Recently, when you go out, you always see various promotional posters about Halloween by merchants, covering the sky and everywhere! Amusement cities, shopping malls, etc., under the banner of Western Halloween, carry out various promotional activities to attract the attention of the melon-eating people, so everyone will definitely not be unfamiliar with Western Halloween!
Everyone knows that today is the West’s Halloween, and we need to find various reasons to go out for fun, but do anyone know that today is also the first day of the lunar calendar , which is the " Cold Clothes Festival " in China?
In today's today, when traditional culture has been gradually forgotten and abandoned, foreign cultures have gradually become dominant, many people may be disdainful of the "Cold Clothes Festival", one of the four traditional ghost festivals. After all, Western festivals are more "fashionable".
Today, the editor will introduce to you the origin of the Cold Clothes Festival and some related taboos!
Cold Clothes Festival is also called " October dynasty ", "Ancestor Festival", and "Mingyin Festival". Because this day pays homage to those who died first, it is called sending cold clothes, also known as the Cold Clothes Festival. It is known as the four "ghost festivals" in the year, along with the Qingming Festival, the Shangsi Festival, and the Zhongyuan Festival. The Cold Clothing Festival and the Qingming Festival are the only two days of the year when construction can start in the cemetery.
Burn cold clothes, in some places, they are carried out in front of the graves of the dead, and they are important to visit the graves before the sun comes out of the mountain. In some places, it is a habit to burn sacrifices in front of the door. In many places in Yanbei and in many counties such as , Jinzhong , , Pingyao , women should cry loudly outside the door in the evening. There is a poem in Lin County that is said to be "The paper is made of cutting clothes, and it is burned in the early morning to remove the ash. Is it used to use the cold spring platform? But I heard the sad voices and feel comfortable!"
There is also a story about the Ancestor Festival about Cai Lun's papermaking and Cai Mo's paper burning.
Han folk legend Cai Lun When I first invented the paper, my business was very good. Cai Lun's sister-in-law Huiniang asked her husband Cai Mo to learn papermaking from Cai Lun. When they came back, they opened a paper mill, but the paper made by Cai Mo was of poor quality and could not be sold, so they were very anxious. Later, Hui Niang thought of a way to get rid of the predicament.
One day in the middle of the night, Hui Niang pretended to die of an acute illness. Cai Mo was heartbroken and was deeply sad in front of her coffin. He burned the paper and cried, "My brother and I learn how to make paper, but I didn't care. The quality of the paper was too bad, and I actually got you sick. I want to burn this paper to ashes to relieve my hatred." After burning, he brought the paper to burn it. After burning for a while, he heard Hui Niang shouting in the coffin, "Open the door, I'm back." This scared people. People opened the coffin. Hui Niang sang pretentiously: Money in the world can travel all over the world, and paper in the underworld is doing business. If my husband didn’t burn the paper, who would let me go home?
sang many times and said, "I was a ghost just now, and now I am a human being, don't be afraid. When I arrived in the underworld, the King of Hell asked me to push the grinding and suffer. When my husband gave me money, many little ghosts helped me. There is really money that can make the grinding and push the grinding. The three officials of Cao also asked me for money. I gave him all the money, so he opened the back door of the underworld and let me go back." Cai Mo pretended to be confused: "I didn't give you money?" Hui Niang said, "The paper you burn is the money from the underworld." After saying this, Cai Mo carried a few more bundles of paper and burned it to his parents.
When the people present heard this, they thought burning paper had great benefits, so they bought paper from Cai Mo. Hui Niang generously gave it to her fellow villagers. This incident spread to ten or ten. The villagers from far and near came to buy the Cai family's paper and burn it to her dead relatives.
In less than two days, the backlog of paper was sold out. The day Hui Niang "returned to Yang" was the first day of the tenth lunar month. Therefore, later generations worshiped their ancestors on the first day of the tenth lunar month and burned paper to the grave to show their nostalgia for their ancestors.
"Book of Songs·Binfeng·July " once mentioned that "the fire in July is flowing, and the clothes are given in September", which means that from September, the weather is gradually getting colder, and people should buy clothes to keep warm. So what should I pay attention to on this day of the Cold Clothes Festival?
1. Sending cold clothes is to express your nostalgia for old friends, so it is best to make cold clothes yourself. Of course, there is also a saying: "God understands it, and it depends on one's heart." It does not care about the item itself. What is important is the personal mentality. The mystery in this cannot be exhausted, and it depends entirely on personal grasp.
2. Any items burned to ancestors must be burned thoroughly and must be turned into ashes. Only these clothes and paper money can be used in the underworld. Legend has it that if there is no burning, no small horn left, it cannot be delivered to the deceased.
3. If you cannot go back to your hometown to visit your grave yourself, you can choose to burn paper money, paper and clothes in the direction of your hometown at a large intersection near your residence. As a place where evil spirits are abundant, the large intersection can also connect yin and yang. Simply put, it is a "post office" in the yin and yang worlds.
4. While sending cold clothes to relatives, you need to burn some five-color paper to disperse those lonely ghosts who have no one to pay tribute to them, so as not to snatch items burned to their ancestors.
5. When worshiping and sending cold clothes, everyone should be grateful and remembered. Don’t hurt the feelings when you see things, or be sad, because this time is the time when the yin energy is strong. Your sadness will easily attract the evil spirits of the body, affecting your physical and mental health. You have to be careful.
Sending cold clothes is not only a simple traditional custom! Giving cotton and thick clothes to the living is a kind of good wish!
Finally, let’s talk about the most important point of the Cold Clothes Festival: “Faith filial piety and care for the elderly!” This is an important tradition that our Chinese children cannot forget: “It is natural to be filial to parents”! So don’t just remember the West Halloween, but also remember the Cold Clothes Day. After all, we are all descendants of Yan and Huang and the children of China!
