When is the Winter Clothes Festival in 2016? What are the customs and habits during the Winter Clothes Festival?
The 2016 Winter Clothes Festival is: October 31, 2016. Lunar Calendar: Monday, the first day of October, 2016.
The Cold Clothes Festival is also known as the Autumn Festival, Ghost Head Day, October Dynasty, Ancestor Worship Festival, Burning Clothes Festival, Clothes Giving Festival, etc. The Cold Clothes Festival falls on the first day of the tenth lunar month every year and is a traditional sacrificial festival in my country. , it is said that it originated in the Zhou Dynasty. On this day, special emphasis is placed on paying homage to the deceased, which is called sending cold clothes.
The Winter Clothes Festival, the Qingming Festival and Shangsi Festival in spring, and the Hungry Ghost Festival in autumn are also known as the four major "Ghost Festivals" of the year. At the same time, this day also marks the arrival of severe winter, so it is also a day to give warm clothes to parents, loved ones and other people you care about.
Customs and habits:
The first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar is called the "October Dynasty". Since ancient times, our country has had the custom of paying homage to ancestors during harvest time to show filial piety and not forgetting our roots. Ancient people also used millet to worship their ancestors on the first day of the tenth lunar month. On the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, ancestors are worshiped. There are family sacrifices and tomb sacrifices. This is true in the north and the south. Today, in many areas south of the Yangtze River, there is still the custom of worshiping new graves on the first day of the tenth month.
The first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar is also the first day of winter. Since then, the weather has gradually become colder. People are afraid that the souls of their ancestors in the underworld will be short of clothes and clothing. Therefore, in addition to food, incense candles, paper money and other general offerings during sacrifices In addition, there is an indispensable offering - Mingyi. During the sacrifice, people burned Mingyi to their ancestors, which is called "sending cold clothes".
Later, in some places, the custom of "burning cold clothes" has undergone some changes. Instead of burning cold clothes, people "burned baggage." People sealed many ghost papers in a paper bag and wrote: The names and corresponding titles of the recipient and sender are called "baggage". It has the name of cold clothes, but not the reality of cold clothes. People think that the underworld is the same as the earth, and you can buy many things with money.
Sacrifice activities:
1. Burning cold clothes
Preparing offerings: usually in the morning. After the offerings are arranged, the family sends the children to the street to buy some five-color paper, ghost coins, and incense foil for later use. Five-color paper comes in five colors: red, yellow, blue, white and black. It is thin and sometimes has cotton sandwiched in between. After dinner at noon, the housewife cleaned up the pots and tables and gathered the whole family so that they could go to the grave to burn their cold clothes.
Perform worship services: When arriving at the tomb, burn incense and light wax, place dumplings and other offerings neatly, and the whole family takes turns carrying gold and silver bags and kneel down and kowtow; then draw a circle on the tomb and place five-color paper, Ming Dynasty paper, etc. The coins are placed in the circle and set on fire. Some people not only burn Hades coins, but also burn "luxury goods" such as mansions and cars made of five-color paper. While burning, they chant: "So-and-so, you worked hard when you were alive, and enjoy your life when you die. Live in peace." The mansion, the BMW, the scenery, the King of Hell is so angry! "I am afraid that my relatives will not live a good life in the underworld.
Some people, when drawing a circle on the grave, do not forget to add another circle next to it. Its purpose is to help those lonely ghosts who have no one to pay tribute to, so that they will not become desperate and take away the clothes of their ancestors.
Taboos: All clothes, underworld objects and other items given to the deceased must be burned. Only if they are burned cleanly can these papers from the world of the world be transformed into silks, cloths and houses in the underworld. Leave your quilt and gold, silver and copper coins. As long as a little bit is not burned out, all previous efforts will be wasted and the deceased cannot use it. Therefore, when burning cold clothes on October 1, one must be particularly careful and careful. Although this kind of behavior seems funny, it also reflects the grief and respect of the living for the deceased, which is a kind of spiritual sustenance.
When Han people give away winter clothes, they also burn some five-color paper at the crossroads to symbolize cloth. The purpose is to help those lonely souls who have no one to worship their ancestors, so that they will not snatch the winter supplies sent to their relatives.
Burning cold clothes is carried out in front of the deceased's grave in some places. It is important to visit the grave before the sun rises. In some places, it is customary to burn sacrifices in front of the door. In many places in Yanbei and in Pingyao and other counties in central Shanxi, women cry loudly outside their doors in the evening. There is a poem from Linxian County in the old days: "The sticky paper is cut to make clothes, and it is burned in the early morning to turn into ashes. Is the fruit from the spring platform useful for keeping out the cold? But the sad sound is pleasant to the ears!" It not only describes the scene of giving cold clothes, but also puts forward its legendary effect. questioned. Children observe filial piety and wear mourning clothes for three years. On the first day of October in the year of Xiaoman, people wear ordinary clothes. Ceremonies such as moving the graves of ancestors and burying them together are always customary among the Han people on October 1st.
2. Other customs
On October 1st, Han Chinese people not only send cold clothes to the dead for the winter, but the living also perform some traditional activities symbolizing winter. Women should take out the cotton-padded clothes they have made on this day to let their children and husbands change seasons. If the weather is still warm at this time and it is not suitable to wear cotton, you should also urge your children and husband to try it on for good luck. Men are accustomed to tidying up stoves and chimneys on this day. After the installation is completed, try to light a fire to ensure smooth heating when the weather is cold. On October 1st, women are not allowed to travel. The lives of the Han people have improved, and buckwheat noodles and oatmeal noodles are popular in mountainous areas.
Customs in various places
Jin:
When sending cold clothes in southern Shanxi, people pay attention to wrapping some cotton in five-color paper, saying that they are making cotton clothes and cotton for the deceased. be used. When giving away cold clothes in northern Shanxi, five-color paper is made into various styles of clothes, hats, shoes, and quilts. They even have to make a set of paper houses, with clear tiles and pillars, and complete doors and windows. In addition to being smaller in size, these paper handicrafts look even more delicate and beautiful than Shinboin.
Luoyang
There is a saying in Luoyang: "October 1st, oil chirping", which means that on October 1st, people cook fried food, chop meat and make dumplings. , prepare food for ancestors. These things are greasy and greasy, and it is inevitable to get them all over your hands and face during the operation. In urban areas, Yanshi, Yiyang and other places, some people do not go to old graves to burn their cold clothes, but instead burn them in front of their homes and at crossroads. On the first day of October, when it is getting dark, people grab a handful of ashes and scatter an ashes circle in front of their home, then burn incense and offer sacrifices, burn paper clothes and paper ingots, and pay homage to their ancestors. People who are particular will go to the crossroads not far from home to give cold clothes to the "wandering ghosts", so that "the ghosts have a home, so it is not a big deal", and they bribe the wandering ghosts so that they can communicate with them. The dead of one's own family rest in peace.
Xin'an County has another special rule: on the first day of October, a newly married daughter-in-law must add earth to her husband's family for the newly deceased; those who go to the family temple to worship their ancestors must play drums to add to the fun.
Beijing
In the early days of the Republic of China, most Beijingers followed the old custom and went to Nanzhi Store to buy Hanyi paper before the first day of October. Waxed paper is cut into long strips in the shape of cloth, usually three or four strips on a piece of paper. The pink ones are printed with white patterns; the white ones are printed with green lotus patterns; the yellow ones are printed with red patterns (generally continuous patterns of peonies, chrysanthemums, and butterflies). Plain paper is also available. Anyway, it's just a symbolic thing. Some cut the cold clothes paper into the shape of clothes and trousers, while others did not cut it, but put it directly in a package containing paper money and money and burned it. There are also rich people who are more particular about asking the posters of Ming Yi Shop to paste some high-end winter clothes such as leather jackets and leather trousers. No matter what kind of cold clothes are used, they should be mainly made of paper money and paper ingots, which should be packed in the package and burned.
In the ancestral hall of the house, a memorial ceremony is held; in general, the package is regarded as the main place, and a memorial ceremony is held in the hall, usually with three bowls of dumplings as an offering. There are no fixed rules for Manchu and Chinese pastries, cold meat and hot stir-fries. Burning incense and holding candles, the whole family performs four kowtow rituals (called "three spirits, three ghosts and four") in the order of seniority, elder and younger. After offering sacrifices, either send them to the cemetery or burn them at the door. There is no mourning for the elderly.
Lu
It is popular in central Shandong to burn cold clothes at wild intersections in the evening to offer sacrifices to the dead or lonely ghosts who have no descendants.
In southwestern Shandong, in addition to preparing cold clothes during the Cold Clothes Festival, paper bindings based on the deceased's favorite operas or mythological stories are also made for the entertainment in the afterlife.
Nanjing
To send cold clothes in Nanjing, all kinds of clothes should be put into a red paper bag, with the identity and name of the deceased written on it. On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the paper bag should be offered in the hall to pay homage. After a while, they took it outside and burned it. At the same time, they made the newly harvested red beans, glutinous rice, etc. into delicacies for the ancestors to taste. In fact, this series of sacrificial activities are manifestations of remembering the ancestors and praying for the prosperity of the family and the safety of the descendants.