How to worship during the Ghost Festival? What are the etiquette and taboos of worshipping during the Ghost Festival?

How to worship during the Ghost Festival? What are the etiquette and taboos of worshipping during the Ghost Festival?
Introduction: The Ghost Festival is an important folk cultural festival in our traditional culture. Due to China's vast territory and rich resources, each region has its own different ways of celebration. In southern Fujian, the Ghost Festival is also known as the Pudu Festival, and worship is one of its important customs. So how do we worship during the Ghost Festival? What are the etiquette and taboos of worshipping during the Ghost Festival? Let’s follow the editor to find out. The Ghost Festival is on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month every year. On this day, everyone is very particular about how to celebrate, what should and should not be done. Mr. Shui Mo lists the relevant factors for you.

Introduction to the Zhongyuan Festival

The "Pudu" festival of the Zhongyuan Festival is a folk festival formed by combining the Taoist Zhongyuan Festival on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month and the Buddhist Yulan Festival. It is most prosperous in the Fujian and Taiwan regions of my country. The "Quanzhou Prefecture Records" published during the Qianlong period states: "During the Zhongyuan Festival, temples and monasteries hold the Yulan Festival, commonly known as Pudu. According to the customs in the southern country, on the night of the Zhongyuan Festival, each household prepares vegetarian offerings and displays them outside the door or in the alleys to pray for the dead and wild ghosts."
However, after the founding of New China, the promotion of improving folk customs and saving worship has led to the decline in the grandeur and scale of the Ghost Festival in various places. But judging from the original point of view that the Ghost Festival wanted to emphasize, what modern Chinese people should strive for is to reduce waste and promote the good deeds of the Ghost Festival.

How to worship during the Ghost Festival? What are the etiquette and taboos of worshipping during the Ghost Festival?

The Zhongyuan Festival has a long history. There is a saying that it is a combination of the Buddhist story of "Mulian saving his mother" which developed into the "Yulanpen Festival" and the Taoist "Sanyuan Festival" of the birthday and the day of forgiveness of sins of the Earth God Qingxu. In ancient times, people’s daily necessities were scarce. During the Zhongyuan Festival, in order to show their piety and worship, every household would prepare "three animals and four fruits" for their good brothers to enjoy in order to pray for peace. The best time for worship is after 2pm and before 6pm.
The so-called three animals are chicken, pork and fish, and traditionally a whole chicken, a whole pig and a whole fish must be used. The reason is to allow all the good brothers to eat the parts they like. Modern people often use vegetarian chicken, vegetarian pork and vegetarian fish instead, and it is impossible to get a whole pig of pork, so a piece of fat and lean pork can be used instead. However, some elders remind people not to worship eels or steamed fish without tails, as this will make the person worshipping them "descendantless."
As for the four fruits, they do not refer to four specific fruits, but rather seasonal fruits of the four seasons. The more common ones are apples for "peace" and grapefruits for "having children". Just be careful to use an odd number of 3 or 5, and be careful not to pray bananas, plums, and pears, as they are pronounced as "招, 你, 来" in Taiwanese, and according to legend, this will attract good brothers to your home. In addition, guava, tomato, and sugar apple are not often used as fruits for worship, because guava and tomato have many seeds, which will be excreted with the human body after eating, which means "unclean". Sugar apple looks like the head of Sakyamuni Buddha, so eating it is "disrespectful".
In addition to the "three animals and four fruits", there must also be rice, cakes, snacks, canned food, drinks and instant noodles. Some more particular people will also offer cigarettes and betel nuts, and a stick of incense must be lit for each dish. In addition, you should also prepare a washbasin filled with water, towels, toothpaste, soap and other items for your good brothers to wipe their mouths and clean. It also has the meaning of "turning over a new leaf". Just remember not to take the towel and washbasin home after the worship, so as not to bring bad luck. As for flowers, do not choose flowers with thorns such as gladiolus or roses.
The worship process is divided into 2 parts:
1. Pour rice wine into the wine cup before worshipping the gods (theoretically, the wine should be poured three times from the beginning to the end of the worship)
2. When worshipping for the first time, each person should stick 3 incense sticks and insert the incense into the incense burner after worshipping. When the incense is half burned, start burning gold paper, and worship for the second time after burning the gold paper.
3. The second time you pay respects to your good brothers, each person should stick 3 incense sticks. After the worship, place the incense sticks around the factory gate and on the objects of worship. When the incense sticks are half burned, start burning silver paper.
4. When the incense is about to burn, pour the wine in the glass around the outside of the paper money burning furnace (in a circle) to spill the wine, and put the unburned incense into the paper money burning furnace to burn it.
5. Clean up the sacrificial items and distribute them.
Summary: Through the above article, we know about [How to worship during the Ghost Festival? What are the etiquette and taboos of worshipping during the Ghost Festival? 】I hope this analysis of the problem can help everyone!

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