In Huaibei, the first day of October in the lunar calendar is the "Ghost Festival", which is also a festival of remembrance of ancestors.
[Tomb Sweeping]
Farming has been completed, the grain to the warehouse, the weather has been gradually cold, people miss their deceased relatives, to add the cold clothes, usually cut and paste the paper into a winter coat, buy some paper money, paper money, paper, and so on, to the ancestral graves before the burned and kowtow prayers, in order to show filial piety. Yixian County, South Anhui Province, around this day, has been married to the girl to go back to her mother's home for the deceased relatives to burn money and paper. There is a folk saying: "Ching Ming burn before, after October 1 burn". October 1 of the lunar calendar to start sweeping graves, until October 15, the next Yuan Festival. Therefore, it is said that "after burning". In some places, this day, but also to the ancestral ancestral incense burning.
[Out of the meeting]
Yixian County in southern Anhui Province, there are "out of the meeting" of the folklore. The "meeting" is dominated by the "local god" (White Impermanence). From September 1, to the south gate of the county Zhou, Hou and other surnames of the "Lohan sweep the streets" began. Then is the South Gate head of the "local god" (White Impermanence King) night patrols, daytime every three, five, eight, ten days "local god" are to enter the city parade. Until the first day of October, the townships "local gods" all concentrated in the city "out of the meeting". In addition to the "local god" on the "meeting" to sing the main role, there are still performances "total armor", "medium difference", "Lohan", which is performed in the form of cultural theater on stilts. Able-bodied young men from the four villages also perform martial arts such as "throwing forks".
The second half of October
October 15 of the lunar calendar, also known as "October Chao", known as the "Festival of the Lower Yuan", is also a festival of ancestor worship. This day focuses on honoring the ancestors of distant houses without owners, burning paper and incense. Some places, but also invited Taoist priests to do an hour of magic, set up incense, lighting candles and incense, ringing the bell to read the scriptures, sprinkle tea leaves. It is called "stopping the door relief".
Three, to celebrate the harvest
October of the lunar calendar has been the end of farming, the masses of rural areas and towns around the western Anhui Province, in order to celebrate the harvest, often according to the natural villages (or joint several villages), the street, to engage in a number of recreational activities, both to pay the gods and self-entertainment.
[Peace Club]
Short for "do peace", once a year or once every two years, the funds raised by the masses of households, more money is called "correct the first", less money is called "letter of credit", the least amount of money is called "the first", the least amount of money is called "the letter of credit", the least amount of money is called "the first", the least amount of money is called "the first", the least amount of money is called "the first". The funds are raised by the masses on a household basis, and those who contribute more money are called "head of correction", those who contribute less money are called "believers", and those who contribute the least money are called "attached incense". "Ping An Hui" is generally three days, there are as many as four or five days. All the activities are performed by Taoist priests or monks, with a wide variety of names, such as "fetching water", "placing swans", "releasing river lamps", "burning river lamps", and "burning incense". "Candle Burning", "Running Square", "Ringing", "Pushing Gourd", and so on. There are 70 to 80 programs and activities. There are superstitious legends about karma and retribution of gods and ghosts, as well as folk singing, dancing, martial arts and other entertaining activities. When the "Peaceful Meeting" was held, people from far away collectively came to watch it, and the meeting place was very lively.
[Singing Society Opera]
Mainly inviting folk opera troupe to sing Beijing opera or local opera, the time is generally three days and three nights, "Singing Society Opera reward God. To build two platforms in the square, one platform is for actors and actresses, and the other platform is set up a variety of statues of gods and goddesses, is to "invite the gods and goddesses to watch the play" of the god platform. Singing social theater has its own unique rules, that is, the first play the stage, followed by jumping God, namely, "Heavenly Officials Provide Blessings", "jumping God of Fortune", "jumping Kuixing", these are mute dances. Then there is a "big blessing", that is, the raw, Dan, net, ugly, the end of all the actors and actresses Qi disguise on the stage, singing in unison high voice blessing. Finally, the official program, before the end of the show, but also two additional "end of the show". This kind of rural recreational activities after the fall harvest, the masses from near and far rushed to see the play, both to celebrate the harvest, but also after the labor of rest and enjoyment.
Four, Winter Solstice Festival
"Winter Solstice" comes to the day, where the larger clans, the day of the winter solstice festival in the ancestral shrine to the ancestors, in front of the ancestral tablets with chicken, meat, fish, fruit, pastries, and other kinds of offerings, by the clan in the elderly elders to officiate at the ceremony and the appointment of the "rituals of life! The elderly elders of the clan will officiate and serve as "rites of passage". After the ceremony, a meal is held in the ancestral hall. Those who attend the meal in the clan are old men who have passed the age of majority, the head of the clan, the head of the house, and scholars, etc., which is called the "Winter Solstice Festival". The general family should also do a few meat dishes at noon to add a meal. Some places, in the early morning of the winter solstice, the masses are to eat pumpkin, pumpkin poop, fried eggs. Elderly people drink sesame oil on the winter solstice in order to prevent cold.