First, the Taoist Mid-Autumn Festival
According to the cultural logic of Taoism, the time and space of a year should be divided into two parts: upper and lower yin and yang. Moreover, according to Taoism in China, the three basic elements for nurturing everything in the world are heaven, earth and water. Therefore, Taoism regards the first half of the year as a celestial official and the second half as a local official. What needs to be explained here is that the "official" mentioned here does not refer to the "official" of human officials, but refers to the fragments in the process of time and space flow, similar to the "official" in China Weiqi game.
Taoism in China is mainly produced in the developed areas of agricultural civilization in China. Therefore, Taoism in China has always believed that heaven and earth are mysterious, everything is born on the earth, water is the foundation of life, and the earth contains water. That is to say, because China's agricultural civilization pays attention to the important role of soil and water in human beings, China's Taoist cultural concept has always contained the "ontology", "epistemology" and "methodology" of observing the world with the earth as the center. According to the Taoist worldview, Taoism is used to calling the fifteenth day of the first month of the year "Tianguan" (the first half of the year) and "Shangyuan Festival"; In the second half of the year, July 15th, the local official festival, was called "Mid-Autumn Festival". Because the earth contains water, water acts on the earth, so1October 15 in the second half of each year is "Xiayuan Festival". These three elements, namely, upper, middle and lower elements, constitute a systematic understanding of the trinity world of Taoism.
Taoism in China is different from many religions in the world. Many religions in the world are the unity of god and man, or just like Christianity, they pay attention to the trinity of "Tao into flesh", which makes religious communicators often highly deified. The purpose of China's Taoist missionary work is very clear. Taoist communicators are not gods, but people. So Taoism teaches students in accordance with their aptitude. For people with high wisdom, the truth in Tao Te Ching is very clear; For those who lack wisdom or have little time to deeply reflect on their own moral and ethical construction, writing stories is to explain the truth. "Education through fun" is a missionary method originated from Taoism in China.
The Mid-Autumn Festival of Taoism in China is actually a festival to spread morality and ethics, that is, to advocate people to pay attention to Xiu De on this day. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, people with thoughts and time will get together to study Laozi's Tao Te Ching, communicate with each other and reflect on themselves. For the general congregation, Taoism has created some stories of "entertaining through education". For example, in the invention of Taoism, a man named Chen Ziqi married the daughter of the Dragon King and gave birth to three children, namely, the "celestial officer, local officer and water officer" on the 15th of the first month, the 15th of July and the 15th of October. These "three officials" are in charge of the three tasks of human blessing, sin forgiveness and salvation respectively. They have infinite magic power, and they want to tour the world in these three days to check whether people's moral quality is good or bad. However, Taoism in China is a very tolerant religion, giving people the opportunity to change and renew themselves at any time. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a festival of rewarding good and punishing evil, but also a festival of atonement. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a confession festival and atonement festival in China. People who have committed crimes for one year can have various ceremonies on the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Second, the Buddhist "Kasahara Festival"
Legend has it that there was a man named Mulian who dreamed that his dead mother was reduced to the ranks of hungry ghosts, so he sent food to his mother, but failed repeatedly. Manglietia told the Buddha about it, and the Buddha advised him to support the monks to do more good deeds in order to free his mother from the sins of the underworld. Manglietia Manglietia made a basin on July 15 (Brahman means "saving upside down"), so Buddhist monks collectively recited scriptures for Manglietia Manglietia's mother and freed her from her suffering. It can be seen that Buddhists' Boni Festival on July 15 has two meanings, one is to educate people to support religious monks, and the other is to educate people to do more good deeds to transcend the sins of their ancestors and advocate filial piety.
Third, the folk "Ghost Festival"
July 15 is a "ghost festival", probably because people burn paper money to worship their ancestors from the first half of July to 15. This atmosphere of dialogue between man and soul leads people to say "Ghost Festival".
In the China Folk Ghost Festival, the first day of July is the opening of the gate of hell, and the dead ancestors will return to the world to see if their descendants are good or evil, and future generations will also take the opportunity to sacrifice; July 15 is Ghost Festival. After July 15, the gate of hell is closed. Before July 30th, if someone has not offered sacrifices to his ancestors, his ancestors will wander around the world for a year. ……
It should be said that China's ghost culture is quite developed, and it can't be simply called feudal superstition, which can be brought down by one hand. It contains profound moral concepts, which once played a very important role in the moral and ethical construction in China, and also played a very important role in stimulating a person's economy and employment. For example, the paper and incense industry, which was common in the past, solved the employment problem of a group of people. Like Du Feng ghost town, it has been a tourist attraction since ancient times, which has brought great economic development opportunities to Fengdu area.
As the Mid-Yuan Festival of Taoism in China, the Buddhist Bonne Festival and the folk Ghost Festival have the same cultural connotations, such as punishing evil and promoting good, offering sacrifices to martyrs and advocating loyalty and filial piety. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, July 15 has been borrowed by some local governments and families, and it has become a festival for collective sacrifice to martyrs and people who are loyal, filial and virtuous. In other words, in the history of China, July 15 is another day to offer sacrifices to people who are loyal, filial and virtuous in the country and local areas. It not only refers to people who are loyal to filial piety and righteousness in family ethics, but also refers to people who have made outstanding contributions to the political, economic, cultural development and local security of the state, collective and local governments in history.
As we all know, there are no ghosts in the world. The ghosts in people's hearts are actually the thoughts of the living for their dead relatives. In my native land, the custom of worshipping ghosts is very strong. In the long river of historical development, every family has lost many relatives. He (she) passed away and went to the elusive world. Losing a loved one is of course the saddest and most painful thing. In order to pin their infinite yearning for their loved ones, the natives put this beautiful feeling of missing in the early morning of July. Therefore, on the beautiful day of July and a half, it is the most solemn custom of Tujia people to pay homage to their relatives in the underworld and mourn.
On July 15th, everyone gets up early in July. Pick a handful of tung oil leaves from the mountain, and use them to wrap the glutinous glutinous fire. After Baba is wrapped, it is steamed in a pot and then placed on the spacious table in the main house for offering sacrifices to relatives. Baba is wrapped in tung oil leaves, soft and tender, with a long fragrance of tung oil leaves. After the sacrifice of ancestors and relatives, the party will
Adults and children can eat it. At this time, the family is immersed in beautiful memories.
After sunset, every family is trying their best to prepare money paper incense for their dead relatives, solemnly write down the names of each dead relative on red paper, and then put them on the ground and incinerate them with the money paper incense. In order to let every dead relative get a generous gift, when burning paper money, it must be arranged according to the size of the family and the order of death in the morning and evening. Everyone can take a pile, and each pile of money paper should be arranged with pre-written names to avoid confusion. While burning paper money, a grand lantern festival is being held in the ancestral hall of Zhaizi Ancestral Hall. Under the leadership of the patriarch, put all kinds of ghost lights and magic lights in order There are mainly ghost lights, Zhong Xu lights, hades lights, judge boy lights, bull's head and horse's face lights, etc. There are Guanyin Lantern, Luohan Lantern, Samsung Lantern, Tri-colored Lantern, Antarctic Xianweng Lantern, Jade Emperor Lantern, Queen Mother Lantern, Yaochi Lantern and so on. These lanterns of different shapes and sizes are arranged according to the size, and then they are toasted to recite the curse and sacrifice. After the ceremony, burn these lanterns and money paper incense together. The elders of every household in the whole stockade put their ancestral tablets on it and took them home to put them on the shrine. The ghost festival in July and a half is over.
Don't travel at night. China used to call July the ghost month, which means that the gate of the ghost gate is always closed this month, especially the Ghost Festival, which is the heaviest. All ghosts travel at night, so you shouldn't stay outside this day, and staying at home at night is a no-no.
When you hear shouts, don't turn around and walk in remote places. If you hear someone calling your name, don't answer rashly. Make sure who is asking you to say yes, so as not to be unlucky.
3 avoid wearing bells and wind chimes, avoid bringing ghosts such as bells and wind chimes, and it is best not to hang the bedside. Wind chimes and bells can communicate yin and yang, and it is easy to attract bad things. Sleeping is the most vulnerable time to be "invaded". If you encounter paranormal phenomena, don't panic, concentrate all your attention and open your eyes.
Don't go swimming alone. Ghosts are active. Just in case, it's best not to go swimming alone. It's best to go together or be accompanied.
Don't pick things up at will. Some things are usually used to pay homage to the dead. For example, buying road money is used to buy out cow's head and horse's face and offer fruit to comfort the dead. These things have a bad meaning, so it's better not to touch them.
6 Don't burn paper on unspecified occasions. Paper is for ancestors, and gold paper is for gods. On Halloween, most people burn some paper money in advance and then wait until the next day to clean up the mess. Therefore, the result of burning paper will only make Yin Qi heavier, so you usually choose the same place at the same time. Never burn paper on non-specific occasions.
7 avoid taking pictures in front of the mirror or mobile phone at night, it is easy to take pictures of unclean things. If you take pictures at night, you may bring dirty things in, indicating that you are contaminated with unlucky things and your fortune will decline.
People who are too old to commit crimes avoid going out to commit crimes. If there is no blessing, there will be disaster, and it belongs to people with relatively low fortune. There is an old saying: "People are unlucky, and their teeth are filled with water." Originally, the fortune was in a downturn, so it is better to be cautious. It is best for people who commit tai sui to wear the Buddha of life to transform negative energy and ensure peace. To ward off evil spirits and turn evil spirits into evil spirits, the gates of hell will be opened and the ghosts of the underworld will be released. Ghosts sacrificed by future generations and descendants go home to receive incense; Lonely souls wander around, without owners, wandering anywhere people can go. Sick people are the most vulnerable to harassment, so it is best to wear some energy jade for self-defense.