"This period of the original silks. . . 。” I can't remember when I wrote these words for the first time, but what impressed me deeply was those years when my grandfather was still there. Every time I arrived in July and a half, I would help adults write a blessing paper in the hall of the old house. A blessing paper is a pile of paper money sealed into small envelopes, on which the name and name of the recipient, the number of letters received, and the name and time of the person who changed silks were written. At that time, the blessing paper was made by our own family. The yellow earthen paper was shaped like copper coins with mallets and iron money molds. The cover of the blessing paper was made of the paste stirred by our own flour. Sometimes the paste was sticky and wet. The blessing paper was not flammable when burned, and it was full of smoke. . . I remember when I first wrote the blessing paper with my grandfather, I used a brush; When I was helping my father, I switched to a soft pen; Now I do it myself, and I have started to use a signature pen, because most of the blessings bought in the market are printed in a fixed format, and we only need to fill in the names of our ancestors. This year's blessings are mostly filled out by two sons.

July and a half, commonly known as "Ghost Festival", is called "Mid-Yuan Festival" according to Taoism. July and a half is not a half-month. In my experience, it is probably a week before July 15 of the lunar calendar. During this period, every family in the world has to seal blessings and burn incense and money to pay homage to the old friend. From this point of view, the old friend also needs money. From July 13, it is said that there will be a three-day holiday in the underworld, so that the ghosts can go out and get back the money burned by their families and relatives. Therefore, no matter whether they are rich or poor, they should prepare snacks and paper money to pay homage to the dead to show their memory of the dead ancestors. In order to prevent other ghosts from taking away the paper money you gave to the old friend, you have to fill in the name of your old friend on the front of the blessing paper. Of course, when we burn the blessing paper, we will also burn some paper money to those ghosts who have no descendants. . . . .

Nowadays, it's not as simple as burning paper money. Besides paper money, there are imitation gold bars, silver dollars and mingbi, which are printed with "Mingtong Bank" and various figures. I think the ancients believed in the idea that there is a heaven and an underground world, so they should give their dead relatives paper money to use in heaven or underground world. Nowadays, it's not just as simple as burning blessing paper. Usually, busy families will get together. During the day, the family will prepare food and drinks to worship their old friends. After dark, they will go outdoors to find an empty place, put bricks on the ground, put the written blessing papers in a hexagonal staggered way, put silver dollars and loose money in the empty place, and slowly light the paper money with the fire on the incense wax. Nowadays, most people are not watching, so when I went out this morning, I could see countless pairs of burnt-out paper money and candles that were blown out by the wind.

When I was a child, I stayed with my grandfather and thought it was fun to write blessing paper. When I grow up, I help my parents to write a blessing paper, which I think is inheritance; Nowadays, I write a blessing paper to relieve the pain in my heart. I don't want my mother to suffer any injustice in another world. My mother's sudden death didn't give us too many opportunities to be filial. Now, all we can do is these, and the pain can't be waved away. . . . .