The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is an important folk festival in our country. Buddhists call it Obon Festival, and Taoists call it the Ghost Festival. In fact, this festival is also intrinsically related to several sacrifices held in July by the Zhou Dynasty. The "Yue Ling" chapter of the "Book of Rites" says: "She is a woman (in the seventh month). Farmers are climbing grain crops. The emperor is trying new things and recommends sleeping in the temple first." During the harvest season, the emperor symbolically sacrificed new grains to the ancestral temple to express respect for the ancestors. Since ancestor worship plays a very important part in Chinese people's beliefs, the custom of "recommending newcomers" has survived for thousands of years. Even after it disappeared from national festivals, the custom of recommending newcomers was still maintained among the people. , and is mainly held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.
Other festivals held in July include the Chinese Valentine's Day on July 7th and the Qiuxi Festival on July 14th. The characteristics of both are related to the meeting of the sexes. Awakening, like purification, is a ritual performed at the water's edge to cleanse the body and mind. However, the place where the evil spirits are held often also becomes the place where men and women meet. The theme of Chinese Valentine's Day is obviously the meeting of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. To sum up, we can say that the activities held in July are all based on communication (whether it is communication between generations or between genders), with the purpose of seeking a better new life.
Because the inherent folk beliefs provided the appropriate soil, the teachings of Buddhism and Taoism quickly took root and sprouted. The so-called Hungry Ghost Festival is the fruit they bear.
Buddhism in China follows the old Indian system, and there is a three-month period of quiet retreat in the summer. According to the "Jingchu Suishi Ji" quoted in Volume 29 of "Sui Sui Guang Ji":
"April 15 is the day when the Dharma King is forbidden to stay, and the day when he releases his son to protect his life. Monks and nuns use this day. It is also called Jie Zhi, which is called Jie Zhi. If you go outside to do it, it will hurt the plants, trees and insects, so you will live in peace for ninety days, and it will be Xia Zhi on the 15th day of the seventh month, which is also called Jie Zhi."
During the period of peaceful residence, the communication between monks and nuns and the secular world is reduced to a minimum. Only after the release of the system on July 15th, a new life cycle begins. Therefore, July 15th symbolizes resurrection and new life.
July 15th is also the Bon Festival. The word "Obon Festival" comes from the story of Mulian rescuing his mother in the Buddhist scriptures. It is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Ulambana, and its original meaning is "rescuing the hanging upside down", which means rescuing the ghosts suffering in hell. According to the "Buddha Speaks of the Ullambana Sutra" (translated by Zhu Fahu in the 265th to 290th period of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin Dynasty):
Damu Qianlian has only gained six connections, and he wants to save his parents and repay his mother's milk. of grace. That is to observe the world with Tao eyes. He saw his dead mother reborn as a hungry ghost. No food or drink, skin and bones standing together. Maudgalyana was in sorrow, so he filled the bowl with rice and went to feed his mother. When the mother received a bowl of rice, she covered it with her left hand and scooped the rice with her right hand. Before the food could be eaten, it turned into charcoal and she could not eat. Mulian screamed and howled, and rushed back to the white Buddha. This is the case. The Buddha said that your mother's sins are deeply rooted and cannot be done by your human power. ...I will now tell you how to help you. ...The Buddha told Maudgalyayana that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when monks commit suicide, their parents in the seventh generation, and those whose parents are currently in trouble, should be provided with rice, various flavors and five fruits, a basin for watering, sesame oil, ingots, candles, beds, and bedding. The sweetness of the world is placed in a basin and offered to the virtuous monks of the ten directions.
After Mu Lian implemented the law according to the law, his mother was indeed freed from the suffering of all hungry ghosts. The kind-hearted Mulian told the Buddha that in the future, Buddhist disciples who practice filial piety should also make offerings to the Ullambana basin. The Buddha was overjoyed when he heard this, and spread the word to his disciples that every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Buddha and the monks would be given the Bon Bon Bon for the parents of the seventh generation. From then on, the custom of offering Bon orchids during the Hungry Ghost Festival became widely spread.
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zong Mao (about 498-565) recorded in "Jingchu Sui Sui Ji": "On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, all the monks, nuns, Taoists and laypeople made offerings in basins. Buddhas". The so-called camp "pot" probably comes from the misunderstanding of Buddhists at that time. They misunderstood the "Obon basin" which originally meant "rescuing the upside down" as "a beautifully decorated basin", so they competed to carve exquisite patterns out of wood, bamboo and other materials, and added decorations with flowers and leaves, showing great skill.
Volume 20 of "Yan's Family Instructions" written by Yan Zitui (from 531 to 591) of the Northern Qi Dynasty also said: "In the middle of the seventh month, the Obon Basin will look at you." It can be seen that the custom of holding the Bon Festival on July 15th had been widely spread across the country.
Emperor Wu of Liang (502-549), as the king of a country, held the Bon Orchid Festival in the palace, which to some extent promoted the domestic Buddhist culture and made the Bon Orchid Festival a fixed festival.
The Zhongyuan of Taoism began with the theory of the Three Officials of the Five Dou Rice Religion. According to "Dianlue" cited in the "Zhang Lu Biography" of "Three Kingdoms":
In Guanghezhong,... there was Zhang Xiu in Hanzhong, who... cultivated the Five Dou Rice Road. ...For the devils, the Lord prays for the sick. The method of asking for prayers, writing the patient's name, and persuading the meaning of sin. Make three links, one of which goes up to the mountain and touches the mountain. One is the place where it is buried, the other is the water where it is buried, which is called the handwriting of the three officials.
The belief in the three officials developed into the theory of three yuan, which was established around the end of the Six Dynasties. The "Xuandu Daxian Jing" in the ancient Taoist scriptures of the Six Dynasties says:
July 15th is the Zhongyuan Festival. ... This is when the officials of the day and the earth review it, search and explain it to everyone, and distinguish between good and evil. All the saints from the heavens gathered in the imperial palace to record the number of tribulations, humans and ghosts, and the prisoners of hungry ghosts gathered together at one time to hold a fast in Xuandu to attack the Jade Capital. He also collected flowers and fruits, all the strange things in the world, played with clothes, flags, flags and canopies, solemn offerings, pure food and drink, and all kinds of fragrant flavors, and presented them to the saints and Taoist priests. Instead of preaching and reciting this sutra sun and moon, the great sages of the ten directions recorded the spiritual chapter, and the hungry ghosts who were imprisoned were liberated at that time, and they were all full and free from all sufferings. Among the chosen people, if this is not the case, it will be difficult to escape.
Because the Hungry Ghost Festival is the day when local officials pardon sins, Taoist priests chant sutras and perform rituals on this day to use three sacrifices and five fruits to save lonely souls and ghosts in the ten directions.
Because the ultimate purpose of the Bon Festival and the Ghost Festival is to save all living beings, over time, the boundaries between the two gradually blurred, forming the current festival with the purpose of filial piety and fraternity. .
The legend of the Hungry Ghost Festival
The story of Mulian rescuing his mother in the Buddhist scriptures has a different appearance in the secular sermons of Tang Dynasty temples. Since Bianwen was created to preach Buddhism to the masses, the stories in the Buddhist scriptures have been exaggerated to a certain extent in Bianwen.
In Mulian Bian's text, Mulian's lay name is Luo Bu, and his widowed mother, Mrs. Qingti, is stingy by nature and likes to kill. But Luo Bu is very kind, does good deeds and gives alms, and respects the Three Treasures. One day, when he was going out to do business, he told his mother to divide the family's money into three parts, one part to take away for himself, one part to support his mother, and one part to stay at home to give to the poor. Unexpectedly, after Luo Bu left home, Mrs. Qingti slaughtered chickens and geese every day. Whenever a monk came to his door, he ordered his servants to beat him out with sticks, and even sent dogs to chase and bite the beggar.
Due to her evil deeds, she was punished to fall into Avici Hell after her death and suffered day and night. After his mother passed away, Luo Bu was very sad. He thought that the only way to repay his mother's kindness was to become a monk, so he worshiped the Tathagata as his teacher, and his name was Mahamulana. A few years later, he attained the highest level of supernatural power and surpassed the Arhat. Mulian wanted to know where his parents would be reborn after they died, but found that his mother had fallen into the Abi Hell. In order to save his mother, he personally went to hell and saw only the scene of hell:
The people who suffered in it were born and died thousands of times every day. Or the sword tree in the mountains, or the iron plow plowing the tongue, or the copper juice pouring into the mouth, or the hot iron fire pills swallowed. Or hugging a copper pillar, the body will rot and rot. The cow's head lingers late every day, and the jailer finally comes to torture him. The pain is unbearable when boiled in wok soup.
After Mu Lian asked Tathagata Buddha for help, he was able to save his mother from hell, and was reincarnated as a dog in the royal city. After Mu Lian laid the forty-nine-day dojo, his mother was able to ascend to heaven.
Another legend of the Hungry Ghost Festival is related to paper money. It is said that after Cai Lun invented papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), his business prospered and he made a lot of money. His brother Cai Mo and sister-in-law Huiniang were very envious when they saw it. Huiniang asked Cai Moye to learn papermaking from Cai Lun. But Cai Mo's perseverance was not enough, and he hurriedly opened a papermaking shop by himself before he got home. As a result, the paper produced was of low quality and no one cared about it, so the couple was worried about a room full of paper.
Finally, Hui Niang came up with a clever plan, so she put it in Cai Mo’s ears and taught her this way.
That night, the neighbors suddenly heard the sound of crying coming from Cai Mo's house. Everyone rushed over and asked, only to find out that Huiniang died suddenly last night. The next morning, Cai Mo cried until he died in front of Huiniang's coffin in front of his neighbors. While crying, he burned paper.
While it was burning, I suddenly heard a noise in the coffin. After a while, I heard Huiniang's voice calling from inside: "Open the door, open the door quickly, I'm back." Everyone was stunned, and finally plucked up the courage to open the coffin lid. Hui Niang jumped out and told her neighbors that after her death she went to the underworld, where the King of Hell made her suffer. Because Cai Moshao gave her a lot of paper money, the little devils rushed to do it for her. She gave the money to the King of Hell again, and the King of Hell let her back. Cai Mo asked deliberately: "I didn't give you money?" Hui Niang pointed to the burning fire and said: "That's money! The underworld uses paper for paper." When Cai Mo heard this, he immediately went to grab two large bundles of paper to burn, saying that he would make his parents in the underworld suffer less. When the neighbors saw this, they realized that paper money was of such great use, so they all paid for the paper made by Cai Mo. After the news spread, within a few days, all the paper in Cai Mo's house was sold out.
Since the day when Huiniang returns to Yang is the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, people burn incense and paper to their ancestors on this day. This custom has been passed down to this day.
Customs of the Ghost Festival
According to the "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty" records: "The Zhongshang Office entered the Bon Bon on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month." It can be seen that the Ghost Festival had already entered the Bon Bon at that time. It became a rule in the palace. In the Song Dynasty, there were products sold in conjunction with the Bon Bon. According to Volume 8 of "Tokyo Menghua Lu" (prefaced in 1147): "In the first few days of the Zhongyuan Dynasty, the market sold ghost artifacts, boots, gold rhinoceros belts, and colorful clothes. ... and printed and sold " "The Supreme Eyes of the Lotus Sutra". He also cut the bamboo pole into three legs, about three to five feet high, and woven it into the shape of a lamp nest, which is called an Obon basin. Clothes and money are hung on it, and then burned after worship. This kind of utensil is simply used to worship ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival.
People in the Song Dynasty worshiped their ancestors with vegetarian food, such as new rice and new sauce, roasted rice, melons and fruits, etc. The table where the sacrifices are placed should be covered with neem leaves, and the legs of the table should be tied with magnolia seeds. This is because the Hungry Ghost Festival is the harvest season. "Sacrificing Magu" means telling ancestors about the harvest, which is also called "recommending new things". When offering sacrifices to ancestors, cockscomb flowers are called "hand-washing flowers". If there is a new deceased person in the family, they also go to the cemetery to pay respects during the Hungry Ghost Festival.
On the Hungry Ghost Festival, the palaces of the Southern Song Dynasty went to the imperial mausoleum to pay homage, and sent their servants to light thousands of lanterns on the river. On this day, various Taoist temples set up Pudu Jiao, and monks and monasteries built the Bon Festival. In the palace, a dojo for the lonely souls of soldiers who died in battle was set up. When a temple celebrates a festival, it usually invites a troupe to perform in honor of the gods. During the Ghost Festival, most of the plays invited by temples are Mulian plays. According to Volume 8 of "Tokyo Menghua Lu", shortly after the Chinese Valentine's Day, the musicians in Goulan began to perform the drama "Mu Lian Saves His Mother". This is the earliest dramatic performance recorded in writing in Chinese history.
Local officials of the Ming Dynasty worshiped the local altar on the Hungry Ghost Festival, symbolizing the government's "universal benefits, bright and benevolent governance." There is a folk legend in the Ming Dynasty that the deceased ancestors returned home on the night of July 12th, left on the night of July 17th, and went together to receive Obon fasting on the 15th day. Therefore, people usually worship their ancestors with vegetarian food from the 14th to the 16th. When visiting the grave on the 15th, there is also the custom of making a play with the weaving. Volume 2 of Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" (1635):
"On the 15th, all the temples held a Bon Orchid Festival, lighting lanterns in the water at night, and lighting the river in the day. Deng. The most beautiful thing is to soak in the Zihe River. When you go to the tomb, you may go to the tomb to make a small bag and weave it. The bag is full and the bamboo pole is returned."
In the Qing Dynasty, in the West Lake area, there was a custom of launching Dharma boats on the Hungry Ghost Festival. Dharma boats are made of brocade paper and are sometimes seventy or eighty feet long. Paper was also used on the boat to make figures of ghost kings, judges, soldiers, and monks chanting sutras. After the sutra chanting and salvation ceremony, they were put into the water and burned. The purpose of burning the paper boat was to "pass through the world with lovingkindness". In addition, the statue of the capital city god must be respectfully invited to go on patrol to offer sacrifices to the ghosts. According to Pan Rongbi's "Record of Successes in the Imperial Capital" (1758), the lantern display in the Zhongyuan Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty was more grand than that of the previous dynasty:
"From the 13th to the 15th They put lanterns on the river and asked the little ones to hold lotus leaves and burn candles in them. They lined up thousands of them on both sides of the river. They also used colored glaze to make thousands of lotus lanterns and went up and down with the waves... The children in the capital also held long-handled lotuses at night. When a candle is burned inside the leaves, the green light glows like a fire. Hundreds of incense embers are tied up in green poles and burned into star lamps. The melon skins and lotus pods are dug out, and they can all be used as lamps, each with its own quality."
In Zhongyuan, various lamps are set off, all with the theme of "illuminating the suffering of the underworld."
In particular, the water lanterns placed in the temple float downstream one by one on the dark water, like thousands of stars, symbolizing the boundless Dharma and the thousands of lotus lanterns, which also symbolize the transcendence of lonely souls.
Hungry Ghost Festival customs across the country
[Hebei Province]
Nanpi County carries fruits, preserved meat, wine, money, etc. on July 15th Visit your ancestors’ gravesites to pay homage. And holding the grain to the field stalks is called "recommending new things". During the Ghost Festival in Guangping County, people worship their ancestors with fresh food, and prepare fruits, vegetables, and steamed sheep to give to their grandchildren, which is called "giving sheep." On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month in Qinghe County, people visit the graves to offer sacrifices and present steamed noodle sheep to their daughters.
[Shanxi Province]
Yonghe County scholars worship Kuixing on this day. Shepherds in Changzi County slaughter sheep to compete with the gods on the Hungry Ghost Festival. According to folklore, this can increase sheep production. Meats were also given to relatives. Those who were poor and had no sheep would be replaced by steamed noodles in the shape of sheep. Farmers in Yangcheng County use wheat scraps to make cats, tigers and grain shapes and offer sacrifices in the fields, which is called "Xingtian". During the Ghost Festival in Mayi County, people make wheat noodles into the shapes of children, named "moodle people", and give them to each other's relatives' children. Farmers in Xin County hang five-color paper on field stalks during the Ghost Festival.
[Guangxi Province]
The people of Yangshan regard July 14th as the Mulian Festival. They kill many ducks to worship their ancestors. There are no pedestrians on the road that day, which is called "hide ghosts".
[Henan Province]
When Zhongyuan County officials in Shangqiu County were worshiping local officials, paper flags were hung at the door. Legend has it that they can prevent insects. Kite flying during the Ghost Festival in Mengjin County. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month in Qixian County, a circle of ash is drawn in front of the door and paper balls are burned inside the circle to worship ancestors.
[Shandong Province]
Changdao fishermen made small boats out of wooden planks, pasted a note "For ××" or a memorial tablet for those who drowned, and then loaded them with food. , clothes, hats, shoes and socks and other utensils, then light candles, and the married man puts the boat into the sea. Families in Zhanhua County collect hemp and fresh grass leaves to build a shed, called a "hemp house", and place ancestor tablets in it for worship. Duling County calls the Hungry Ghost Festival the Festival of Pinch-mouth, and every family eats simple meals.
[Shaanxi Province]
On July 15th, Lintong County burns paper to offer sacrifices to Magu. The farmers’ party during the Ghost Festival in Chenggu County is called “hanging hoe”. Farmers go to the fields on the morning of the Ghost Festival, select the highest and densest rice ears, and hang five-color paper flags called "field banners."
[Jiangsu Province]
Wu County residents fold tin foil into ingots during the Ghost Festival and burn them along the road, which is called "making a ghost bond". There is a kind of paper ghost popular in various places in Yizheng County, with a bowl and lantern inside. There are gamblers, drunkards, old officials and so on. Four boats are put into the river during the Hungry Ghost Festival in Yixing County, one with flame mouths, one with Buddha chanting, one with burning tinfoil ingots, and one with river lanterns. Villagers in Dong County eat pan food on this day, which is a dustpan-shaped food made of flour and sugar. When Shanghai releases river lanterns, red and green paper lanterns are dotted at the stern of the boat, which is called "Du Gu".
〔Sichuan Province〕
It is customary in Sichuan Province to burn paper bags to worship ancestors during the Chinese Yuan Dynasty. That is, a stack of paper money is sealed into a small envelope, with the name and title of the recipient written on it, the number of envelopes received, and the name and time of the person who converted the silk into silk. It is said that on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the gate of hell will be closed, and every family will "give away their children". People in Chengdu area use paper to tie "flower trays", put paper money and fruits on them, hold them in their hands, and walk around the house while chanting: "close relatives and friends, neighbors, original residents, dead souls who are still reluctant to go back, all the lonely souls in the wild Ghosts, please put them on the flower plate and send them back home!" After that, they were burned outside the house.
[Zhejiang Province]
Jiashan County takes the rain on the Ghost Festival as a sign of a good rice harvest. People in Tonglu County blow gongs and scatter rice in the fields on the night of the Ghost Festival, which is called "giving food." At the Bon Festival in eastern Zhejiang, 24 old ladies were invited to "walk the Eight Knots" while chanting sutras. During the Hungry Ghost Festival on the rooftop, we eat dumplings, which are similar to spring rolls. There is also the custom of placing street lights, with six strong men in groups: one person beats the gong, one person beats the clapper, one person carries the lantern, one person spreads salt and rice along the way, one person places incense candles (inserted on a piece of sweet potato or taro) along the way, and one person along the way. Arrange a piece of tofu and a rice ball (placed on a large leaf), and place offerings about every hundred or so steps.
[Jiangxi Province]
People in Ji'an burn paper during the Ghost Festival, but pregnant women are prohibited from folding paper. It is said that paper ingots folded by pregnant women cannot be picked up by ghosts after being burned, and there is no benefit in sending them to the underworld.
When setting off the flames, the mage threw buns and fruits to the audience. Legend has it that if a woman grabs a bun, she will have a son the next year. If a child grabs the bun, he will not be frightened in his life. Anyuan County worships ancestors by burning incense and making tea on July 12th, offering offerings in the morning and evening. On the 15th night, Chu clothes and crowns were burned and paper money was given as a sacrifice.
[Fujian Province]
On the Ghost Festival in Yongfu County, married women must go home to worship their ancestors. The Fuzhou dialect calls Zhongyuan the "Paper Burning Festival". A married daughter prepares her parents' clothes, robes, and wats, puts them in a box, wraps it in a gauze basket, and calls it a "gauze box" to send to her parents' home. During the Zhongyuan period in central Fujian, there was a custom of universal celebration, which must be held in both urban and rural areas, and the funds were collected door-to-door. Even extremely poor families will try their best to raise money to cope. There is a proverb that goes: "If you don't pay for the education, the plague is at hand. If you don't do the effort for the education, the poor man will come to take care of you." During the Pudu, there will also be performances by the disciples' band.
[Guangdong Province]
On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Yi people of Qujiang County worship their ancestors and the dog-headed king, and entertain the gods with little boys and girls wearing colorful clothes, singing and dancing. The people of Guishan County regard July 14th as the Hungry Ghost Festival. It is said that because the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty went south, in order to avoid the disaster, they celebrated the festival one day early. Chenghai County celebrates ancestors and the kitchen god during the Ghost Festival. In the Zhongyuan Dynasty of Deqing Prefecture, winter leaves were wrapped in flour and made into cakes called "Qiao Qiao" to worship ancestors. In ancient times, when feeding orphans in Chaoyang County, wealthy families would buy rakes, waterwheels, and even girls from poor families, write them on pieces of paper, and scatter the pieces of paper when feeding. Those who cannot afford to buy farm tools or marry a wife can receive it by voucher.
[Yunnan Province]
The Tengyue people burned the bag after worshiping their ancestors. They also carved a cucumber into the shape of a boat, called a "cucumber boat", and burned it together with the bag.
Taiwan’s Hungry Ghost Festival
Taiwan’s Hungry Ghost Festival also has the custom of worshiping ancestors. According to the Zhongyuan custom in the early Qing Dynasty, according to the seventh volume of Gao Gongqian's "Taiwan Prefecture" (1696), when worshiping ancestors, it is necessary to "burn them in the shape of five-color embroidery, and the clouds are made under the spring." clothes". At the same time, the Bon Bon Festival is held, and a monk is invited to preside over it. After dusk, he goes to the altar to preach and throws food and soup under the altar, which is called "general alms".
During the Daoguang period, the scale of Zhongyuan sacrifices became even grander than before. Volume 11 of Chen Peigui's "Tsui Hall Chronicles" (1846) records the following grand occasion:
On the 15th, Chen Jin reported banners in Chengzhuang to welcome gods, offer incense, or move figures. When men and women pray, they follow them with paper canoes. Every month, every family is in the Ullambana basin. Not only is Zhongyuan one day old. According to popular legend, the first day of the seventh month is the opening of the hell, and the thirtieth day is the closing of the hell. Yan monks go to the altar to offer food to sacrifice the souls without sacrifices. Temples also hold memorial ceremonies for two to three days. But on the first day, water lanterns were put out, each was given a small lamp, and the surnames were organized into teams. The strings and songs were noisy, the candlelight was like day, the furnishings were shining together, and the performance was almost a waste of time. For example, there is a house where animals, food and utensils are piled up like a mountain, and bamboos are planted high. ...
In addition to putting water lanterns and Pudu, the custom of "grabbing orphans" is also popular in some places. The so-called "grabbing orphans" is to set up a platform more than ten feet high in the square of Pudu, and put it full of A variety of offerings were made. After the ceremony was completed, the organizer gave the order, and all the people rushed forward to snatch the sacrifices. Volume 9 of "Penghu Tingzhi" (1893) describes this custom: "Those who are powerful will always gain more. They even fight with each other, fall off the platform, and there are casualties. It is really a bad wind." Since ghosts gather during the Purdue period in July, in order to prevent them from lingering around, some people invented the method of robbing orphans. It is said that when ghosts see a group of people more ferocious than themselves robbing sacrifices, they will be frightened and leave. However, the scene of robbing orphans was too intense and frequently caused casualties. Therefore, when Liu Mingchuan was the governor (1884), he issued an order to ban it, but the effect was ineffective. It was still heard occasionally until the Japanese colonial era, and then gradually disappeared.
In the 80th year of the Republic of China (1991), Yilan Toucheng once again held an orphan robbing activity after it had been suspended for 40 years. The organizer still follows the old system of erecting two sheds. The larger one is called the "solitary shed". It is 39 feet above the ground, 32 feet long and 24 feet wide. It is about as high as a four-story building. Thirteen food bowls are placed on it. And pure gold medal. The smaller one is called a "food shed". In the past, it was used exclusively for beggars to grab food, so its height is not even half that of the solitary shed. The participating teams were divided into groups of five, with each team occupying a pole. When the organizer gave the order, the contestants climbed up the shed regardless of their own safety.
Since this is a competition with game rules and no scenes of chaos and snatching, it is a folk sport worth promoting.
Taiwanese people attach great importance to Pudu, to the extent that "the money they spend is huge and it is indestructible" (Lian Heng, "General History of Taiwan" (1918), Volume 23). Even during the Japanese occupation, under the pressure of the official suppression of folk activities, Pudu still insisted on being held every year. The third volume of Seiichiro Suzuki's "Taiwan's Old Customary Customs for Weddings and Burial Ceremonies in the Mid-Year Year" (1934) records in detail the customs of Taiwan's Zhongyuan Pudu during the Japanese occupation.
In Taiwan, lonely ghosts are commonly known as "good brothers". Pursuing lonely souls during the Hungry Ghost Festival is called "worshiping good brothers". There are two types of Purdue: public and private.
The so-called private census is a census based on residential units such as streets and villages. From the first to the thirtieth day of July, everyone will discuss together what day is village A and what day is village B. Held on a rotating basis on specified days. In previous years, Lukang also had a popular "Pu Du ballad", which is enough to prove the grand occasion of this kind of Pudu:
Water lanterns are released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Puwang Palace on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Mi Street on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Wenwu Temple on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and the City God on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Palace, Tucheng on the sixth day of the lunar month, Niangsheng on the seventh and seventh day of the lunar month, beside the new palace on the eighth day of the lunar month, at the entrance of Xinghua Mazu Palace on the 9th day of the lunar month, at the bottom of the port on the 10th day of the lunar month, on the 11th day of the week, in the vegetable garden, on the 12th day of the lunar month , the 15th Old Palace, the 16th East Stone, the 17th Guo House, the 18th Camp Land, the 19th Street, the 20th Street, the Ganhou Road, the 22nd Chuanzi Head, the 23rd Street End, the 24th Queen of the Palace, 25 Xucuopu, 26 Niu Xutou, 27 Anping Town, 28 Hao Tsai Liao, 29 Tong Kong Pu, 30 Turtle Cake Shop, 1st grade rice noodle house, 2nd grade begging for food and boredom.
On the afternoon of the day when Purdue is held, every household places sumptuous meals at the door, commonly known as "paying homage to the door." Put a stick of incense on every dish. People who are more careful will also prepare cigarettes, betel nut, rouge, white powder, etc. After the worship is completed, paper money is burned and then scattered as offerings. It is said that if the offerings are too little or the food is too bad, your good brothers will take revenge, your family will get sick, or your poultry and livestock will die suddenly, etc. Therefore, every household should do their best to prepare a rich meal. meals.
Buddhists abstain from killing animals, so the Ullambana festival mostly uses vegetarian food, unlike folk worship that uses big fish and meat. Even so, the starting point of both is to save all sentient beings and spread nectar widely.
The so-called "Gongpu", also known as "Tiaopu", is usually held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. The common saying is "worship on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month". It is centered on the temples in each village, and the chief priest is the local A rich man or a person in charge of a temple. On the eve of the public evangelization ceremony, in order to notify the lonely souls to come to receive the eunuch, one has to set up a lantern pole in front of the temple to attract the souls. The so-called lantern pole is a wooden or bamboo pole several feet high, with a lantern hung from the top and lit after dark. Folks believe that the taller the pole tree is, the more ghosts it attracts. In order to prevent too many hungry ghosts to cope with, usually only lanterns about two or three feet high are erected. Only during the Great Purdue Festival, lanterns over five feet high are erected. In addition, during the Pudu period, people in central and southern China will hang "Pudu public lanterns" at the door of their homes, with the purpose of lighting the way for lonely ghosts.
As for the drowned ghost, the "water lantern" is used to notify. Water lamps are divided into two types: water lamp heads and water lamp rows. One of the heads of the water lamp is a round lantern with the inscription "A certain temple celebrates the Zhongyuan Dynasty". There is also a water lamp made in the shape of a house, commonly known as "paper house". The row of water lanterns is made of wood and is tied into a raft shape four to five feet long and more than ten feet wide. It is divided into thousands or hundreds of grids, and a lamp is hung in each grid. The parade of water lanterns is also led by a band, and men and women dressed as fish, shrimps, aquariums and the like participate in the parade. It tours the streets for a week and then reaches the river bank. A table is placed on the river bank with three animal sacrifices on it. After the monks are asked to chant sutras and offer sacrifices, they then put the house-shaped krathong into the water. The water lanterns are offered by people with major surnames, and their surnames are written on them. According to legend, the faster and farther the water lanterns flow, the better the luck of the family with that surname that year.
For public expenses, the "furnace owner" who is responsible for the festival will send people to collect donations from each household, commonly known as "donating gold". The person who donates money will hang a lantern at the door. Write a letter "Celebrating the Zhongyuan Dynasty".
On the day of the temple ceremony, an altar, called the "Pudu Altar", is set up in the temple courtyard, with the four characters "Obon Society" written on it or the statues of the three emperors hanging. There are three bucket lamps on the altar.
In order to defend their homeland, the Hakkas in the Hsinchu area organized their own guards to fight against them, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The local gentry buried their remains together in the current Yimin Temple, and held a funeral ceremony on July 20 every year. Emperor Qianlong awarded them a plaque with the title "Praise for Loyalty Pavilion" as a reward.
One of the features of Yimin Temple Pudu is the sacred pig and sacred sheep competitions held every year since the Qing Dynasty. The weight of the top five sacred pigs must exceed one thousand kilos. The selection of the sacred sheep is based on the length of the horns. In 1976, a sheep with horns of two feet and eight inches appeared in Fangliao Village. In order to make the sacred pigs and sacred sheep more eye-catching, the owners will also build beautiful display sheds for them, and put on glasses and hats for the sacred pigs and sacred sheep, and dress them up like gentlemen, which is very cute.
Pudu’s ceremony kicked off with the lantern ceremony on the 18th day of the seventh lunar month. On the 19th, the Yimin Lord was welcomed around the territory, and in the evening there were activities such as water lanterns, formations, big flags, and gong and drum performances. On July 20th, there will be a public sacrifice at ten o'clock in the morning, an offering at noon, and a general charity in the afternoon. At seventeen o'clock there is a banquet to purify the orphans, and at twenty-three o'clock the orphans are collected. The temple also performed a three-day peace drama and provided mochi and sugar porridge for the believers to eat. Giving sugar and porridge is one of the traditional customs of Yimin Temple. In the early days, the Yimin Temple occasionally had to help some poor people, so it cooked sugar porridge to satisfy the hunger of the poor. After a hiatus for many years, in 1988, when celebrating the 200th anniversary of the temple's construction, sugar porridge was cooked again for believers to eat.