Ghost Festival

I came to Chengdu, only to know that there is such a thing as a ghost festival. Every year in mid-August, when you go out or go home at night, you can always see people burning paper in tree ponds by the roadside, or incense candles still burning after people leave. And in the morning, if you get up earlier than the cleaners, you'll see piles of ashes scattered here and there.

But a daughter as filial as my mother who is keen on this kind of thing has never asked me to accompany her to burn paper at this season. I also don't remember the custom of the ghost festival in my hometown. But I can't say for sure, because I didn't really remember the habit of Qingming in my hometown before. I asked my mother later, and my mother said yes. I haven't been there, probably because my dad never does it, so I don't have to be dragged along.

Last night, I asked my mother to confirm the ghost festival. This time, it proved that what I remembered is true, and my hometown is really good. But there is another similar day, which is October 1. My mother is getting old, and many things are easy to confuse. He confuses the first day of the lunar calendar with the National Day. I said no, National Day sacrifices are not auspicious, and our party knows that it will be banned. She insisted that October 1 and National Day were connected, and also said that there was a ten-day vacation in a year. I knew that she also got involved in the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I didn't realize that Chinese New Year was approaching. One night, I ran in two circles in the park and didn't see many people. Later, when I went home and passed through a dark and unlit area, I saw a few candles scattered around, and I suddenly remembered, Ghost Festival! I was very afraid of ghosts, and my scalp was numb. I quickly took out my mobile phone and turned on the flashlight, shaking it around. Walking under the lights, there should be many people walking their dogs in that place. But that day, there was only a man who looked like an urban management officer standing at the intersection, with a shared bicycle beside him, and his uniform cap was placed in the front frame of the bicycle. In the past few days, the autumn tigers in Chengdu have been haunting, and the temperature at night is also around 30 degrees. He was wearing trousers and pacing, fanning the wind with a piece of paper. I thought to myself, I seem to have seen police officers in shorts in old Hong Kong movies before, how wonderful, why is it not popular? A family of three strolled over, and someone was carrying a bag. After a while, I heard the city management behind him shout: No burning paper here! Turning to look, sure enough, I guessed right. It was a place close to the wilderness, where I saw the city management for the first time. He was attracted by a ghost, and it's a little funny to think about it. Then again, on October 1st, my mother asked me to take her to burn paper. She can't come here, where should I take her?

Going back a few years, I firmly support that paper should not be burned on the roadside, because it is true, this feudal superstition is meaningless, pollutes the environment, and may cause fires. But things are changing now. Older people are being quickly left behind and things they can control are disappearing. They need that way to express their condolences. If we are like Japan and Taiwan, there are temples everywhere, who wants to burn them on the roadside?

Google searched and found that the Mid-Yuan Festival in July and the Winter Clothes Festival in October 1, there are indeed some differences between the north and the south. The Mid-Autumn Festival is more popular in the south, while the Winter Clothes Festival is more popular in the north.

According to Wikipedia:

In the "Book of Changes", "seven" is a number of change, the number of resurrection. "Book of Changes": "Repeat the Tao, come and return in seven days, and the sky moves." Seven is the number of yang and the number of days. After the yang energy between heaven and earth is extinguished, it can be reborn after seven days. This is the way of heaven and earth. Yin and Yang The principle of the cycle of ups and downs... The number of seven is expressed in stages in time among the people. When calculating time, "seven seven" is often used as the end and resurrection. "July is an auspicious month and a month of filial piety, and the 14th (27th) is the cycle number of the "seven" number. The ancients chose to worship ancestors on the 14th (July half) of the seventh month, which is related to the number of "seven" resurrection. .

In the "Bible", "seven" is of course an unusual number. God created man and he had to rest on the seventh day.

I don't know if this is a coincidence, or is it evidence that there is something special about the weather or the movement of celestial bodies, or maybe the author of "Genesis" peeked at our "Book of Changes"? (It is said that the "Book of Changes" was written so early that it cannot be traced back...)

Speaking of which, why is the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Obon Festival more prevalent in the South than in the North, I found an answer on Zhihu, saying:

After liberation, the grassroots transformation of the new society began in the Northeast and North China. All old customs were swept away. It was not the South that attached importance to tradition, but the North was uprooted.

This is certainly not the standard answer, but I believe it is a silhouette of the standard answer. Just like the name of Obon Festival, I first saw it in Keigo Higashino's novel (which I forgot), and thought it was a purely Japanese festival. Until recently, I didn't know that in Hong Kong and Taiwan, both have this title. In mainland China, it may still exist as a Buddhist name in small groups, but in public perception, it has basically disappeared, along with the many temples that have been uprooted.

As for why the Winter Clothes Festival is more popular in the north, it is likely to be related to the season. On the first day of October, the weather is getting colder, people have to change seasons, and ghosts have to wear clothes. When my mother used to burn paper, she used to say that she was not filial and could not compare to my aunt. Every year, she made all kinds of paper-made clothes and bedding for the elderly.

There is indeed a lot of dross in traditional culture. For example, the Zhongyuan Festival, its core guiding ideology is "filial piety". I don't like this word very much, and the ancients worshipped their ancestors not because they missed their ancestors, but more likely as a social activity to maintain the clan as a form of political organization. Modern people have gradually lost the need to worship ancestors, but "mourning the death" is an eternal topic. "Mourning death" is also a more modern context and a more universal emotion. The real cultural inheritance or development should evolve with the times. After many years, I don't think anyone needs to burn paper by the roadside, unfortunately not this, but the things that would have been shining. For example, the splendid "ghost" culture of Mexico, which was recognized by the world in "Coco", was originally splendid in China, but because it was uprooted, there may be no hope of exporting it from now on.