Chinese traditional festivals

Cold clothing festival-the first day of the tenth lunar month

Laba Festival-the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month

The origin and legend of the Cold Clothes Festival The first day of October in the lunar calendar is the Cold Clothes Festival. Like Tomb-Sweeping Day and Zhongyuan festivals, people are used to calling it "October 1st". In the old society, women had to sew cold clothes by hand and give them to distant relatives. If relatives have passed away, they will make cold clothes out of paper on this day and burn them in front of the grave, so it is called "Cold Clothes Festival". From folklore, the Qin Dynasty sent cold clothes to her husband who was arrested to repair the Great Wall in Wan Li.

According to legend, at the time of Qin Shihuang, there lived a gentleman named Meng in Mengjiawan in the south of the Yangtze River. The old couple respect each other as guests and are close to each other. They often paint poems in the back garden. One year, an old man planted a gourd beside the rockery, which was flourishing and some vines climbed along the wall to Jiang's house next door. There is a big gourd on the vine of the string ginger family. After the autumn, the old man said to the Jiang family, "Cut the gourd in half, and your family is my half. Unexpectedly, there is a lovely white chubby doll in the gourd, which was raised by the Meng family through consultation and named. Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the girl is graceful and eighteen years old. Day after day, Meng Jiangnu fished out the fan in the water by the garden pond, which happened to be seen by Fan Xiliang who escaped from the corvee and hid in the garden bushes. Xiliang is a handsome young man, so the Meng family recruited him as a son-in-law. Unexpectedly, just when they got married, the pursuer came, took Fan Xiliang away and sent him to the north to repair the Great Wall of Wan Li. Meng Jiangnv misses her husband day and night and is extremely sad. One day, snow fell in the south of the Yangtze River and the north wind roared. Meng Jiangnv shuddered and thought that her husband's clothes had been worn for several years. How could she resist the cold wind outside the Great Wall? She decided to make a warm coat for her husband and deliver it herself. So the cotton was thickly kneaded into a ball and sewed with a needle and thread, and a deep feeling of missing her husband was sewn into the cold clothes. When the cold clothes were ready, she said goodbye to her parents, carried them on her back and embarked on the road of sending clothes all the way. Along the way, sometimes it is rainy and muddy, and it is difficult to walk; Sometimes the money wind suddenly rises, flying sand and stones, and the sky is dark; Sometimes the mountain is high and the road is dangerous, and the thorn beast; Sometimes it snows heavily, it's freezing, and the wind is biting. Despite the hardships, I still have a firm belief in my heart: let my husband put on warm clothes as soon as possible. However, when Meng Jiangnv came to the foot of the Great Wall, she never imagined that her husband Fan Xiliang was exhausted alive in the winter a year ago, and his bones were buried under the Great Wall in Wan Li. Hearing this, Meng Jiangnv burst into tears. While crying, she beat the wall with her hand and shouted the name of "Fan Xiliang". Meng Jiangnv cried for a miserable husband and scolded a cruel tyrant. In her angry complaint, the storm roared in the sky and the raging waves rolled on the sea, all of which were on the Great Wall of Wan Li. Suddenly there was a loud noise, and a section of the Great Wall in Wan Li collapsed, exposing a bone. Meng Jiangnu cried for seven days and seven nights with her bones in her arms, and then burned her cold clothes. I saw the cold clothes slowly floating up, gradually falling on Meng Jiangnv for three times, and then firmly falling on the bones. ...

The story of Wan Li, the daughter of Meng Jiangnv, looking for a husband to send cold clothes is widely circulated inside and outside the Great Wall. There is a folk song:

"October whip dijon, October 1st,

Every household sews warm clothes,

Her husband changed his cold clothes,

Wanli, Meng Jiangnv, looking for a husband to send cold clothes. "

Folks inside and outside the Great Wall call the day when Meng Jiangnu sent cold clothes on the first day of the first lunar month "Cold Clothes Festival".

From now on, on the first day of October, people will cut out cold clothes with colored paper and burn them on graves for their dead relatives. Some people hang the cold clothes they cut from branches or put them in graves. This reflects people's feudal superstition, but on the other hand, it also entrusts people with a memory of their deceased relatives.

In ancient times, the day before the first day of October, parents led their children and grandchildren to add soil to their ancestral graves. You don't need a basket to add soil, you have to carry it with clothes. The more dirt you bring, the richer the people in the tribe will be. On the day of the festival, the patriarch led the men in the family, carrying boxes, rich tables and rich offerings (20 to 30 bowls), and went to the grave one by one to worship, which was called "going to the grave". Now it has been changed to "going to a small grave" with a small amount of sacrifices (usually jiaozi) from one family to another.

Nowadays, the custom of burning paper and cold clothes on the first day of October has faded. Many people, especially city people, just go to the grave to mourn or present a bunch of flowers in memory of their deceased relatives. In the past, the first day of 10 was the off-duty day for long-term workers, so it was also called "off-duty day for workers". On this day, the employer will hold a banquet to reward employees, settle their wages and announce whether to keep their jobs. Those who stay are called "winter camp" or "winter camp". By the first day of October, all the crops on the hillside had been harvested. Jimo, Laoshan, Pingdu, Jiaozhou, Jiaonan and Laixi all have the saying "Clear the slope on October 1st" and "Clear the field on October 1st".

Spring, summer, autumn and winter are repeated, and October is Meng Dong. 1 October1day is the first day to enter the cold winter season. From the cold protection of the living to the cold protection needs of the dead.

When sending warm clothes in the south of Shanxi, pay attention to wrapping some cotton in five-color paper, saying that it is to make cotton-padded quilts for the dead.

When sending warm clothes in the north of Shanxi, five-color paper should be made into various styles of clothes, hats, shoes and quilts. Even a set of paper houses, tile columns, doors and windows have been completed. Apart from their small size, these paper handicrafts look more exquisite and beautiful than real houses.

Everything given to the dead, such as clothes and money, must be burned. Only when it is burned cleanly can these earthly papers become silks and satins, clothes and clothes for houses, and gold, silver and copper coins in the underworld. As long as a thing is not burned, all the previous efforts will be in vain, and the dead will not use it. So 1 October1day, be sure to burn cold clothes, and be especially careful. Although this kind of action seems funny, it also reflects the grief and reverence of the living for the deceased and belongs to a spiritual sustenance.

When people send warm clothes, they also pay attention to burning some five-color paper at the crossroads to symbolize cloth and silk. The original intention is to help orphans who have no ancestors to worship, so as not to be robbed of winter supplies for their loved ones.

Burn cold clothes, some places in front of the grave of the deceased, and pay attention to sweeping the grave before the sun rises. Some places are used to burning sacrifices in front of the door. In many places in Yanbei and Pingyao counties of Jinzhong, at night, women will burst into tears outside the door. In the old days, there was a poem in Linxian County: "Sticking paper and cutting clothes, burning ash in the morning." Is Taiwan Province fruit useful to keep out the cold in spring? But the sad voice is sweet! "It not only describes the scene of sending cold clothes, but also questions its legendary effect.

Children are filial and wear mourning for three years. On the first day of October in the year of filial piety, he changed into a military uniform.

Rituals such as burying ancestors are always held on October 1st.

10/day, people will not only send warm clothes to the dead for the winter, but also carry out some traditional activities symbolizing winter. On this day, women will take out cotton-padded clothes and let their children and husbands change seasons. If the weather is still warm, it is not suitable to wear cotton at this time, and children and husbands should be urged to try it on for good luck. People are used to arranging stoves and chimneys on this day. After installation, try to make a fire to ensure smooth heating in cold weather.

1 October1day, women are forbidden to go out. People improve their lives, and buckwheat noodles and oatmeal noodles are very popular in mountainous areas.

Laba Festival

Laba Festival, also known as Laba, refers to the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In China, it is a custom to drink Laba porridge on Laba Festival.

According to legend, this day is the day when Sakyamuni became a monk and founded Buddhism under the bodhi of Buddha, so it is also called "Buddhism and Taoism Festival".

Origin and history

After Buddhism was introduced to China in the/kloc-0th century, on this day, all monasteries would chant Buddhist scriptures and cook porridge to worship Buddha, which is Laba porridge. The Laba Festival in Yonghe Palace in Qing Dynasty was extremely grand. There is an ancient bronze cauldron with a diameter of 2 meters and a depth of 1.5 meters in the Lama Temple, weighing about 4 tons, which is specially used for cooking Laba porridge. At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the interior office and the palace master sent a clerk to transport porridge and dry wood to the Lama Temple.

There are many kinds of porridge materials, including fine cream, diced mutton, whole grains and various dried fruits. On the fifth night of the fifth day, the Six Emperors sent ministers, together with the ministers in charge of the interior office, to lead officials and civilian workers above the third grade to the temple to supervise the weighing of grain and the transportation of firewood. In the early morning of the seventh day, the porridge supervisor sent by the emperor ordered a fire and kept watch until the early morning of the eighth day. The porridge was cooked. At this time, the porridge minister sent by the emperor led officials to provide porridge in front of the Buddha. Palace lanterns shine, cigarettes curl, ancient music rings, and lamas enter the temple to chant Buddhist scriptures. Then they gave porridge to the imperial court, sealed it in cans and sent it to Chengde Palace and all over the country by fast horses. It was not until dawn that the porridge was finished and the ceremony was over.

According to historical records, each pot of porridge is made of millet 12 stone, 50 kg of miscellaneous grains dried fruit, 5000 kg of dry wood, and cooked in 6 pots. The first pot is dedicated to the Buddha, the second pot is dedicated to the emperor and the palace, the third pot is given to princes and grand lamas, the fourth pot is given to civil and military officials and provincial officials, the fifth pot is given to lamas in the Lama Temple, and the sixth pot is given as charity.

Porridge material

Palace: refined cream, diced mutton, whole grains, red dates, longan, chestnuts, peanuts, water chestnut, walnuts, raisins, melon seeds, golden cakes, shredded green meat and other dried fruits. Folk: miscellaneous rice, beans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, dates, chestnuts, etc. After serving, dried fruits and colored sugar are spread in a bowl.

The custom of Laba Festival

There is a custom of drinking Laba porridge on this day. This custom is still maintained in the vast areas of South, Northeast and Northwest China, but it is rare in South China and almost absent in Taiwan Province Province.

Pickling Laba garlic is a custom in northern China. Laba garlic refers to garlic soaked in vinegar in Laba Festival, also called Laba vinegar. After soaking for more than 20 days, it is the Spring Festival. Due to the soaking of vinegar, garlic is green and very beautiful, and vinegar also has the spicy taste of garlic. On New Year's Eve, before and after the Spring Festival, I ate jiaozi with Laba garlic vinegar and mixed with cold dishes, which was not bad.