Is it good to release animals and pray for blessings on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year? What are the customs and cultures?
There is a Chinese saying that "God is merciful and kind", so many people release animals on certain festivals to improve their fortunes. So is it good to release animals and pray for blessings on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year? What are the customs and cultures? For more details about the 2018 Lunar New Year calendar, please visit the Fortune Teller website for consultation!Is it good to release animals and pray for blessings on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year? What are the customs and cultures?It is a good idea to release animals and pray for blessings on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, so there is a custom of releasing animals on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year!What are the customs of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year? 1. Release animals and pray for blessings <br /> On the eighth day of the first lunar month, there is a "release of animals" activity, which is to take some fish and birds raised at home outside and release them into the wild. In the Ming Dynasty, Liu Dong recorded in "A Brief Description of Scenery in the Imperial Capital": "On the eighth day of the first lunar month, people in Shideng Lane release animals. Cages of birds and sparrows, basins of fish and shrimps, and baskets of snails and clams are set up in front of the hall. Monks chant Sanskrit, and thousands of them face each other. They let their wings fly into the sky, and some land on the roofs and take off after a while. Aquatic animals are thrown into the Jinshui River in the imperial city, and few are caught by nets and baits of bamboo shoots." Birds eat grain and will steal people's harvest, so on this day people should release animals (mainly birds and fish) to express their virtue of loving life and to bribe the birds to show mercy. Another reason for choosing to release animals is that the eighth day of the first lunar month is a favorable day for the stars, and one can let the stars see one’s good deeds. 2. Grain Day <br /> According to folklore, the eighth day of the first lunar month is the birthday of grain. If the weather is clear on this day, it means a good rice harvest this year; if it is cloudy, it means a poor harvest. The custom of "Grain Day" is to worship the tablets with the names of grains written on them, and not to eat cooked grains. This custom embodies the idea of attaching importance to agriculture and cherishing food. 3. Shunxing <br /> People regard the eighth day of the first lunar month as the day when all the stars descend to the earth. They make small lanterns and burn them to offer sacrifices to them. This is called Shunxing, also known as "offering sacrifices to the stars" or "receiving the stars". On the eighth night of the first lunar month, regardless of whether people go to the temple to burn incense and worship the Star God (i.e. Shunxing) or not, after all the stars in the sky come out, each family will hold a Shunxing worship ceremony. When offering sacrifices to the stars, a "golden lamp" (yellow lamp flower) should be placed on the desk, stove, door sill, pot table, etc. and lit. This is called "scattering lamp flowers" and is meant to avoid bad luck. After the star worship, the whole family gathers together to eat Yuanxiao. 4. Eat Yuanxiao (Chinese rice dumplings)<br /> The eighth day of the first lunar month is traditionally known as the "Shunxing Festival," and one of the major customs of the "Shunxing Festival" is eating Yuanxiao (Chinese rice dumplings). There is an old saying that goes "There is a star in the sky and there is a person on earth", using the stars in the sky to correspond to the population on earth. There are many stars in the sky, which means that the earth is prosperous. Eating Yuanxiao on the eighth day of the first lunar month is to seek the blessing of the star gods and express special gratitude to them. In addition, after the eighth day of the first lunar month, people start eating Yuanxiao from the thirteenth day of the first lunar month and can eat it until the seventeenth day of the first lunar month. 5. Eight Immortals Festival <br /> People took the pronunciation of the Chinese character "八" and turned the eighth day of the first lunar month into the Eight Immortals Festival. The Eight Immortals are the eight immortals in folk legends: Li Tieguai, Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, He Xiangu, Lan Caihe, Lü Dongbin, Han Xiangzi and Cao Guojiu. Because he was not afraid of power, despised wealth and fame, he often went deep into the people to help them in times of distress and difficulty, and was deeply loved by the working people. On this day, people prepare delicious food and fruits to worship the Eight Immortals. 6. Women cannot use needles and thread <br /> The eighth day of the first lunar month is the day for the "Silkworms to celebrate the New Year". According to folk customs, the "year" of human beings and animals from the first to the eighth day of the first lunar month are represented by one chicken, two dogs, three pigs, four sheep, five cows, six horses, seven people and eight silkworms respectively. These are all related to farming, and people hope that the six domestic animals will prosper, the people will be safe, and the silkworm business will go smoothly. At the same time, there is a traditional taboo among the people that women are not allowed to use needles and thread on the eighth day of the first lunar month when the silkworms are celebrating the New Year. |
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