Hungry Ghost Festival
Commonly known as the Ghost Festival and Bon Festival. It falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month every year.
This year’s Ghost Festival is On August 8 (also the Chinese Men’s Day and the Beginning of Autumn Tuesday)
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Hungry Ghost Festival
The poem "Reflections on the Ghost Festival" by Wang Kaitai, a scholar from the Qing Dynasty, describes the custom of celebrating the Ghost Festival in Fujian.
Feelings on the Ghost Festival
The Taoist temple purifies the ghosts and retains the original meaning of the Holy Ghost Festival.
But it’s strange that the red paper is posted on the door, and the meat mountain and sea of ??wine celebrate the Chinese New Year.
On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, it is the same day for both Buddhism and Taoism to summarize and criticize, and both schools have corresponding activities to conduct examinations and evaluations; the difference is that Taoism’s inspections and reports are directed at the public, that is, the school Ji Chen. The summary and commentary of Buddhism are conducted internally. Whether it is the external school registration ceremony or the internal criticism meeting, it shows that both Buddhism and Taoism attach great importance to July 15th. Or to illustrate the importance of this day in Buddhist and Taoist festivals. Coupled with the so-called ghost festival among the people, this time is even more colorful. School registration day and Ziyi Day are only a small part of the customary activities in this season. In addition, there are ancestor worship, lighting of lanterns to illuminate the dead, Bon Festival, etc., which are also important festivals and customs in the year.
The Bon Festival is an important ritual in Buddhist rituals. It is held on July 15th every year, so the Ghost Festival is also known as the "Obon Festival".
Despite more than a thousand years of active obedience to customs and passive domestication, the traces of Buddhism still clearly remain in the ordinary people’s customary activities during the Ghost Festival. The first is the name. Bon is the transliteration of Sanskrit, which means "hanging upside down". Bon orchid and basin together are a rescue tool, that is, "rescuing upside down hanging basin"; in addition, Bon Bon can also be interpreted as "rescuing upside down hanging basin", highlighting its "placement" The characteristics of "Baijiaweishi".
The poem "Changan Zaxing Bamboo Branch Body" by the Qing Dynasty poet Pang Na vividly depicts the scene of children playing together with lotus leaf lanterns on the night of the Ghost Festival.
Chang'an Zaxing Effect Bamboo Branch
Thousands of trees are cool and frosty, the air is clear, and the nine roads in the middle of the first month are bright.
Children are competing for green lotus leaves, and thousands of silver flowers scatter the city on fire.
According to the Buddhist Bon Bon rituals, releasing river lanterns is just a small program and does not seem to be that important. In the folk customs of the Ghost Festival, lighting up lanterns is more important.
River lanterns are also called "lotus lanterns". River lanterns usually have lamps or candles placed on the base. They are placed in rivers, lakes and seas on the night of the Ghost Festival and allowed to drift. The purpose of placing river lanterns is to bring away drowned ghosts and other lonely ghosts in the water. A paragraph from the modern female writer Xiao Hong's "Hulan River Biography" is the best footnote to this custom: "July 15th is a ghost festival; the dead souls of resentful ghosts are not allowed to be reborn, and lingering in hell is very painful. , I want to survive, but I can’t find a way. If there is a dead ghost holding a river lantern on this day, I have to survive.” Probably the road from the underworld to the human world is very dark, and it is impossible to see the road without a light. So putting up a lamp is a good deed. It can be seen that the living gentlemen have not forgotten the dead ghosts.
Hungry Ghost Festival
Commonly known as the Ghost Festival. Traditional folk festivals. It falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, and sometimes on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month. On this day, every family worships their ancestors, and some even hold family banquets, and they perform rituals while worshiping. Drinking wine for three rounds means that after the ancestors' banquet, the family will sit together again and finally have the festival dinner. After breaking the darkness, bring firecrackers, paper money, and incense candles, find a secluded flat land by the river or pond, and sprinkle a circle with lime to indicate the restricted area. Then pour some water and rice in the circle, burn some paper money, and set off firecrackers to send the ancestors on their way to the "underworld".
In the past, people would go through certain rituals to take the ghosts of their ancestors home on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. They would provide tea and rice three times every day at morning, noon and dusk until they were sent back on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Nowadays, the superstitious color is gradually eliminated, and the form of sacrifice is retained as a memory and commemoration of ancestors.
Hungry Ghost Festival
The Hungry Ghost Festival is scheduled for the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, commonly known as July Half. Legend has it that all ghosts are released from the underworld on this day, and people generally carry out activities to worship ghosts. Whenever there is a new funeral, families usually visit new graves, and ghosts are usually sacrificed locally. Therefore, it is a festival centered on ghost worship, and it is the largest ghost festival among Chinese folk.
July is Xiaoqiu, when some crops are ripe. It is customary for people to worship their ancestors and use new rice as offerings to report the harvest to their ancestors. Volume 1 of "Tokyo Menghua Lu" written by Meng Yuan of the Song Dynasty said: "On the day before the Zhongyuan Dynasty, I bought Lianye (leaves of a plant with fragrance) to line the table when enjoying sacrifices, and also bought Magu nests. This is also the case. Tying it to the foot of the table means to tell the ancestors about the harvest. "In July, crops mature in the autumn, and Chinese people who pay attention to filial piety often report to their ancestors and invite them to try new things, so they routinely offer sacrifices to their ancestors in July. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoism designated three meetings and five lath days, of which July 7 was the Daodela day. It was also the day when the Zhonghui, the fixed Taoist people, went to the government office to take examinations. The main content of Wutaba Day is to worship ancestors. This ancestor worship date in July was later fixed on this day as Taoism set the birthday of the Zhongyuan local official and the corresponding sacrifice date on July 15th.
The Taoist Ghost Festival is not only a Taoist religious festival, but also a folk festival. When Taoism first began, there was worship of the three officials. The prestige of Zhengyi League is believed in the three officials, namely Tianguan, Diguan and Shuiguan, henceforth called the Three Officials Great Emperor. They each have their own responsibilities. The Heavenly Officer blesses the Shangyuan, the Earthly Official pardons the Zhongyuan, and the Shuiguan calls the Lower Yuan to relieve misfortunes. The Taoist book says that during these three days, the three officials will examine human merits and crimes to determine rewards and punishments. Among them, the local officials are in charge of the underworld. Of course, the focus of inspection is the various ghosts. So on this day, all the ghosts will leave the underworld and take the exam. On this day, Taoists routinely set up altars to celebrate the birthdays of local officials. At the same time, believers also contribute money to set up fasts to pray for the blessings of their ancestors, and to ask the local officials to forgive their sins and ascend to heaven early. This is the main reason why the Hungry Ghost Festival has become a folk festival.
July 15th is the Buddhist Bon Festival. "Ullambana" is a transliteration of Sanskrit, and its original meaning is to relieve the hanging. It is said that the Buddha's disciple Mu Jianlian suffered from his mother's evil deeds during his lifetime and was sent to the depths of hell. There was no way to escape. He asked the Buddha if he had any way to save him. The Buddha Tell him that fasting as a monk on the Discipline Day (July 15th in China) can save ghosts from the pain of hell. According to Buddhist rituals, the summer begins in mid-April, that is, people enter the monastery to practice meditation. They are not allowed to go out during the day. It ends on July 15th, which is called Jiezhi Day. You can go out to receive alms from believers, so there is this saying. Chinese Buddhists created the "Ullambana Sutra" to publicize the incident, and later formed the custom of setting dendrobium as food to sacrifice to ghosts. In this way, the characteristics of the Ghost Festival are the integration of the meanings of Taoism and Buddhism. The customary activities of worshiping ancestors, worshiping lonely souls, redeeming the dead, and offering food to ghosts during the Ghost Festival have become the largest "Ghost Festival" among the people.
The folk activities of the Zhongyuan Dynasty revolved around offering sacrifices to ancestors and wild ghosts. There were city gods on patrol to pay homage to Li (ghosts of dead people), Taoist temples and Buddhist temples held Buddhist ceremonies to redeem the souls of the dead, and many people visited new graves. As the Chinese came to Southeast Asia and other regions, they also brought the customs of the Ghost Festival to those places. The Zhongyuan activity in Penang, Malaysia has a broad mass base and is famous far and wide. Liu Zhongyu
Hungry Ghost Festival
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the "Hungry Ghost Festival". It is a folk custom to visit the graves on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to pay homage to the ancestors. Some people burn paper money in front of their doors or in the streets. In the old society, on this day, someone in the city would carry the wooden frame of the City God in the palace of the City God's Temple to the third day of summer. This was called "City God's trip". People held temple fairs and staged operas in the palace. At that time, the palace was located in the present east corner, and the place name was Hejiayuanzi.
Hungry Ghost Festival
July Festival
In the traditional customs of the Chinese people, the Ghost Festival is an important day to worship ancestors and save all living beings. Every household must celebrate something big.
Every seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Chinese in our country will hold a grand "Celebration of the Chinese New Year". You can see the red color of celebrating the Chinese New Year all over the country, whether in commercial areas or HDB areas. Draw paper, put up lanterns, set up altars, and reward gods. Jiao rituals are also held in temples, and local operas or song stages are staged in the streets and alleys to add to the fun, creating a lively scene.
The "Pu Du" ceremony of the Ghost Festival can be divided into several categories due to differences in organizational forms, such as Street Pu (also called Hong Pu), City Pu, and Temple Pu (or Gong Pu) etc. The so-called street Pu refers to the Pudu that is based on neighborhoods; the City Pu refers to the Pudu that is based on the market; and the Temple Pu refers to the Pudu hosted by temples.
Celebration of the Chinese Ghost Festival is very common
Locally, the street is usually a public housing block, or the street is the unit of the Ghost Festival; the city is generally marked with markets, hawker centers, shopping malls , shops as the main body; as for temples, there is no doubt.
It is generally popular in our country. In addition, local factories and industrial buildings generally have Purdue organizations.
In recent years, due to the improvement of people’s living standards, it is very common to celebrate the Zhongyuan Festival, and the pomp and ceremony are also very particular. Some non-governmental organizations or companies have also established Zhongyuan Association. Judging from this trend, this Chinese Traditional customs are more popular in the local area every year.
In Singapore, the general public in the city and on the street will worship with candles and incense. They are lined up in rows, some are more than ten or twenty feet high, which is very spectacular.
In the sacrificial shed, a paper shop was also asked to paste a statue of Pudu Gong, who was six feet or two feet long, with a green face and fangs, and was extremely fearful of people. He placed it in the cloth shed for worship, and burned three large incense sticks in front of it. Two big candles, the way of offering sacrifices can be meat or vegetarian, the more the better, including roasted pig, chicken, duck, white rice buns, fruits, canned food, sugar, oil, salt, vegetarian food and other poultry and meat, dry food and mixed fruits, Vegetarian food, etc., were all served, and all were decorated with triangular five-color flags and incense, making it colorful.
As for the temple, there are some differences. There is an altar in the temple, and a large mirror of "Obon Society" or "Three Palace Emperors" is hung in the center. As for the sacred table, there are three A lamp, a statue of a god, and an incense burner. The bucket lamp contains white rice, an ancient bronze mirror, an ancient sword, a small scale, scissors, a ruler, a parasol and a lit kerosene lamp. The ancients believed that this could ward off evil spirits.
On the long table in front of the altar, sacrifices and sweet wine are offered, and flour is used to make birds, animals, fish, crabs, aquatic animals and other supplies, which are as rich as possible.
There are many kinds of blessing items for bidding
In addition to sacrifices, blessing items are also indispensable at the Pudu meetings of these local organizations. Many of the blessing items are from members and enthusiasts of the Zhongyuan Hui organization. There are many kinds of donations, including statues of gods, charcoal commonly known as "Wujin", rice barrels, pigeons full of ingots, large lottery tickets, hair cakes, wine, electrical appliances, children's toys, everything you want.
After worshiping, it is inevitable to bid for wonderful blessings, which is also one of the characteristics of the local Zhongyuan Pudu.
When bidding, it is usually the furnace owner who calls out the bidder's price in a loud voice. I can always hear the sound of the bid being shouted out here and there during the banquet. It's very lively, and the bidders are also very generous, because most people believe that "bidding" for something can bring some wealth, so everyone bids very generously, especially business people.
Usually, the responsible members of the Chinese Yuan Association will use this considerable amount of money from the bidding to be used as charity funds or member welfare funds. At the same time, it can also be used for the activities of the Chinese Yuan Association in the next year. , make preparations, such as inviting a song stage or local opera to entertain.
中元节
The Chinese New Year Festival has the so-called "three yuan", which refers to the upper yuan on the 15th day of the first month, the middle yuan on the 15th day of July and the lower yuan on the 15th day of October.
In addition to the Ghost Festival and Bon Festival, the folks also call July 15th the Ghost Festival, which together with Qingming Festival and October 1st is the Three Ghost Festival. The folk Ghost Festival is closely related to the Buddhist Hungry Ghost Festival and Bon Festival, and has its own unique color. In this way, the three streams of monks, Taoists and lay people are integrated into one, forming a rich festival and customary activities on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.
The poem "Reflections on the Hungry Ghost Festival" by Wang Kaitai, a scholar from the Qing Dynasty, describes the custom of celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival in Fujian.
Feelings on the Ghost Festival
The Taoist temple purifies the ghosts and retains the original meaning of the Holy Ghost Festival.
But it’s strange that the red paper is posted on the door, and the meat mountain and sea of ??wine celebrate the Chinese New Year.
On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, it is the same day for both Buddhism and Taoism to summarize and criticize, and both schools have corresponding activities to conduct examinations and evaluations; the difference is that Taoism’s inspections and reports are directed at the public, that is, the school Ji Chen. The summary and commentary of Buddhism are conducted internally. Whether it is the external school registration ceremony or the internal criticism meeting, it shows that both Buddhism and Taoism attach great importance to July 15th. Or to illustrate the importance of this day in Buddhist and Taoist festivals. Coupled with the so-called ghost festival among the people, this time is even more colorful. School registration day and Ziyi Day are only a small part of the customary activities in this season. In addition, there are ancestor worship, lighting of lanterns to illuminate the dead, Bon Festival, etc., which are also important festivals and customs in the year. The Bon Festival is an important ritual in Buddhist rituals. It is held on July 15th every year, so the Ghost Festival is also known as the "Obon Festival".
Despite more than a thousand years of active obedience to customs and passive domestication, the traces of Buddhism still clearly remain in the ordinary people’s customary activities during the Ghost Festival. The first is the name. Bon is the transliteration of Sanskrit, which means "hanging upside down". Bon orchid and basin together are a rescue tool, that is, "rescuing upside down hanging device"; in addition, Bon Bon can also be interpreted as "rescuing upside down hanging basin". Highlight its feature of "arrange a hundred kinds of food".
The poem "Changan Zaxing Bamboo Branch Body" by the Qing Dynasty poet Pang Na vividly depicts the scene of children playing together with lotus leaf lanterns on the night of the Ghost Festival.
Chang'an Zaxing Effect Bamboo Branch
Thousands of trees are cool and frosty, the air is clear, and the nine roads in the middle of the first month are bright.
Children are competing for green lotus leaves, and thousands of silver flowers scatter the city on fire.
According to the Buddhist Bon Bon rituals, releasing river lanterns is just a small program and does not seem to be that important. In the folk customs of the Ghost Festival, lighting up lanterns is more important.
River lanterns are also called "lotus lanterns". River lanterns usually have lamps or candles placed on the base. They are placed in rivers, lakes and seas on the night of the Ghost Festival and allowed to drift. The purpose of placing river lanterns is to bring away drowned ghosts and other lonely ghosts in the water. A passage in "The Biography of Hulan River" by Xiao Hong, a modern female writer, is the best footnote to this custom: "The fifteenth day of July is a ghost festival; the dead souls of resentful ghosts are not allowed to be reborn, and lingering in hell is very painful. , I want to survive, but I can't find a way. If there is a dead ghost holding a river lamp on this day, I have to survive. "Probably the road from the underworld to the human world is very dark, and it is impossible to see the road without a lamp. So putting up a lamp is a good deed. It can be seen that the living gentlemen have not forgotten the dead ghosts.
Hungry Ghost Festival
On July 15th, it is called the Ghost Festival in Taoism, the Bon Festival in Buddhism, and the Ghost Festival among the people. For good luck, people in Shanxi, especially those in northern Shanxi, renamed it the Dough Sculpture Festival today. The cultural connotation is very rich.
The origin of the Ghost Festival should be related to the land ancestor worship that was popular in ancient my country. After Taoism became popular, it adhered to the tradition and created the gods of heaven, earth and water. It is said that Tianguan’s birthday is on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is called Shangyuan Festival. Its main duty is to bless the world. The birthday of local officials is on July 15th, which is called the Ghost Festival. Its main duty is to forgive sins on earth. Shuiguan's birthday is on October 15th, which is called the Ten Thousand Yuan Festival. Its main responsibility is to relieve human suffering.
Competing with Taoism, Buddhism determines that July 15th is the Bon Festival. Buddhism advocates compassion and kindness. During the three months of the rainy season in ancient India, Buddhist rituals prohibited monks and nuns from going out, saying that going out would easily harm vegetation, insects, and ants. Monks and nuns were required to meditate and study in the temple and receive donations. This period is called the settlement period. After Buddhism was introduced to my country, the settlement period was stipulated from April 16 to July 15 according to the seasonal changes in our country. Later, the Buddhist legend of "Moggallana saved his mother" was produced based on the scriptures. The general idea is that Moggallana, a disciple of Buddha Sakyamuni, saw his dead mother suffering in hell, and it was so miserable. He tried every means to save him, but failed, so he had no choice but to turn to the Buddha for help.
Sakyamuni explained that his mother's sins during her lifetime were very serious and could not be cured by one person's efforts. He told Moggallana to prepare all kinds of food and drink for the monks in the ten directions on the 15th day of the seventh month, the day when the monks finished their peaceful retreat. With the help of the monks, his mother can be freed from suffering. Moggallana obeyed the instructions, and it worked. This kind of Buddhist activity is called the Bon Festival. Ullan is the transliteration of ancient Indian Sanskrit, which means hanging upside down and describes the suffering of the deceased. Basin is a Chinese word that refers to a vessel for holding offerings. Obon refers to such Buddhist activities that can relieve the suffering of the deceased.
Chinese Buddhism relied on the traditional Confucian etiquette of "filial piety" to evolve July 15th into a "Filial Filial Day" to promote Buddhism. It is not only recognized by our country's traditional culture, but also widely welcomed by the official people. Therefore, it has the greatest impact on folk activities on July 15th.
The Buddhist community in Mount Wutai will hold the Bon Bon Festival as usual on July 15th to chant sutras and save the souls of the dead. Some of the surrounding religious people want to go to temples to make offerings, fire cannons, and pray to atone for the sins of their ancestors and wish the deceased people liberation.
In the folk, every family has to visit the graves to pay homage to their ancestors.
In southern Shanxi, it is customary to make lamps out of paper and burn them in front of graves, symbolizing a bright future for the deceased. Steamed buns are often used as food to honor ancestors. If the ancestor has died for more than three years, the children will take off their mourning clothes and wear ordinary clothes on this day, which is commonly known as changing their mourning.
People in northern Shanxi go to the graves to pay homage to their ancestors. They like to use steamed buns, made of flour, which are round and have a red dot in the middle. After placing the offerings and burning the paper, when you return home, you should pull a few millet and hemp plants from the field, wrap them with green paper strips, and place them in front of the window to worship the person in front of you. After the festival, the roof is moved with the roots facing inward and the ears of grain exposed outside. This is called picking magu. A popular folk saying is to bless you with a good harvest. However, upon analysis, the rituals of worshiping noodlers seem to be relics of the early customs of human sacrifice.
On July 15th, the most solemn thing to pay homage to the deceased is to release river lanterns. Folks are accustomed to using wooden boards and five-color paper to make lanterns of various colors, with candles in the middle. Some people also write the name of the deceased on the lamp. Business houses and other units are accustomed to making a colorful underwater paper boat, which is called a Dafa boat. Legend has it that all dead souls can be transported to the ideal world on the other side. There should be one person on the boat holding a Zen staff, symbolizing Moggallana. Some are also made into Guanyin Bodhisattva. At night, paper boats and paper lanterns are placed in the river and let them drift along the water. People judge whether the soul of the deceased has been saved based on the floating status of the lamp. If the lamp swirls in the water, it is believed to be held by ghosts. If the lamp sinks in the water, it is believed that the dead soul has been saved and has been reincarnated. If the lantern drifts far away or reaches the shore, it is believed that the soul of the deceased has reached the other side of the world and is among the immortals in heaven. All in all, all the best wishes.
Lighting up river lanterns is particularly spectacular in the Yellow River. Hequ County in northwest Shanxi is close to the Yellow River. The river is open and the water flow is gentle. Every night on July 15th, the whole city, men, women, old and young, gather in the square in front of the stage on the bank of the Yellow River to watch the river lanterns. Lamps of various colors drifted along the water, and the children watched closely to see how far their own lamps could float. The old woman kept mumbling and praying. Today's river lantern display has become a happy activity.
On July 15th, it is also popular among the people to offer sacrifices to land and crops. Throw the offerings into the field. After burning the paper, cut the five-color paper into strips and wrap it around the ears of the crops. Legend has it that it can avoid hail attacks and achieve a bumper harvest in autumn. In some places, sacrifices are also performed at Houtu Temple. It is a folk custom in Dingxiang County to hang ma and grain on the door.
Before the festival on July 15th, dough sculpture activities are popular among folk women, most intensely in northern Shanxi. A family is steaming steamed buns, and neighbors come to help. First, make a big steamed bun for each person according to the actual number of people in the family (including married daughter, son-in-law, grandson, other son, daughter-in-law, grandson, etc.). The flower buns given to the younger generation should be kneaded into a flat shape, called noodle sheep, which means the lamb kneels down to suck milk, hoping that the younger generation will not forget the kindness of their parents in raising them; the flower buns given to the elders should be kneaded into a human shape, called noodles. People, it means a house full of children and grandchildren, good fortune and longevity; the flower buns given to ordinary people should be shaped into fish shapes, called noodle fish, which means more than one year after another. Nowadays, it is no longer so strict. It is completely based on the taste of the owner. There are various shapes of steamed buns such as sheep, tiger, cow, fish, rabbit and human.
After the flower buns are shaped like one animal for each person, many more flower buns in the shapes of melons, fruits, peaches, plums, lotuses, chrysanthemums, plums, etc. are made, decorated with flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and squirrels. It is smaller than the previous one. It is used to visit relatives and see gifts from friends. After these dough sculptures are steamed and then painted in five colors, they look lifelike. Each piece can be called an excellent handicraft. Watching dough sculptures on July 15th has become a program for farm women to show off their dexterous skills.
Hungry Ghost Festival and Wine
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is the Ghost Festival. In ancient my country, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the Shangyuan Festival, the fifteenth day of July was the Zhongyuan Festival, and the fifteenth day of October was the Xiayuan Festival. After the emergence of Taoism, the gods enshrined include Tianguan, Diguan, and Shuiguan, and "Sanyuan" is matched with "Three Officials". It is said that the birthday of Tianguan in Shangyuan is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and that of Diguan in Zhongyuan is July. On the 15th, Xiayuan Shuiguan is October 15th. Therefore, in Daodu, an altar offering is held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. Taoism and Buddhism have specific regulations and practices for activities on this day. Folk memorial ceremonies are relatively free, and the offerings may not be enough for the ancestors and ghosts to enjoy. This formed a folk festival. In the Northern Qi Dynasty's "Yan Family Instructions", the Southern Dynasties' "Jingchu Years' Records", the Song Dynasty's "Tokyo Menghua Lu" and "Meng Liang Lu", the Qing Dynasty's "The Records of the Imperial Capital" and other books Both mentioned the Ghost Festival and Obon Festival. Some books say that a few days before the Hungry Ghost Festival, there are people selling ghost utensils, fresh fruits, and oil cakes, pies, milk cakes, and rich cakes in the market. They are colorful and the sound of selling is endless. There is also the custom of placing lanterns on the water, which is meant to attract lonely ghosts in the water to enjoy the sacrifice. Children played with paper lotus lanterns, some of which were seven or eight feet tall and eye-catching. There is an endless stream of people going outside the city to pay homage to the tomb, especially during the Qingming Festival.
Hungry Ghost Festival
I knew about the Ghost Festival. I had read about it in literary works and thought it was a folk custom popular in the Yellow River Basin. It might also exist in other places. Customs, but it is not as authentic as the place where the Yellow River flows. In my opinion, that night should always be foggy. In the haze, the ancestor worship meals of each family looked very attractive under the light of candlelight and incense. In the mist, the children's river lanterns also disappeared before sinking. , heading towards heaven. Most of the works didn't mention what the adults were doing. I think they were probably setting up river lanterns for their ancestors and children and cooking for them. This was a harmonious scene, and the Ghost Festival should be a happy festival.
It was only after I came to Singapore that I truly understood the customs of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Of course, all I knew about was the Hungry Ghost Festival in Singapore, a Hungry Ghost Festival that had nothing to do with the river lanterns.
The Ghost Festival in Singapore is commonly known as the Ghost Festival. Standardly speaking, the Hungry Ghost Festival should be on the 15th day of July in the lunar calendar. Because the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the Chinese Ghost Festival, so this day The festival is called the Ghost Festival. Because the Buddhist Bon Festival is also held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, some places call this day "Obon Festival". Buddhism attaches great importance to July 15th, and many activities are held on that day. "Lending lanterns to illuminate the underworld" is a small ceremony in the middle of the day. This ritual spread to the people and became the mysterious and romantic setting of river lanterns. Although there are different opinions on the purpose of putting river lanterns on the river, it is always related to ghosts. For example, Xiao Hong mentioned in the article "The Legend of Hulan River" that "July 15th is the Ghost Festival, and the dead souls who blame ghosts cannot be reborn. It's very painful to be lingering in hell. I want to be reborn but I can't find a way out! If there is a dead ghost wearing a river lantern on this day, he must escape from the dead'
It is the same as the Buddhist practice of "releasing lanterns to illuminate the dead", which was absorbed and improved by the people according to their simple wishes into the folk river lanterns. , the Ghost Festival crossed the underworld and the national border, and came to Singapore, where it also produced great changes. You can’t find the shadow of the river lanterns during the Ghost Festival in Singapore, and the time to celebrate the Ghost Festival has also expanded from one day on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to the entire month of July. During this month, people try not to move or buy property, and they also try not to travel. Air tickets during this month are also the lowest in the whole year. Some people who do not believe in evil take advantage of this opportunity to travel abroad. Of course, people who believe in evil still make up the majority. July in the lunar calendar in Singapore is the hot summer season, but no matter how hot the weather is, there are always few people in the swimming pool. People will add one or two more gold items during this month. To ward off evil spirits, they will also pay attention to their speech and try to avoid saying unlucky words.
As for the money from the bidding, part of it will be used to pay for the Zhongyuan celebration in the second year, and part of it will be donated to charity hospitals and other welfare institutions.
Zhongyuan Qingzan has faced a lot of problems in recent years. First of all, the younger generation influenced by Western culture cannot accept this culture that is rustic but has a national flavor. Zhongyuan Qingzan has no successors. Secondly, some people suddenly couldn't stand the smoke of burning paper and the noise of singing songs and chanting slogans, so they frequently complained to the government. The government seems to agree with these people. While constantly improving the incineration barrels, this year it has also made it clear that the celebrations must end half an hour earlier than in previous years and before 10:30. Because the event ended early, getai enthusiasts were unable to enjoy themselves to the fullest, and the money collected from bidding was also greatly reduced. Except for the money necessary to celebrate the Chinese Yuan in the second year, very little was left to be donated to welfare organizations. This makes people feel a bit inferior to ghosts, but July is their festival, so the living people have to give in.
I have spent five Hungry Ghost Festivals in Singapore. At first I was very curious and even a little scared, but gradually I fell in love with this festival. I also followed the example of Singaporeans and burned paper to worship. I hope My late father will come to Singapore to celebrate this festival. Ghosts are not actually scary. What is scary is separation, especially the separation between yin and yang.
Hungry Ghost Festival
Hungry Ghost Festival - July 15th in the lunar calendar. my country's traditional folk festival "Hungry Ghost Festival". In the south, it is also called "Ghost Festival". However, the Hungry Ghost Festival, which is still celebrated today, falls on July 14. It is said that at the end of the Song Dynasty, when people were preparing to celebrate the festival, Yuan soldiers suddenly invaded, so they had to sacrifice their ancestors one day in advance, and the festival was brought forward.
On this festival day, people bring sacrifices and go to the graves to pay homage to their ancestors, which is similar to visiting graves during the Qingming Festival. In the feudal era, local officials also ordered monks and Taoists in temples to set up lonely soul dojos to commemorate fallen soldiers. During the Ghost Festival, people would burn a large amount of paper money.