The offerings mainly include three sacrificial meals, three teas and five wines; Parents are the main sacrifices, burn three incense, worship God, pray for a bumper harvest, and finally burn paper, commonly known as giving money to food. Ancestor worship has existed for thousands of years, which is an ancient custom with far-reaching significance.
Although today's "please visit and worship ancestors" is very different from the past, ancestors can bless their descendants out of respect and memory for their ancestors, and what future generations can do is to repay their ancestors through sacrifices.
Ancestor worship customs in different regions;
1, Taiwan Province Province: From New Year's Eve to Spring Festival, at midnight, the first important thing is to offer sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. At that time, red candles were bright, offering sacrifices such as green tea and red beans. People were serious and sincere. After worshipping God, you should worship your ancestors. This is called "spring". Welcome the new, also known as "open". At the end of the ceremony, golden paper was burned for the ancestors. ?
2. Ningbo, Zhejiang: On the first day of the first month, in front of the portrait of the ancestors, incense sticks, cakes and fruits were lit for Chen Tangtuan, and the family members bowed down in turn. Others worship the statues of their ancestors in the ancestral hall, and their families go to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors.
3. Dongguan, Guangdong: On the first day of the first month, most people first choose an auspicious time in the almanac to hold an ancestor worship ceremony. Sacrifices include tea, wine, white rice, boxes, fruits, dragons (rice cakes), stoves and vegetarian dishes. Ancestor worship procedures: burning incense, lighting candles, burning gold ingots and setting off a string of firecrackers. The whole family worships their ancestors in the order of seniority and age. Ancestor worship in upper-middle class families is always brightly lit and filled with cigarettes.
4. Kaifeng, Henan: At the age of five, people on guard should wash their hands, wear dresses and hats first, put sacrifices on the altar, burn incense and set off firecrackers, and the family will continue to bow down to their ancestors according to their generations and wish "Happy New Year".
5. Luotian, Hubei: On the morning of the first day of Xinzheng, I went to the ancestral temple to pay homage to my ancestors and pay a New Year call. The guards of the ancestral temple have already prepared sacrifices for the ancestral shrine and prepared a long pole to hang firecrackers. After the arrival of the clansmen, they were lit and set off to show their welcome to pay homage to their ancestors. After the ancestor worship ceremony, people will treat them with fruit boxes, refreshments or a hearty breakfast.
6. Shandong and Northeast China: On the first day of junior high school, people of all ages put on new clothes, hats, socks and shoes to worship their ancestors. In front of ancestral shrines, they light candles, burn incense, burn paper and shoot guns, and future generations bow down like musical instruments, which is called "paper inoculation".