Once a year, the Spring Festival has not yet ended, here is a summary of the ancestral customs of the Chinese people, not all of them are not supplemented and corrected.
1. Ann "incense"
Before the establishment of New China, basically every household has a shrine in the middle of the back wall of their own hall, the middle of the shrine is written: "Heaven and Earth Monarch Teacher" six big characters, the left and right sides are respectively written on the ancestral tablet and some god tablets, there are couplets on the left and right sides of the shrine, and there are banners on it; At the bottom of the shrine is an incense case. This is a place where families worship their ancestors, and people call it "incense". After the shrine is completed, the ritual activities of the ancestors and gods are called "incense".
Second, the New Year's Festival
The Chinese New Year begins at the beginning of the lunar month of the old calendar and does not end until the fifteenth day of the first month of the following year. There are many activities in the middle, such as beating the dust, celebrating the New Year, the reunion year, the Spring Festival, the Shangjiu Festival and the Lantern Festival.
1. Dust: From the beginning of the lunar month to the 23rd, each household should thoroughly clean the house they live in from the top to the ground to welcome the New Year. On the eighth day of the lunar month, this day is also called Laba Festival, and there is a tradition of eating "Laba porridge".
2. Celebrate the New Year: At noon on the 23rd day of the lunar month, the ancestors are worshiped with offerings, and after the ancestors are worshipped, the whole family shares the ancestral food. This is called a small year.
3. Send the stove: On the evening of the 23rd day of the lunar month, put the fruit on the stove, light incense and candles, toast and burn paper, and send the Bodhisattva of the stove king to heaven to play good and evil. Legend has it that the Stove King Bodhisattva watched every day and night the words and deeds of all the men, women, and children in the family, and recorded them. On the evening of the 23rd day of the lunar month, the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Court will be recorded.
4. Regimental year. On the last day of the lunar calendar every year, that is, at noon on the 30th day of the lunar month (the 29th day of the lunar month), the whole family gathers together for a feast and eats after the ancestors. The meal was much more hearty than usual. No matter how poor the family is, it must be as rich as possible. "It is better to be poor for a year than to be poor for a day". Because this meal is a reunion dinner.
5. Welcome the stove: On the evening of the thirtieth day of the lunar month, put the fruit on the stove, light incense and candles, and welcome the Bodhisattva of the stove from heaven. Legend has it that after the Stove King Bodhisattva returned, he would reward and punish the good and evil parties according to the Jade Emperor's edicts. Although it is a superstitious activity, it still has a certain effect on spurring people to abstain from evil and turn to good.
The evening of the 30th of the lunar month is also called Chinese New Year's Eve, and the family has to keep vigil to welcome the New Year.
6. Spring Festival: The first day of the lunar calendar every year (that is, the first day of the new year) is called the Spring Festival, and on this morning, the whole family will light incense, burn candles, burn paper money, set off firecrackers, worship the ancestors, and welcome the New Year.
7. Shangjiuhui: The ninth day of the first month is called Shangjiuhui, and the climbing activity will be carried out on this day (legend has it that this day is the birthday of the Jade Emperor).
8. Lantern Festival: The fifteenth day of the first month of the old calendar is called the Shangyuan Festival (some are also called the New Year), and this night is called the Lantern Festival. Since the Tang Dynasty, the people of the mainland have the custom of hanging lanterns in front of the gate, holding lantern festivals and watching lanterns, so it is also called the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival, starting from the thirteenth day of the first month, three consecutive days of playing dragon lanterns, watching car lights and other celebration activities, activities are held by young adults, the elderly and children as spectators, during which they are all free from restraint, the elders are the most tolerant of the younger generations, do not beat and scold, in order to seek a year of auspiciousness. From the sixteenth day of the first month, everyone will be busy with their own business.
3. Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival is one of the 24 solar terms in the mainland lunar calendar, but it has evolved into a traditional folk festival. Half a month after the vernal equinox every year, when the sun reaches 15 degrees east longitude over the equator, this day begins as the Qingming Festival. The old custom is to ban fire and fast on the day before the Qingming Festival, which is to commemorate the virtuous minister Jie Zitui of King Wen of the Jin Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period. Jie Zitui and King Wen went into exile, extremely loyal, and secretly cut meat and cooked soup on his body to satisfy King Wen's hunger, and King Wen tasted all his vassals after becoming the king. Only the meson push was dropped. In order to despise the kind of people who strive for merit and profit, he lived in seclusion in Jinshan with his mother, and after Jin Wengong knew about it, he sent someone to ask Jie, and Jiejie resolutely did not come out, Jin Wengong burned the mountain to force him out, and Jiening would rather die than go down the mountain to be sealed. He and his mother were burned to death the day before the Qingming Festival. In order to commemorate him, Duke Wen of Jin ordered the people of the country to ban fireworks on the day before the Qingming Festival. Eat cold rice and drink cold water. And sent people to bring food to the field sacrifice in front of the tomb of Jie Zitui and sweep the tomb. Therefore, the Qingming Festival is also known as the Cold Food Festival. The tomb sweeping activities of the Qingming Festival have also been inherited, and the activities of the clansmen to reunite and worship their ancestors are also carried out on this day.
Fourth, the Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in the mainland. In ancient times, Duan was the initial meaning, and the ancients often wrote five as noon, so the fifth day of the first month can also be written as "Dragon Boat Festival". The ancients regarded noon as the sun, so the Dragon Boat Festival can also be written as "Duanyang Festival".
The main customs of the Dragon Boat Festival are dragon boat racing and eating zongzi. Legend has it that this is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great poet during the Warring States period. Qu Yuan was born in the nobility of Chu State, first assisted King Huai of Chu, had been a left apprentice, knowledgeable, advocated the law of the law, promoted the virtuous and capable, united the Qi State in the east, and resisted the strong Qin in the west. In the struggle against the reactionary aristocrat Zilan and others, he was exiled for slander, and on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, he threw a bouldering stone into the Miluo River and died. After this incident, the local people immediately searched and rescued along the river, but did not find Qu Yuan's body. After Qu Yuan's martyrdom, the people of Chu mourned him, so they put bamboo tubes to store rice into the river to hang him on the Dragon Boat Festival every year. Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, people have gradually formed the custom of eating zongzi.
Fifth, the mid-year festival
The fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the "Zhongyuan Festival", also known as the "Moon Half Festival". This is the most solemn day to worship ancestors, also known as "Ghost Day". Legend has it that on this day, the ancestors were in the underworld under the nine springs, just like the people in the yang world celebrated the Spring Festival, and they could return to the homes of their descendants in the yang world. In order to express their reverence and remembrance for their deceased ancestors and family members, the surviving descendants began to pay homage on July 11. It is necessary to sacrifice for three days in a row, worship the gods with meals, sacrifice with meals, and respect the ancestors at the table, and the sacrifice will be completed after a while.
On the night of the Midyear Festival, I have to go to the wild to "give orphans", which is to burn paper money for the lonely souls and wild ghosts who have no children and no daughters, and pour a bowl of cold rice. Although it is superstitious, it is still interesting in terms of embodying the virtues of the Chinese nation since ancient times.
6. Mid-Autumn Festival
The 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in the mainland. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is the brightest and roundest. People regard the full moon as a symbol of reunion. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the "Reunion Festival". It is said that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor (the Son of Heaven) wanted to sacrifice the moon on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was the Mid-Autumn Festival that was inherited later. In the Tang and Song dynasties, there are many poems that contain records of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In particular, Su Shi, the great poet of the Song Dynasty, left a poem "When is the bright moon, ask the wine to the sky... I hope that people will last a long time, and they will be together for thousands of miles. "Recite the Mid-Autumn Festival words through the ages. On this night, after worshipping the moon, the whole family eats moon cakes and tastes the moon.
Why do you want to take such tireless steps to worship the gods and worship your ancestors? Originally, "people die like a lamp going out, especially like soup turning into snow, if you want to turn your soul, you can catch the bright moon in the water." "In that case, why bother? But when you think about it, it is still necessary to worship ancestors, and you can't lose or forget. The first is to "burn money and turn paper into Mianyang people". Ancestor worship is to urge future generations not to forget the merits of their ancestors, to learn and inherit the virtues of their ancestors, and to contribute to the development of the family, the family, the whole nation and the progress of society. It is our duty to inherit and develop the national culture by "passing on the teachings of the past and teaching the future generations"; third, we should encourage future generations not to forget their own origins, strengthen family ties, and be conducive to unity and social harmony. Therefore, we should look at it with a discarding attitude.