What are the characteristics of holiday belief?

The 20-year-old festival is composed of specific time and colorful beliefs and customs, which reflects the common ideology of all ethnic groups and contains life experiences handed down from generation to generation. The festival beliefs in ancient China have the following characteristics:

First, celebrate the bumper harvest in agriculture and share the fruits of labor. China's agricultural civilization has a long history and is brilliant. There are not only festivals at the age of 20, but also farming activities. The characteristic of ancient agriculture is that it depends on the weather to eat. Therefore, the ancients carefully observed the weather, meteorology and astronomical phenomena, and after comparative analysis, summed up many production experiences with universal significance, making them a guide for agricultural activities. The function of the 20-year-old festival is, on the one hand, to commemorate the sacred knowledge and experience, and on the other hand, to strengthen the collective memory of these knowledge and experiences through specific repeated belief activities. Judging from the various "monthly orders" and "chronologies" in ancient times, almost all the 24 solar terms are festivals that the ancients have surpassed. In the historical stage when writing is still a mysterious thing and only in the hands of a few people, festivals make the great agricultural civilization commemorated, revisited and permanently remembered by the whole nation.

Agricultural activities are the most difficult and dangerous industry. Especially in the case of extremely low productivity and harsh natural conditions, the fruits of agricultural labor are hard to come by. Therefore, the beliefs and customs of celebrating the harvest and sharing the fruits of labor are gradually integrated into various festivals. In the traditional festivals and customs in China, eating is an essential content. Of course, "ghosts and gods are addicted to food", good wine must be recommended to God first, but strangers can enjoy it calmly and with dignity, and their appetite is wide open. It can be seen that eating in festivals, whether it is God or man, is to enjoy the fruits of one year's labor, celebrate the joy of harvest and pray for the well-being of the coming year. Therefore, those special foods of various festivals, such as Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival. Mid-Autumn Moon Cake, Double Ninth Festival Double Ninth Festival Cake (Flower Cake), etc. If the color and symbolic meaning of the collateral meeting are removed, it is actually nothing more than meeting people's dietary needs. This not only reflects the happy and kind spirit of China people, but also reflects the hardships of people's livelihood in ancient society.

Second, adapt to holiday life and keep concentrated consumption. In ancient China, people's livelihood was difficult and wealth and goods were not abundant. The whole nation has formed a lifestyle that advocates thrift and despises luxury. Except for festivals, the age of 20 usually has nothing to do with the market, and family consumption and personal consumption are always limited to the lowest point. At the age of 20, the requirements of festivals for etiquette activities and entertainment activities not only promoted the consumption of general commodities. Moreover, special beliefs and customs have special requirements for diet, materials, utensils and clothing, which promote the consumption of special commodities. For example, eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, hanging Ai Hu and wearing sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, eating flower cakes, drinking chrysanthemum wine and wearing dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival; Eat Yuanxiao, decorate lanterns, etc. , all need to ask the market to solve it through purchase. Therefore, at the age of 18, festivals naturally become a day for people to concentrate on consumption. Traditional temple fairs, fairs, mule and horse meetings, etc. It is always held during festivals, which is why. Holiday goods are as cyclical as festivals, which also promotes consumers' active consumption. Centralized consumption during festivals promoted the development of feudal commodity economy to some extent.

Third, pay attention to hygiene and prevent epidemics and diseases. In the long-term life practice, the ancients gradually realized the relationship between climate, season, living environment and human patients, mastered the properties and functions of many drugs, and explored many methods to treat and prevent diseases. Some of these valuable knowledge and experience of treating diseases and preventing diseases have become beliefs and customs, which are kept in collective memory and passed down from generation to generation through festivals. Because the ancient knowledge and experience of treating diseases and preventing diseases including scientific principles cannot be correctly explained, it can only be attributed to the role of gods, which is bound to be accompanied by superstition. In fact, if we remove the color of superstition, we will find that many folk beliefs contain scientific truth. In traditional customs and beliefs, especially in the northern region, during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, houses should be thoroughly cleaned and then painted with clay water. In this way, the house is not only clean and tidy, beautiful to look at and comfortable to live in, but more importantly, it can clean up pests and reduce diseases. It takes time and effort to clean the house thoroughly. People with weak health awareness can't take the initiative to do it at ordinary times, but when they become beliefs and customs, they will have a certain coercive force on every household. Through this belief in folk customs, people are urged to pay attention to hygiene and prevent diseases. Another example is hanging Hu Wen and Acorus calamus on the Dragon Boat Festival, drinking realgar wine and wearing sachets (containing cinnabar, realgar, clove, radix aucklandiae and radix Angelicae Dahuricae). ), actually played a role in eliminating epidemics and preventing diseases. The Dragon Boat Festival in May is midsummer. At this time, the temperature rises rapidly, all kinds of pests will multiply in large numbers, and all kinds of germs will accelerate their reproduction, which will become the high incidence period of infectious diseases. Aromatic drugs such as wormwood, cattail pollen and realgar have good functions of killing viruses, expelling worms, expelling wind and refreshing the brain, and have obvious preventive effects on epidemic diseases. Therefore, drinking realgar wine for adults can dispel dampness and dredge collaterals, enhance the body's immunity, and rub it on children's nose and ears to achieve the same effect; Hanging Ai Hu and Acorus calamus on the portal and wearing sachets can also get the benefits of ward off evil spirits and plague. There was a general lack of conscious awareness of hygiene and disease prevention in ancient times. It is a collective disease prevention activity to carry out cleaning and hygiene in festivals.

Fourth, affirm the group value and promote social communication. The sinister environment of nature forces human beings to choose the mode of living in groups and rely on the strength of groups to overcome natural difficulties. Group life has left a deep impression on mankind. Even after the emergence of a lifestyle dominated by families and individuals, there is still a very close relationship between individuals and groups. In fact, each individual is always connected with different groups through some ties. In ancient China, family groups with blood relationship and village groups with geographical relationship were the main social relations on which individuals depended for survival and development. China's traditional culture has highly affirmed its importance from all aspects. Many beliefs and folk customs embodied in the 20-year-old festival are aimed at promoting social communication, maintaining group relations and promoting group values. For example, mutual gifts and banquets between relatives and neighbors in holiday beliefs and customs typically express this desire. As we all know, people send zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival and flowers and cakes on the Double Ninth Festival. Not only gifts, but also banquets on some festivals. For Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival and other large festivals, it is very important to treat guests with wine. From the cultural point of view, this kind of behavior has a long history, and it is a reflection of the spiritual and interdependent life scenes of our ancestors under the sinister living conditions at that time. Later, it evolved into a simple folk custom, which was standardized and refined every day during the years and constantly played a beneficial role in promoting social interaction.