The legend of ghosts going down the mountain on March 3 originated from the third day of the third lunar month, and the boundary between life and death of Yin and Yang became looser, so ghosts scattered around the world. When I was a child, the old man often said: On this night, people's souls can't stand the temptation of the underworld and are easily hooked. Children are forbidden to go out at night. So today, for the world, we should be cautious, control our desires and not be greedy. Otherwise, it is prone to disaster.
The custom of ghosts going down the mountain on March 3
On the third day of the third lunar month, the common saying goes, "On the third of March, the gate of hell is closed." The masses are superstitious about ghosts and gods and think that phosphorescence in the wild is a "ghost fire". On the evening of March 3, some young people went to the wild together to watch the "Ghost Fire". Children are forbidden to go out on this day for fear of "hitting ghosts" Eating popcorn on this day in Huaibei, Anhui Province is called "Fried Ghost Eyes". In some areas, white poles are picked and mashed, the bitter juice is removed, and poles are made with flour, saying that eating them can "hide the soul". The rural areas in western Anhui all close the door and turn off the lights and go to bed very early that night, for fear that "ghost fire" will enter the house and harm the family's life and illness.
In the old days, in Xinxian and Guangshan areas in southern Henan, it was said that March 3 was the time when the "underworld" sent a small sentence to arrest people. It was dangerous to go out at night, so people generally didn't go out at night. When night falls, every family will set off firecrackers to drive away evil spirits and ghosts, in order to be safe. At the same time, some garlic will be put at the door of each family to show "little kid's judgment" and "forget it, go back if you can't catch anyone". When you sleep at night, you should put your shoes upside down, so that the kid will mistakenly think that no one is there and walk away. After twelve o'clock that night, some folk "silly daredevils" who are not afraid of ghosts got up quietly, and went to the field to watch the "ghost fire" in groups of three or five, commonly known as "watching the lights", and speculated on the life and death of the village by the number of "ghost fires" they saw.
How did the song of ghosts going down the mountain on March 3 come from?
March 3, a traditional festival of the Han nationality and many ethnic minorities, falls on the third day of the third lunar month. It was called Shangsi Festival in ancient times. According to legend, March 3 is the birthday of the Yellow Emperor. Since ancient times, China has had "February 2, the dragon looked up; On March 3, I was born in Xuanyuan. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, Shangsi Festival was changed to March 3rd, which was followed by later generations, thus becoming a festival for Han people to have a drink by the water and have a spring outing in the suburbs. There are various customs in different places.
The third day of March here refers to the lunar calendar. Generally speaking, this time is the season when everything recovers. That is to say, many hibernating animals and so on have started to move. Ghosts should be a "proxy", which should be the previous saying.
What we say here is "On March 3rd, the snake comes out of the mountain, and on September 9th, the snake goes into the soil" (pronounced homophonic in Changsha dialect). There is a custom of eating local dishes and cooking eggs.
What other festivals are Ghost Festival?
1, Tomb-Sweeping Day
Tomb-Sweeping Day is usually around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar. Qingming sweeping the grave is called "respect for thinking of time" for ancestors. Its custom has a long history. The Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" reads: "On the Qingming Day in March, men and women visited the graves, carrying their respect, and hanging ingots from the back of the sedan chair, the road was full of embarrassment. Worshippers, mourners, weeping, weeding and adding soil to the tomb, burn ingots several times and buy graves with paper money. If there is no paper money in sight, it will be a lonely grave. After crying, don't go back, go to the fragrant trees, choose the garden, and sit down and get drunk. " In fact, sweeping graves existed before Qin dynasty, but not necessarily during Qingming period, but after Qin dynasty. It didn't become popular until the Tang Dynasty. "Qing Tong Li" says: "On the New Year's Eve, cold food and first frost Festival, you worship to sweep the tomb. During the period, you will serve the tomb in plain clothes, with wine and tools for cutting vegetation, and you will seal the trees and cut off the jingcao in the week, so it is called sweeping the grave." And passed down to this day.
2. Mid-Autumn Festival
The 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the annual Ghost Festival in China, which is called "Yulan Festival" in Buddhism. According to legend, on this day, Yan Luowang will open the gate of hell "the gate of hell" and let the imprisoned ghosts come out to move freely until the end of July. Therefore, during this period, it is popular among the people to worship the dead relatives, burn money ingots, paper candles, and set off river lanterns, so as to pray for the blessing of their ancestors, eliminate disasters and increase happiness, or turn over the dead and resolve their grievances.
3, the first day of October
On the first day of October, it is called "October Dynasty", also known as "ancestor worship festival" and "cold clothing festival". Since ancient times, China has had the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors at the new harvest time to show filial piety and not forget one's roots. On the first day of October, ancestors were sacrificed, including family sacrifices and tomb sacrifices, both in the north and south. Today, in many areas in the south of the Yangtze River, there is also the custom of offering sacrifices to new graves on the first day of October. The first day of October is also the first day of winter, after which the climate is getting colder. People are afraid that the ancestors' souls in the underworld are short of clothes and clothes. Therefore, in addition to the general offerings such as food, incense sticks and paper money, there is also an indispensable offering-the ghost clothes. When offering sacrifices, people incinerate the ghost clothes to their ancestors, which is called "sending cold clothes". Therefore, the first day of October is also called "Clothing Burning Festival". Later, in some places, the custom of "burning cold clothes" changed. Instead of burning cold clothes, people burned a lot of ghost papers in a paper bag, and wrote the names of the recipients and senders and their corresponding names. This is called "baggage". There is a name of cold clothes, but there is no reality of cold clothes. People think that the underworld, like the dead, can buy many things with money.