What are the taboos of the traditional Six Ghosts Bridge Festival in Chaoshan in early June?

there are many ancient folk festivals, and all ethnic groups are very strange. If there are Chaoshan people, they should have heard of the Six Ghosts Crossing the Bridge Festival on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. On that day, the traditional folk customs in Chaoshan area included activities such as drying books, exposing objects, ghosts crossing bridges and asking ghosts. In this issue of National Culture, I will show you the taboos of crossing the bridge rice noodles.

Ghost Bridge Festival

The sixth day of June every year is the traditional "Bridge Festival" in Chaoshan. Every family member died, and the sixth day of June, the hundredth day, will pass, so we should worship and cross the bridge.

Crossing the bridge, also known as Naihe Bridge, originated from an absurd story in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the year of The Journey to the West: Emperor Taizong was invited by Yan Luowang to confront him in the underworld because of the accusation of the King of Jinghe, and the Prime Minister sent a letter to Judge Cui Jue, requesting to extend his life span by 2 years. Li Shimin promised to repay Yan Luowang with fruit, while Yan Luowang said that he had eaten melon and pumpkin, but he had never eaten watermelon. Emperor Taizong promised to send someone to deliver watermelons as soon as he got back. After Emperor Taizong came back from the dead, he recruited a man named Liu Quan to give his life to send watermelons to the underworld so that he could see his wife who died in the underworld. Yan Luowang was very happy after receiving the watermelon, and asked his wife to return to the sun in Quanhe Liu. However, Liu's wife died many years ago and her body was gone. The prince also arranged "rebirthing", so that the girl who just died in the neighboring village became the soul of Liu's wife.

Since then, the story that Yin Si and Rebecca like watermelons has been passed down from generation to generation. When Chaoshan people arranged a bridge crossing ceremony for their deceased relatives, watermelon became the protagonist. However, according to folklore, some lazy children don't want to pick watermelons themselves, but want to pick watermelons on the road that night. So Chaoshan people have the habit of not going out these days in early June. Besides, there are many taboos.

it is forbidden to buy watermelons. From the first day of June, the purchase of watermelon belongs to the patent of bereaved families. In addition to watermelons, the "five fruits" when crossing the bridge to worship: peaches, plums, lychees, grapes and wampee are also forbidden to buy.

marrying a daughter is forbidden to go back to your parents' home. From the first day of June to the sixth day of June, going back to her parents' home means that there is a funeral, so it is very unlucky for unmarried women to go back to their parents' home.

it is forbidden to visit relatives and friends at home. Similarly, if there is no worship task at home during this period, there will be no relatives and friends coming to the door.

don't go out at night. A few nights before liberation, the streets were empty. After liberation, superstition was broken and gradually became lively. However, some people insist on not going out at least on the fifth night, especially the children with shallow foundation.

no cooking, no eating. Those who have the mission of worship should make bridge plates and "five banquets and five banquets", that is, long banquets, round banquets, bean-shaped banquets, turrets and group banquets, which are used for pre-spiritual worship. Among them, the bridge deck is very beautiful. Three catties of rice should be used, and six taels of rice should be divided into seven parts, which should be made into the shape of soles and folded into dominoes when worshipping. After the worship, you must eat or feed the pigs before noon in the sixth grade, otherwise it will delay the dead from crossing the bridge.

There used to be a silly woman in Chaoshan village who forgot to make trouble on the fifth day of May. At the beginning of June, she saw a funeral home make a scene, thought it was a holiday again, and left with her without asking why. The neighbor asked her, no one in your family died. What is she doing? The silly woman replied: I can't make it on the fifth day of May, but I will definitely make it on the sixth day of June. Later, this sentence became a folk saying in Chaoshan.