his mother could be freed from the realm of evil ghosts and ascended to heaven. In view of this, the Buddha, by extension, asked the disciples of the Buddha to fulfill their filial piety, every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, do bon, give Buddha and monks, to repay their parents' kindness.