The custom of Cold Clothes Festival
Hanyi Festival, also known as "October Dynasty", "Ancestor Festival", "Ghost Festival" and "Autumn Festival", is a traditional sacrificial festival in China. On this day, people will sweep and burn sacrifices to commemorate their deceased relatives, which is called sending cold clothes. The first day of October in the lunar calendar is the first day after the cold winter. In ancient times, there were customs such as sending clothes, offering sacrifices and cooking stoves to remind people that winter is coming. On this day, women will take out cotton-padded clothes and give them to their relatives who guard the border and serve the corvee in the distance. While sending cold clothes to relatives, it will gradually develop into sending cold clothes to ancestors and the dead.
In this festival, the customs in different regions are different.
Guangxi 1
In Nanning, Guangxi, more than ten ancestral graves were built in early October and winter festivals were held. At this time, the weather is getting colder, so people make paper clothes and burn them in front of the grave, which are called cold clothes to show their concern for the ancestors of Myanmar.
2. Shanxi
In some areas of Shanxi, it is generally necessary to go to the cemetery. In Yanbei area and Yao Jinzhong, at night, women should cry loudly outside the door. In the old days, there was a poem in Linxian County: "Sticky paper clothes cut the cost price and burn ash in the morning." Can the cold spring platform be used? But the sad voice is sweet! "Not only did he write the scene of sending cold clothes, but his legend also raised questions. Every household in Luliang area cut clothes with colored paper and burned them on graves, which is called "sending cold clothes". When people send warm clothes, they also pay attention to burning some five-color paper at the crossroads at night to symbolize cloth and silk, which is intended to relieve some homeless people who have not sacrificed, so as not to take away warm clothes and other things for their loved ones. Liang Shan pays attention to the children who are laid off from the service. After three years of filial piety, he changed his military uniform on the first day of October. It is also customary to move the grave and bury it together on October 1. On the first day of October, folk women avoid going out, and most people will eat buckwheat noodles and oatmeal on this day.
3.henan province
In western Henan, after dinner that day, people brought trays, or a bamboo basket, put "clothes" and "money" made of five-color paper and a bowl of jiaozi, and offered sacrifices at their doors or on the roadside. First, spread five circles with plant ash to represent the five generations of ancestors; Sprinkle another one on the side to represent those "ghosts" Leave a mouth in the ash circle, face the grave, then read the eulogy and burn "clothes" and "banknotes", and sprinkle Jiaozi with soup on the paper ash. If there are no cemeteries and relatives in other places, draw a circle at the crossroads to burn paper money and clothes, and send clothes and money to ancestors. Many places put lights on the roadside at the entrance to illuminate ghosts, commonly known as "street lamps", and Zhengzhou people call them "wandering lamps". With the abolition of most superstitious activities, most areas only burn paper and send clothes on October 1 to express their grief for their loved ones.
4. Beijing
In the early years of the Republic of China, most Beijingers followed the old customs. Before the first day of October, they went to Nanzhi store to buy cool clothes paper. It is made of a dressing gown covered with burnt colored wax paper and cut into cloth-like strips. Generally, a piece of paper breaks three or four. Pink ones are printed with white patterns; The white one is printed with violet patterns; The yellow one is printed with a red pattern. There is also plain paper. In short, it's just a symbolic thing. Some of these warm clothes are cut into clothes and trousers, others are not cut, and they are directly wrapped in paper money and banknotes and burned. Some rich people pay more attention to it, so they ask the paperhanger of ghost clothing store to post some high-grade winter clothes such as leather clothes and trousers. No matter what kind of warm clothes you use, you should mainly use paper money and paper ingots, pack them together and burn them.
5. Shandong
Every year, on the first day of the tenth lunar month, Shandong people go to visit the graves of their dead relatives. They will give their autumn harvest to their deceased relatives and report the harvest results of that year to their ancestors. In addition to these, they will cut out clothes with colored paper and burn them for their ancestors, which means "On October 1st, they will burn cold clothes on the grave". In the southwest of Shandong, in addition to preparing warm clothes, paper bags are also made for the entertainment of the underworld with the theme of dramas or fairy tales that the deceased loved before his death.
6. Jiangsu
Influenced by the Central Plains, Jiangsu also has the custom of sending cold clothes. All kinds of ghost clothes should be packed in a red paper bag with the identity and name of the deceased written on it. On the night of the first day of the first month, paper bags will be sacrificed in class and then incinerated outside the door. At the same time, freshly harvested red beans and glutinous rice will be made into delicious food for ancestors to taste. In fact, this series of sacrificial activities are all manifestations of remembering ancestors, praying for family prosperity and future generations' peace.
7. Other regions
In some places in China, 10/day will not only send warm clothes to the dead for the winter, but also the living will have 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.