What does October Dynasty mean?

October Dynasty is a cold clothing festival, also known as "ancestor worship festival", "ghost festival", "autumn festival" and "October 1 ST", which is a traditional festival of sacrifice in China. On this day, people will sweep and burn sacrifices to commemorate their deceased relatives.

The first day of October in the lunar calendar is the first day after the cold winter. In ancient times, there were customs such as sending clothes, offering sacrifices and cooking stoves to remind people to pay attention to the arrival of cold winter. On this day, women will take out cotton-padded clothes and give them to their relatives who guard the border and serve the corvee in the distance. While sending cold clothes to relatives, it will gradually develop into sending cold clothes to ancestors and the dead.

According to legend, the Cold Clothes Festival originated in the Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Songs Wind in July records that "fire flows in July, and clothes are given in September", which means that the weather turns cold in September of the lunar calendar, and people begin to buy warm clothes for the winter, so the Cold Clothes Festival is also called the "Clothes Giving Festival". As October just entered the winter, it was too early to give clothes in September, and this custom was moved to October in the Song Dynasty. Folk call Han Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day Festival and Zhongyuan Festival the three "ghost festivals" in China.

Local customs:

In Nanning, Guangxi, more than ten ancestral graves were built in early October and winter festivals were held. At this time, the weather is getting colder, so people make paper clothes and burn them in front of the grave, which are called cold clothes to show their concern for the ancestors of Myanmar.

In some areas of Shanxi, it is generally necessary to go to the cemetery. In Yanbei area and Yao Jinzhong, at night, women should cry loudly outside the door. In the old days, there was a poem in Linxian County: "Sticking paper and cutting clothes, burning ash in the morning." Can the cold spring platform be used? But the sad voice is sweet! "Not only did he write the scene of sending cold clothes, but his legend also raised questions.

Every household in Luliang area cut clothes with colored paper and burned them on graves, which is called "sending cold clothes". When people send warm clothes, they also pay attention to burning some five-color paper at the crossroads at night to symbolize cloth and silk, which is intended to relieve some homeless people who have not sacrificed, so as not to take away warm clothes and other things for their loved ones.

Shanxi pays attention to dying children. They have been filial for three years and changed their uniforms on the first day of October. It is also customary to move the grave and bury it together on October 1. On the first day of October, folk women avoid going out, and most people will eat buckwheat noodles and oatmeal on this day.

In western Henan, after dinner that day, people brought trays, or a bamboo basket, put "clothes" and "money" made of five-color paper and a bowl of jiaozi, and offered sacrifices at their doors or on the roadside. First, spread five circles with plant ash to represent the five generations of ancestors; Sprinkle another one on the side to represent those "ghosts"

Leave a mouth in the ash circle, facing the direction of the grave, then read the eulogy, burn "clothes" and "money", and sprinkle jiaozi Lian Tang on the paper ash. If there are no cemeteries and relatives in other places, draw a circle at the crossroads to burn paper money and clothes, and send clothes and money to ancestors.

Many places put lights on the roadside at the entrance to illuminate ghosts, commonly known as "street lamps", and Zhengzhou people call them "wandering lamps". With the abolition of most superstitious activities, most areas only burn paper and send clothes on October 1 to express their grief for their loved ones.