Halloween taboo
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many taboos, such as not hanging wind chimes at the bedside, combing your hair in front of the mirror in the middle of the night, wandering at the crossroads, not looking in the mirror at night, not staying up late and so on.
1. Hang wind chimes at the bedside. Wind chimes are easy to attract good brothers, and sleeping is the easiest time to be "violated".
2, plucking feet. As the saying goes, "one foot has three ghosts", so the more feet have hair, the more ghosts are afraid of approaching.
3. Night tour. People with eight characters should never go out on Halloween night, because on this day, the Daimon Masaru of hell opens and ghosts come out to wander. If he sees that you are full of yin, he may mistake you for a companion and invite you to his home.
4. Burning ghost paper on unspecified occasions. Paper is for good brothers, and gold paper is for God. Burning paper will only attract more good brothers.
5. Stealing sacrifices. These are good brothers' food. If you use them without their consent, you will only bring bad luck to yourself.
6. Hang clothes at night. When a good brother thinks your clothes are beautiful, he will borrow them and leave his fragrance on them.
7. Call your name. Don't wear clothes embroidered with your name at night, lest Shen Yuan be possessed. In addition, it is best to avoid calling others by their first names. Otherwise, once a good brother (Fujian and Taiwan's respectful name for ghosts) hears it, he will take the opportunity to take away his three souls and six souls. At the same time, if someone calls his name, don't look back or respond immediately.
8. Swimming. Don't swim in dangerous waters. Legend has it that the "water ghost" will find someone to be a scapegoat in order to be reborn.
9. Look around. Good brothers like to hide and scare people. In case they look around and get scared, that's the best time for them to invade you.
10. The banyan tree is at home. Because banyan is a shade-gathering plant, and it is also the favorite of good brothers, unless you want good brothers to come and sit at home.
1. Stay up late. The busiest time is midnight and the most haunted time is midnight. Staying up late can easily lead to discouragement and invasion.
12, against the wall. Good brothers usually like to rest against the cold wall, so it is easy to go out.
13. Pick up money by the roadside. Don't pick up the change and red envelopes on the ground; Don't pick up money on the roadside casually, because it may be a good brother's or it may be used for ghost marriage.
14. Sneaking around. From the perspective of spiritualism, there are three fires in a person's body, one on his head and one on his shoulder, so it is best not to pat others' heads and shoulders casually during the ghost month, so as not to put out the fire on him and give good brothers a chance.
15. Slippers face the bed. A good brother can tell where a stranger is by looking at the direction of his toes. If the toes are pointing to the bed, then a good brother will go to bed and sleep with you.
16. Chopsticks are inserted in the middle of rice. This is the mode of worship, just like a censer, which will only attract good brothers to share food with you.
17. whistle. When passing by the cemetery, I kept saying "I'm sorry to bother you!" " "And keep solemn, don't whistle, to show respect for good brothers.
Take pictures at night. It's easy to bring friends from the spiritual world home.
19. play the disc fairy. Playing with disc fairy is easy to happen, not to mention this ghost festival.
20. Slippers are neatly placed beside the bed. When traveling abroad, putting slippers neatly beside the bed will arouse the curiosity of friends in the spiritual world and lead them to make trouble in bed.
The Origin of Ghost Festival on July 15
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is an important traditional festival in China-Mid-Autumn Festival. However, "Mid-Autumn Festival" is the name of China Taoism; On this same day, Buddhism called it "Menglan Festival" and folks called it "Ghost Festival". These three festivals not only have different expressions, but also have the same cultural connotation of offering sacrifices to ancestors and advocating filial piety. Han, Guxiang, Daur, Yi, Naxi, Bai, Miao, Dong, Zhuang and Tujia all have this festival custom.
In ancient times, people believed that people had three souls and seven spirits. After death, seven souls are separated, leaving only three souls called ghosts. A virtuous person who sacrifices after death will not harm mankind; But ghosts that no one worships are different. According to legend, from July 1 to July 15, the gates of hell were wide open, and ghosts from the underworld returned to the dead to visit their relatives, friends and descendants. So there is a saying that "ghosts run around in mid-July". These days, in order to ensure the safety of life, ordinary people dare not act rashly about weddings, funerals and celebrations.
On July 15, people pay homage to their ancestors. Some burn incense for ancestors at home or in ancestral temples and worship at home; Some go to ancestral graves to add soil, offerings, acetylene incense and so on. After dark, take firecrackers, paper money, incense sticks, burn some paper money, set off firecrackers, send ancestors on the road and return to the "underworld." At that time, every household would provide fruits, vegetables, rice and so on. Hold various sacrificial activities, pray for the blessing of local officials and take care of the "homeless" ghosts. There are monks and nuns chanting sutras and immortals burning money to give gifts. This activity reached its climax on July 15. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called July and a half, commonly known as "Ghost Festival". Nowadays, the folk festival of July 15th has gradually removed the superstitious color and retained the form of honoring ancestors.
The custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in China is directly related to the ancient view of heaven and man in China. In the ancient customs of China, people believed that people ascended to heaven as immortals and descended to earth as ghosts. According to the thinking concept in western cultural habits, ghosts and gods are absolutely opposite, and the relationship between man and nature is inseparable and absolutely opposite. In reality, human beings can't act on another time and space between heaven and earth. But in China's ancient religious view, heaven and earth can be transformed into each other, and so can the position of ghosts and gods. In reality, human beings can change the relationship between another time and space according to their own actions. According to our ancestors, the relationship between god and ghost is not absolute opposition, but can be transformed according to the merits and demerits of the parties concerned. Ghosts, immortals and people can be divided into good and evil, and they can interact and transpose. Without merit, the immortal may go to hell again. Ghosts in hell can be reincarnated into gods if they have merits. It is believed that people living in this world can change the situation of ancestors and descendants of another world according to their own actions. For example, when the world can save the souls of ancestors through its own contributions and merits to the real world, it can also bring good results to future generations.
Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival has gradually become a festival to worship ancestors and pray for future generations.
The activities and customs of Ghost Festival in Yuan Dynasty
1. discharge tube
River lanterns are also called "lotus lanterns". Usually, lamps or candles are placed on the base of river lamps. On the night of mid-January, they were put into rivers, lakes and oceans and allowed to float. The purpose of setting off river lanterns is to ferry drowning ghosts and other ghosts in the water. Lighting rivers, especially the Yellow River, is very spectacular.
Burn street clothes
As soon as we step into the seventh month of the lunar calendar, people will hold incense sticks, gold and silver paper and some sacrifices such as tofu and white rice to worship on the roadside after dark. The purpose of people "burning street clothes" is to let those helpless souls have clothes to keep out the cold and food to wrap their stomachs.
Make eggplant cake
It is considered that eggplant cake can be used as dry food for ancestors to go to Lanpen meeting. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household in old Nanjing made eggplant cakes, that is, fresh eggplant was shredded, sprinkled with flour and fried in oil. In fact, eggplant cake is now a common home-cooked dish. If you want to eat, you can make a plate to satisfy your desire.
4. Pray for a bumper harvest.
Sacrificing lonely souls in the Mid-Autumn Festival is usually associated with praying for a bumper harvest. On the night of Shigu, every household will burn incense in front of their own house, pray for a bumper harvest of rice and insert fragrant branches on the ground. This is the so-called "transplanting". The more you plant, the better, which symbolizes the harvest of rice in autumn.
Sacrifice to ancestors
The festival of ancestor worship is on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, so it is called "July and a half" for short. Folks believe that at this time, ancestors will also return home to visit their descendants, so they need to worship their ancestors. Worship ceremonies are usually held in the evening before the end of July, and are not limited to a specific day.
6. Sacrifice land and crops.
On July 15, people will sacrifice land and crops and scatter their offerings in the fields. After the paper is burned, wrap it on the ears of crops with cut five-color paper. Legend has it that hail can be avoided and a bumper harvest can be obtained. At the same time, some places have to go to Houtu Temple to offer sacrifices. Dingxian folk custom hangs hemp and corn on the door.
7. Turn on the sky lantern.
There are also two sayings about lighting Halloween lights. One is to take your bad luck away as far away as possible. At this time, it is a taboo to leave other people's lanterns at home. If they fall, they will be released again. Secondly, every family hopes that the dead ancestors can enter the Elysium, and put lanterns on the Ghost Festival to light the way to heaven for the ancestors who entered the Elysium.
Dietary customs of Mid-Autumn Festival
1. Eat duck
On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, which is the New Year in China, many places in China will choose to eat ducks. Why? It turns out that "duck" means "pressure". In its homonym, eating duck means suppressing ghosts. People in Dongguan usually eat lotus root and roast duck.
Eat rice noodles
In the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom of eating glutinous rice flour in Dongguan, and it is widely used in almost all Dongguan. Of course, different regions have different ways to eat rice noodles.
3. Eat light meals.
In Ling Du County, Shandong Province, the Mid-Autumn Festival is called "choking festival" by local people, and every household has the custom of eating coarse grains.
Eat light food
In Dongxian Town, Jiangsu Province, many villagers eat flat food (a dustpan-shaped food made of flour and sugar) during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eat "jiaozi Cake"
In Tiantai, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, they will eat "jiaozi Cake", a kind of food similar to spring rolls.