July 15 is the "Zhongyuan Festival", commonly known as "July Half". July 14 in ancient times is the "Autumn Day" day, corresponding to the March Shangmi Festival of "Spring Zen", after a summer of heat, the weather is getting cooler, people can go to the water's edge on this day to wash their bodies to remove diseases and ominousness. There are still some places where this kind of activity is continued, and various forms of autumn poetry are held to reflect the local cultural characteristics and folk customs.
▲ Zhongyuan Festival • Worship ancestors
The Quan Tang Poems contain the Miscellaneous Songs and Lyrics of The Qi, which is written about Qiu Yu:
Yesterday I saw the spring strips green, and the autumn leaves were yellow.
The sound of cicadas is still there, and the cold geese have already made their way.
Willow in the Golden Valley Garden, spring has danced waist.
That is a good scenery, alone on the Luoyang Bridge.
Where to think, the flower between the long music palace.
The king did not pay attention to the guests, and wept to the spring wind.
The Shangyuan Festival, the Middle Yuan Festival, and the Lower Yuan Festival are the festivals of The Taoist Heavenly Officials, The Earth Officials, and the Water Officials, respectively. According to Taoism, Shangyuan is the day of blessing of tianguan; zhongyuan is the day of forgiveness of sins by diguan; and xiayuan is the day of shuiguan's relief of misfortune. During these three days, the three officials of heaven, earth, and water separately checked the crimes of the subjects and punished them. The prefectural government under the control of the magistrate is naturally a crowd of ghosts on all roads. Therefore, on the day of the Middle Yuan Festival, all the ghosts will go out of the underworld and accept the examination. The people of the Yang Dynasty brought sacrifices, burned paper and cannons, and went to the grave to worship their ancestors, asking the magistrate to forgive the sins of the ancestors.
The evolution of this folklore, to the Tang and Song dynasties. The main activity of the Zhongyuan Festival is to surpass the undead and sacrifice ancestors, so the Zhongyuan Festival is also called the "Ghost Festival". The Qianlong edition of the Quanzhou Fuzhi records: "In the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, the temple was viewed as the Oban Society, and the common name was Pudu. Southern customs, the middle of the first night, each household has a fast offering, Luo Yu outside the door or in the Qu, wishing for casualties and wild ghosts. ”
▲Lamp foot, inverted lamp foot
Southern Fujian "July and a Half" is not similar to the north. Northern Zhongyuan Festival, Southern Fujian Pudu Month. "Pudu" is a folk cultural phenomenon in southern Fujian, which combines the "Zhongyuan Festival" of Taoism with the "Obon Society" of Buddhism to form a unique folk festival. Interestingly, the northerners celebrate the festival in one day, while the Southern Fujian people spend a month on the festival.
According to the folk sayings of southern Fujian, the purpose of Pudu is to worship the lonely soul and the wild ghost. Commonly known as the county lord, Chenghuang Gong is the zhi county of the underworld and the ghost who manages the county. Beginning on the 3rd of June, the county lord sent The Yin Gongye to open the gate of the Underworld and let the lonely ghosts flock to the human world to enjoy folk sacrifices.
▲Fragrant case dish table
The "Pudu" in southern Fujian is divided into three important nodes: "Opening Lane Mouth", "Guan Xiang Kou" and "Pudu Day", and its process requires the ceremony of holding the lamp foot, the traction (the "shape" is divided into three grades: there are eighteen horses, nine riding and half shapes), the beating of the underworld, the performance of jiali plays and the ceremony of xie lantern feet. In the township, families must set up incense table outside the gate and place various dishes and bowls for offerings. Hanging on the wall is a five-color "string of money", bamboo basket "paper head": there is a folded five-color paper (representing the fabric) there is a "cloth paper" with a dark coat is made of gold and silver paper without gold and silver foil, and the paper is printed with woodcut ink to print the appearance of several clothes and war horses, commonly known as "armor horse clothes", which means armor and war horses. This is a custom that follows the Tang Dynasty, and it is said that after burning, the souls of the dead can get clothes to wear in the underworld.
▲Pulling, hitting the city
"Purdue Day" is the most solemn. Not only do you have to prepare a whole table of meals, but also the three-animal wine ceremony for worship. We must also invite relatives and friends from other villages, who have more guests to have face! That scene is no less than the Spring Festival. The Qing Dynasty poet Wang Kaitai wrote in "The Feeling of the Middle Yuan Festival": "The ghost of puduto in the dojo originally exists in oblongu. But blame the red note sticker door head, Roshan wine Haiqing Zhongyuan. "Truly reflects the lively scene of Pudu in southern Fujian in July and a half".
Of course, in the history of southern Fujian, there have also been monks and officials who have used this custom to trick the people of various villages into taking turns to do "Pudu". Even in some villages, in addition to the "positive pu" in July, they also have to do the "heavy pu" in August. In addition, there are "water pu" and "fire pu" and so on. The poor masses were forced by the feudal forces to borrow money to make "Purdue" and wanted to save their relatives in hell from hanging upside down, but they fell into the embarrassing situation of hanging upside down. Wu Zeng of Nan'an was deeply disgusted by the bad habits in southern Fujian, so he wrote the "Spring Customs Stimulation Chapter", which contained 46 poems, and the "Pudu Poem" was one of them:
"The vulgarity is strange,
Not afraid of heavenly curses, afraid of ghosts,
In July, the Olan Will be competed for.
Obanhui, busy every year,
The basket is full of paper, the wine is full of wine,
Fish turtles, slaughter pigs and sheep,
Monks pray and confess, drama debuts,
Fireworks glow all night.
Small country money with millions,
Daxiang money is strong in tens of millions.
Why not call this paragraph the Township Middle School. ”
Released 丨 Minnan Imprint
Author 丨 Chen Guangri
Tidy up 丨 喦庵
【About Us】
Minnan Imprint will focus on
Excavation, collation and research of minnan literature and history materials
Study local culture and pick up historical imprints