The most eye-catching scenery in the "Wax Moon" is the wax smell hanging from house to house, which is said to have been popular since the Zhou Dynasty in the pre-Qin period, and it is also a special period at the end of the year, in addition to the wax year, it is also a year-end sacrifice for the well-being of many people in the coming year. In the "Customs and Rituals", the Han Dynasty scholar Ying Shao summed it up as "lax, receiving, new and old handover, so the great sacrifice to repay the merits also". The Sui Dynasty's "Sui Book of Etiquette Table" also continued this statement, calling it "the meaning of taking the new and the old", which shows that the Waxing Moon has long had the special meaning of retiring the old and welcoming the new. The old year is coming, the new year is coming, and the ancestors express the situation of the year to the ancestral gods by contributing sacrifices, and sharing the harvest joy of this year has always been the traditional custom of the ancients to pursue the distant future cautiously. The Waxing Moon can be said to be a month of shared prosperity in heaven and earth, in addition to the sacrifice of ancestors, there are five guardian gods who live together day and night in the hearts of the ancients.
The "Year-end Festival" has a tradition of thousands of years, and in the "Ritual Record and Moon Order", there is a clear object of sacrifice "The Moon of Mengdong, the Five Ancestors of Menlula", and since then the Five Ancestors of the La sacrifice have been passed down to this day. While cautiously pursuing the distant future, he will also offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth, one to express the well-being of this year is inseparable from the blessings of ancestors and family gods, and the other is to pray that the new year can be smooth, the grain is abundant, the six animals are prosperous, and all the best.
There are three theories in the Book of Rites since ancient times, one refers to the god of the five elements, that is, the five gods of the officials corresponding to the well-known gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, namely Huo Zheng Zhu Rong, Mu Zheng Ju Mang, Jin Zheng Yue Harvest, Shui Zheng Xuan Meditation, and Tu Zheng Hou Tu. The second refers to the five types of sacrifice specifications, namely 禘, suburb, ancestral, zong, and newspaper, which are sacrificed by different people on different occasions to reflect different meanings. The third is the most widely spread and widespread sacrifice of the five family gods, because they are closely related to human life, which Zheng Xuan calls "door, household, middle slip, stove, and line". In the "On Heng and Sacrifice Intentions", the author Wang Chong also calls it "door, household, well, stove, room slip", and most of the folk practice the latter, that is, "door god, household god, well god, stove god, and middle slip (land god and house god)". This is inseparable from Wang Chong's more popular explanation: "Doors, households, people's access, wells, stoves, people's desires, slipping, people's trust, the five merits, so they are all worshipped." ”
First, the god of doors and the god of households
This is probably the most prevalent deity in folk beliefs, and to this day, their portraits can still be seen on many ancient buildings or rural gates. The oldest door gods are the gods and Yu Lei recorded in the Shan Hai Jing, and later with the change of dynasties, they are gradually enriched, and the Tang Dynasty has also left us two door gods Qin Shubao and Wei Chigong because of its extraordinary influence, and the author vaguely remembers that the gate of the old house is guarded by these two gods day and night. Moreover, with the development of history, the door god has gradually lost its "treatment", and the Spring Festival has invited "volunteer" duty, with neither incense nor tribute, and after the festival, it will leave with the wind and the sun, which can be said to be the most selfless and dedicated deity.
In the "Commentary on the Interpretation of Texts", the one door is called the household, and the two doors are called the door, so the door god here is usually considered to be the door god with only one door, that is, the god of the inner chamber portal, which is the door god of the "room" in the "one hall and several rooms" in today's words. In the countryside, in addition to the two door gods posted on the outside gate of the courtyard, the door of the separate room in the courtyard will also be posted on the door of the door, and there will be no taboos in layers of protection. Nowadays, many people still put the word blessing on the door, which is actually similar to the god of the door.
Second, vesta god, well god
Wang Chong's explanation is very popular, the so-called diet refers to these two places, especially the statue of vesta, which was almost a must for every household in the countryside in the past. It can be said that it is the most popular, representative and popular belief in the gods of the Han people. There are probably two reasons for this, one is the worship of "fire", and the other is derived from myths and legends, both of which have a long history, especially myths and legends are said to have been widely circulated before the Zhou Dynasty. It is believed that vesta is the great god of supervision sent by the emperor to the human world, and every year in the month of La, he will tell the emperor about the good and evil deeds of each family for a year.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the proverb "rather than flattering the Olympus, preferring to be flattered by the stove" came from this, and Confucius once lamented about this phenomenon: "Otherwise, you will be guilty of heaven and pray for nothing." "Thinking that if you have already made a mistake, it is useless to "flatter the stove". Some people also think that "nothing to pray" means that people cannot communicate with the Emperor of Heaven. In addition, the folk are also afraid of the gibberish of vesta, so they can only worship. According to Ge Hong's "Baopuzi WeiZhi", the Emperor of Heaven would reward and punish according to the report of the god Vesta, and if it was a major crime, he would "seize the discipline", and the small crime would be "calculated". The arithmetic, three days also", that is, three hundred days of life expectancy for major sins, and three days for small sins, these legends really make people afraid, even if they are not afraid, they are somewhat diaphragm, so it is better to "charm the stove" instead of this.
The origin of the well god belief is also very early, but it is much lower than other gods, not only there are few statues and temples, but even the sacrifice is very simple. However, in some parts of the north, there is a jellyfish niangniang temple, and she is not only one of the more honorable well gods, but also a very young female well god, and her legend is very vivid and touching.
Third, the middle slip god
As folk polytheism became more common, this deity became more low-key, his name was little known, but in the Qin and Han dynasties, he was one of the indispensable five gods, and his status was not ordinary, and the "Li ji Suburb Special Animal" listed him side by side with the god of the society as "the lord of the house and the lord of the country", which shows its important position at that time. There are two theories in the center of the house and the window, and it is said that when the family added Ding, he would go to Dongyue to receive a document that recorded the birthday and time of death, as well as the amount of Yang life. And when someone in the family dies, he will stop the soul messenger to check the rune, the rune is not right, and even if the rune is right, he is also frowning and can't bear it, so it is reasonable for the kind and responsible family god to enjoy the sacrifice.
All in all, we often say that "there are gods who raise their heads three feet", and there are these five of them. We are a polytheistic people, and anyone or God who benefits the lives of the people may be universally praised. And the waxing moon as the end of the year, is the harvest of a hard year, this joy and celebration of one comfort to oneself, two to comfort the ancestors, three to comfort the gods, in the Analects of Zeng Zi said, "Cautiously pursue the far away, the people's virtue returns to the thick." It can be seen that this is one of the roots of the good character of our descendants.