Is the first day of the 10th lunar month in China Ghost Festival?

Ghost Festival, as its name implies, is a festival related to ghosts and a festival to worship ghosts. Ghosts are an extension of human life in the period of ignorance. The concept of prolonging life in eastern and western cultures is slightly different, but people who die as ghosts have always been the mainstream of ghost culture.

There is a Mexican Ghost Festival in the West, but the most famous one is Halloween. This entry will introduce the origin culture of various ghost festivals at home and abroad in detail. In some parts of China, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and Cold Clothes Festival are collectively called "Three Ghosts Festival".

In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the word "ghost" is a word of understanding, and here is the word "person" with a terrible head on it, which means a monster like a person. Later it gradually evolved into something that changed after death. The Book of Rites, Sacrifice to Righteousness, has made it very clear: "All sentient beings have to die, and when they die, they return to the land. This is called a ghost. "

The Book of Rites and Sacrifice Law further points out: "Ordinary people in Shu Ren have no temples and say ghosts when they die." That is, after the death of dignitaries, there are temples to worship and sacrifices all year round, and they become gods. Ordinary people die, there is no temple to enjoy sacrifices, and wandering around, that is a ghost. The "ghost" explained in China's first dictionary Shuowen means now.

In some parts of China, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and Cold Clothes Festival are collectively called "Three Ghosts Festival". Legend has it that ghosts haunt this day. At night, every household sets off firecrackers in every household to scare away ghosts and drive them away.

The first day of October is called "October Dynasty", also known as "ancestor worship festival" and "cold clothing festival". Since ancient times, China has had the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors in the new harvest season to show filial piety and not forget one's roots. On the first day of October, ancestor worship, including family sacrifice and tomb sacrifice, is held in both north and south. Today, in many areas south of the Yangtze River, there is also the custom of offering sacrifices to new graves on the first day of October.

The first day of October is also the first day of winter, and then the climate is getting colder. People are afraid that their ancestors' souls in the underworld are short of clothes and clothes. Therefore, in addition to food, incense sticks, paper money and other general offerings, there is also an indispensable offering-ghost clothing. When offering sacrifices, people incinerate ghost clothes to their ancestors, which is called "sending cold clothes".

Therefore, the first day of October is also called "Clothing Burning Festival". Later, the custom of "burning cold clothes" changed in some places. Instead of burning cold clothes, people burned a lot of ghost paper in a paper bag with the names of the recipients and senders and their corresponding names written on it. This is called "baggage". There is a name of cold clothes, but there is no reality of cold clothes. People think that the underworld, like the dead, can buy many things with money.