The origin of the Midyear Festival on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar

The mid-year festival originated from the early "July and a half" agricultural harvest and autumn tasting to worship ancestors. The birth of "July and a half" can be traced back to ancestor worship and agricultural harvest sacrifices in ancient times. In ancient times, people often relied on the blessing of the gods for the harvest of farming.

Ancestor worship is practiced in spring, summer, autumn and winter, but the "autumn taste" of early autumn is very important. Autumn is the harvest season, and people perform rituals to sacrifice to the spirits of their ancestors, offering seasonal products to the gods, then tasting the fruits of these labors and wishing for a good harvest in the coming year.

"July and a half" was originally a folk ancestor worship festival in ancient times, and it was called "Zhongyuan Festival", which originated from Taoism after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Taoism has the "Three Yuan Theory", "the heavenly official Shangyuan blesses, the local official Zhongyuan forgives sins, and the water official Xiayuan relieves misfortune, and the name of "Zhongyuan" comes from this. Buddhism calls the seventh half of the month "Obon".

"July and a half" was originally a folk ancestor worship festival in ancient times, and it was called "Zhongyuan Festival"., is derived from the Eastern Han Dynasty after Taoism. Taoism has the "Three Yuan Theory", "the heavenly official Shangyuan blesses, the local official Zhongyuan forgives sins, and the water official Xiayuan relieves misfortune, and the name of "Zhongyuan" comes from this. Buddhism calls the seventh half of the month "Obon".

In the Tang Dynasty, when the rulers advocated Taoism, the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival began to flourish, and gradually fixed the "Zhongyuan" as the name of the festival, and the festival was set on July 15, and has been along until now.

July is the auspicious month, filial piety month, July and a half is the folk early autumn celebration of the harvest, reward the earth of the festival, there are a number of crops mature, the folk according to the routine to worship the ancestors, with new rice and other sacrifices, to the ancestors to report the autumn harvest. The festival is a kind of cultural traditional festival to remember the ancestors, and its cultural core is to respect the ancestors and fulfill filial piety.

Different customs from place to place:

1. Hebei: Botou City and Nanpi County brought fruits, dried meat, wine, and money to the ancestral cemetery on July 15. And hold the magu to the field stalk, called "recommend the new".

The Zhongyuan Festival in Guangping County worships the ancestors with fresh food, and prepares fruits and vegetables, steamed sheep to send to the grandson, which is called "sending sheep". Qinghe County went to the grave on July 15 to sweep and give her daughter steamed noodles.

2. Shanxi: Yonghe County scholars worship Kuixing on this day. The shepherds of Changzi County slaughtered the sheep race god on the Midyear Festival, and it is said that this can increase the production of sheep. He also gave meat to his relatives, and those who were poor and had no sheep steamed noodles in the shape of sheep instead.

On the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, there are many folk names, and now it is more common to say that it is the midyear festival, but there are also directly called the 15th day of the seventh month and the Bon Festival, in addition to the ghost festival, the melon festival (named because the sacrifice must have watermelon), the festival of honoring orphans and so on. Of course, the first three are the most common. Why does a festival have so many names?

This has to start with the origin of the Midyear Festival.

In the case of the July 15th ancestor worship activity, the earliest history can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. "The Book of Rites: The Order of the Month" records: "The moon of Meng Qiu ......It is the month, Nongnai climbs the valley, the Son of Heaven tastes the new, and recommends the temple first.

This may be the earliest record of the new ancestor worship on July 15. Of course, for a long time after that, there was no special name for this day, and everyone referred to it by the date.

Probably in order to take advantage of the folk custom of worshipping ancestors on July 15, Taoism sets July 15 as the birthday of the local official, which is called Zhongyuan. The birthdays of the corresponding celestial officials and water officials are also called Shangyuan and Xiayuan (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and the fifteenth day of October). The magistrates are in charge of forgiveness of sins, so on this day, a large-scale Jiao festival is held in the Taoist temple to forgive the sins of the dead.

Naturally, the faithful will participate in praying for the blessings of their deceased relatives and wishing them a better life in the underworld.

On the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (in some places, especially in South China, it is the 14th day of July, according to legend, it is the Song Dynasty Zhongyuan Festival, the Mongols invaded a certain place in the last year of the lotus leaf lantern, and the residents celebrated the festival one day earlier in order to flee), Taoism is called the Zhongyuan Festival, Buddhism is called the Bon Festival (referred to as the Yu Lan Festival), and the folk are commonly known as the Ghost Festival, the seventh half of the month. There are related festivals in many areas of the Chinese character cultural circle, "for a few days, the market sells spiritual weapons and shoes, hats, golden rhino belts, and colorful clothes." Sold as a papier-mâché shelf.

Legend has it that on that day, the gates of hell were opened, and the ghosts of the underworld would be released. Ghosts with descendants and descendants go home to receive incense offerings; Orphaned souls wander from place to place, wandering wherever they can find something to eat. Therefore, in July, people hold "Pudu" and "almsgiving" almsgiving activities such as food sacrifices and chanting sutras, so as to prevent the lonely souls and wild ghosts from harming the world, or pray for ghosts to help remove epidemics and bless the safety of their homes.

Therefore, in some areas, there will be a custom of Pudu on this day, called "Zhongyuan Pudu", and later it developed into a grand festival, called "Yulan Festival" and "Yulan Shenghui".

There is a so-called Chinese New Year's season"Ternary", refers to the fifteenth day of the first month, the middle yuan of July 15 and the fifteenth day of October.

In addition to the Zhongyuan and Obon festivals, the folk also call July 15 as the Ghost Festival, which is combined with Qingming and October 1 as the Three Ghost Festival. The folk Ghost Festival has a close relationship with the Buddhist Midyear Festival and Obon Festival, and has its own unique color. In this way, the three streams of monks, Taoists and laymen are integrated, constituting a rich festival and customs on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.

The Qing Dynasty literati Wang Kaitai's poem "Feeling of the Midyear Festival" describes the customs of the Midyear Festival in Fujian.

The midyear festival originated from Taoism, and later Buddhism changed it to what is now commonly known as the Ghost Festival.

Taoist saying:

Taoism is divided into three times throughout the year (collectively known as "Sanyuan"), and it is believed that "Sanyuan" is another name for the "Sanguan Emperor" of the Tianguan Emperor, the Diguan Emperor and the Shuiguan Emperor, the tenth day of the first lunar month.

5. July 15 and October 15 are the birthdays of the Emperor Sanguan.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called "Shangyuan", which is the birthday of the heavenly official, and it is mainly a ceremony to give blessings. The 15th day of the seventh month is called "Zhongyuan", which is the birthday of the local officials, and is used to forgive the sins of the deceased souls.

October 15 is called "Xia Yuan", which is the birthday of the water official, and it is to relieve the bad luck of those who are at fault. The Birthday of the Diguan is one of the days when farmers celebrate a good harvest and give thanks to the land, and it is also a day to forgive the sins of the dead.

Because tomorrow's festival is Zhongyuan Street.

Zhongyuan Festival, commonly known as Ghost Festival, Shi Gu. The meaning of Zhongyuan is extended from the Lantern Festival. In ancient times, the first full moon of the first month was called Shangyuan (so the Lantern Festival is also called Shangyuan Festival), July is the middle of the year, and the first full moon day of July is called Zhongyuan, because it is the name of the festival.

Zhongyuan Diguan forgave sins and Qingxu Emperor is a Taoist god, the most popular saying is that Emperor Shun, is the eighth grandson of the Yellow Emperor, his father remarried after his mother's death, and his stepmother gave birth to a son Xiang, Shun is often harmed by his stepmother and elephant, but Shun still serves his parents and treats his younger brother with respect and friendship. Shun later cultivated in Lishan, fished in Leize, made pottery on the riverside, the people came together to follow him, two years into a village, three years in Chengdu, at the age of 20 for filial piety famous all over the world, at the age of 30 Emperor Yao to two daughters as a wife and Zen to give the throne, and then became a god.

Because of Shun's pro-filial piety, the Zhongyuan Festival is also called "Filial Piety Festival", and the people will kill chickens and pigs on this day, prepare extremely rich wine and meat offerings, and worship the ancestors and ghosts of the underworld. At the same time, the people gathered in the temple, and the rich offerings were Pushi Yin Gong, filial piety sacrifices to the ancestors, and then Pudu wandering souls and wild ghosts, called "Zhongyuan Pudu".

Writing a burden for my grandfather is written in a format that has been handed down in China for thousands of years. Writing a blanket is a characteristic cultural custom of the Midyear Festival, and the writing on the blanket is extremely particular, and the writing mistakes or omissions will be considered that it cannot be sent to the hands of deceased relatives.

From right to left, from top to bottom, the right is the middle and Yuan period of the pious preparation of the wealth of the how many envelopes are offered, the middle is written so that the ancestor of the old man is receiving, and the lower left corner is written filial piety and grandson is knocked on, and then on the left is written on the cremation of July 13 of a certain year of Tianyun, and a seal is written behind the jacket. Write the same day cremation in the corner from right to left.

The festival of the midyear festival

Ancestor worshippers believe that ancestors will return home to visit their children and grandchildren in the seventh and third months, so it is necessary to worship ancestors. This kind of ancestor worship behavior is a manifestation of the traditional ethics of chasing the distance cautiously and thinking about the source, and it is a kind of cultural tradition of the ancestors who are grateful for virtue. The harvest of crops in autumn is also a good time to share the joy of the harvest with the ancestors, and the worship ceremony is usually held in the evening of mid-July.

In the middle of the festival of burning paper, among the folk beliefs, the most prominent is the burning of paper. According to legend, the paper of the yang world is the money of the underworld, and people burn paper to give money to their deceased ancestors. It is common to leave a few pieces of paper at the grave and burn them at the crossroads, in order to give some alms to the homeless wild ghosts, so that they will no longer rob the money given to their ancestors.

On the evening of July 14 or 15, incense is burned outside the door, and at the same time, "Bao Bao" (also called "Bao Bao").

On the 15th day of the seventh month, the people also worshipped the land and crops. Scatter the offerings into the field. After burning the paper, the five-colored paper cut into strips is used and wound around the ears of the crop.

Legend has it that you can avoid hail and get a good autumn harvest. In some places, it is also necessary to go to the Houtu Temple for sacrifices. Dingxiang County folk customs will hemp, valley hanging the door.

<>1. The fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the Midyear Festival. It is generally believed that July 15 is the first day of Halloween, and it is also the day when the ghost door is wide open, when the yin qi is the heaviest, so it is best not to go out on the street that night to avoid hitting ghosts, and in addition, it is best not to go to the river or the sea, so as not to accidentally stumble and become a stand-in for the water ghost. In addition, it is best not to talk nonsense about something that is unlucky or offensive to the spirit world, so as not to provoke the Yin spirit.

2. According to legend, it is the day when the ghost gate is opened, in Taoism, it is the day of the early chain of the Yuan Festival, then it is the day of forgiveness of sins by the local officials, and Buddhism calls it the Yu Lan Festival, the legend is that from the first day of the seven trillion full moon of the lunar calendar, the wandering spirits and wild ghosts in the underworld began to be released, they can wander in the world for a period of time, accept people's sacrifices, until July 30, the ghost gate will be closed again, and the festival of the Ghost Festival will end.

Zhongyuan Festival is the name of Taoism, and the folk secular name is July and a half, and the seventh month.

Ten. Fourth, the ancestor festival, Buddhism is called the Bon Festival. The festival customs mainly include worshipping ancestors, releasing river lanterns, worshipping the souls of the dead, burning paper ingots, sacrificing land, etc. Its birth can be traced back to the worship of ancestral spirits in ancient times and related time sacrifices.

"July and a half" was originally a folk ancestor worship festival in ancient times, and it was called "Zhongyuan Festival", which originated from Taoism after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Buddhism calls the seventh half of the month "Obon". In a certain sense, the July Half Ancestor Festival belongs to the folk secular, the Zhongyuan Festival belongs to Taoism, and the Obon Festival belongs to Buddhism.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is not a statutory holiday, so there will be no holiday.

Statutory holidays generally refer to the rest time for celebrations and vacations, which are uniformly prescribed by national laws in accordance with the customs and habits of various countries and ethnic groups or the requirements of commemoration. The statutory holiday system is an important reflection of the country's political, economic and cultural systems, involving many aspects of the economy and society and the vital interests of the broad masses of the people.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the name of Taoism, the folk secular festival is called the seventh half, the fourteenth of July, the festival of worshipping ancestors, and the Buddhist festival is called the Lampon Festival. The festival customs mainly include ancestor worship, river lanterns, sacrifices to the dead, burning paper ingots, land sacrifices, etc. Its appearance can be traced back to the worship of ancestral gods and related festivals in ancient times.

July is an auspicious month and a month of filial piety. The half of July is a folk festival that celebrates the harvest and the return of the earth in early autumn. Some crops are ripe, so there are customs of worshipping ancestors, offering new rice and other offerings, and reporting autumn harvest to ancestors.

This festival is a traditional cultural festival that commemorates ancestors, and its cultural core is respect for ancestors and filial piety.