Chapter 416: The Taboo of Burning Paper in the Mid-Yuan Festival
I originally thought that one month would be enough to take care of the wounded in a nursing home.
In the middle of the trip, Mr. Xu made a phone call. We couldn't guess who was on the other end of the phone.
At first, Mr. Xu's tone was very respectful, but later it was unclear what the two talked about. In short, Mr. Xu was very angry when he came out of the office.
Wan Li secretly told Chujiu and I that Mr. Xu refused to return to the capital to take charge of the work and wanted to continue to stay in Guangxi, citing the injuries of the three main players and his own physical discomfort.
Sun Zuojun didn't leave his room for more than a month.
Candy's surgery was successful. A few days after the operation, Candy was so excited that she made a bet with Wan Li on who could pee farther.
The bet was that if Wan Li won, all the money he owed him would be written off, and if he lost, the bill would be doubled.
Candy was beaten by Wan Li because Wan Li lost so completely that Candy paid off half of the subsidy from the fourth-a level mission.
The reason why Wanli beat Candy was because Candy cheated. As the referee, Chujiu just defended Candy and was beaten by Wanli.
The reason why Wan Li beat Chu Jiu was to maintain world peace and eradicate unscrupulous profiteers in a harmonious society.
"Guo Guo, actually I can't beat Wanli."
On the ninth day of the lunar month, I was lying on the bed rubbing my shoulders. I had made ten thousand miles and one hundred yuan a day for more than a month, and I felt a little guilty.
Now that I have been beaten up by Wan Li, I finally feel at ease.
"Dong dong dong~"
There was a heavy and powerful knock on the door. Chujiu jumped out of bed and opened the key. He was indescribably surprised.
"Uncle, are you still alive?"
Sun Zuojun beat Chujiu again, and he just meditated for a month.
"Hey, uncle, I didn't mean to say it. If you don't show up for so long, I'm worried about you."
Sun Zuojun raised the corners of his mouth slightly, slapped Chujiu on the forehead again, and quickly took the guy out to do errands.
"Working? Do you have a mission?"
Chujiu had his head hanging down. He was beaten twice a day and had to go on a mission.
"What a fart mission, what day is today?"
On the ninth day of the lunar month, I looked at me, and I looked at the ninth day of the lunar month. After much deliberation, I couldn't think of anything special about today.
"Today is the Ghost Festival!"
Sun Zuojun glared at Chujiu, and Chujiu suddenly understood, pulling me out of the room.
"Why are you going? Are you so excited?"
I was confused as I followed Chujiu. Chujiu pointed at Sun Zuojun. Of course, I was going to watch my uncle perform the "giving" ceremony.
"Who told you that I was going to do it? And you had to bring me along when I was doing it?"
Sun Zuojun slapped Chujiu on the forehead again. Chujiu covered his head in aggrieved manner. Aren't the "giving" rituals done by elders?
"I woke up from trance three days ago, and now I'm a little weak."
It was rare for Sun Zuojun's face to turn red. No wonder he had heard occasional low gasps from the next room in the past two days, and thought he was hearing hallucinations.
“How to give alms during the Hungry Ghost Festival?”
This was the first time I heard about the need to give alms during the Hungry Ghost Festival. My grandfather had only told me some taboos about the Hungry Ghost Festival.
"Do you know what the Hungry Ghost Festival is?"
When Chujiu returned to the room to get his equipment, Sun Zuojun stared at me in embarrassment and quickly changed the subject.
Of course I know about the Hungry Ghost Festival. The Taoist name for the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Buddhist name is the Bon Festival, and the folks call it the "Ghost Festival".
The main festival customs include worshiping ancestors, setting off river lanterns, worshiping the souls of the dead, burning paper ingots, etc.
Folk belief is that "the gates of ghosts are wide open" at this time, and all ghosts "take a vacation" for seven days to come out to find "money" and people (descendants).
"Gone?"
Sun Zuojun rolled his eyes at me, he knew too much.
During the Han Dynasty, Taoism held three grand gatherings throughout the year, collectively called "Three Yuan".
"Sanyuan" is the nickname of "Three Official Emperors" of Tianguan Emperor, Diguan Emperor and Shuiguan Emperor. These three special days are actually the birthdays of Sanguan Emperor.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called "Shangyuan", which is the birthday of the Heavenly Official, and a blessing ceremony is mainly held.
The fifteenth day of July is called "Zhongyuan", which is the birthday of local officials and is used to forgive the sins of the dead.
October 15th is called "Xiayuan", which is the birthday of Shuiguan, and is used to relieve bad luck for those who have made mistakes.
The Hungry Ghost Festival was originally Xiaoqiu, when some crops were ripe. It was customary for the people to worship their ancestors and use new rice as offerings to report the autumn harvest to their ancestors.
Therefore, on every Hungry Ghost Festival, every family worships their ancestors and performs rituals when making offerings. On July 15th, they visit the tombs to visit their ancestors and pay homage to their ancestors.
Volume 1 of "Tokyo Menghua Lu" by Meng Yuan of the Song Dynasty records: "On the day before the Zhongyuan Dynasty, I bought Lianye to line the table when enjoying sacrifices, and bought Magu nests, which were also tied to the legs of the table, to inform my ancestors.
The meaning of autumn."
The Underworld is in charge of the gate of hell. On the Ghost Festival, the Underworld opens the gate of hell. It is also the day when hell opens its doors. Ghosts who have descendants to worship can go home to celebrate the festival and enjoy the offerings.
Those souls without owners have nowhere to go, so people have to set up dojos and place fast food and steamed buns for the ghosts to eat.
The Zhongyuan ritual is to forgive the sins of the dead souls. Although it cannot completely remove the sins, it can always alleviate some of their sins.
During rituals, Taoist priests not only have to save the souls of the dead, but also guide the ownerless souls back to the underworld.
"There are a lot of things to pay attention to when offering sacrifices during the Ghost Festival. There are many taboos when it comes to offering sacrifices and burning paper. Do you know what taboos there are?"
Sun Zuojun looked at me with a proud face, his expression was very similar to Zhang Feng's when he saw a colorful story and was waiting for Liu Yang and Zhiyong to beg him to tell it quickly.
Sure enough, Sun Zuojun shook his head when he saw me, and said with a pretentious look on his face that he would teach me a lesson. He did not have the teaching attitude that an elder should have at all.
Burning paper for sacrifices. When buying burning paper, don't buy piles of printed matter.
The face value of this kind of printed matter is hundreds of millions. In fact, the money is the most unrealistic. You can't even buy a popsicle under the pile.
However, such large denominations were not useless in the past. There are many debt collectors down there who will shamelessly ask you for money and will keep grinding you if you don't give it. This kind of "small money" can just be used to send them away.
Before going to burn paper, you'd better prepare a fire source. July 15th is a day of heavy Yin and windy weather.
Carry a small wooden stick with you so that when burning paper, you can easily pull out the burning paper that is pressed together to allow air circulation and facilitate burning.
But be sure to note that you must not take the sticks home after you use them, just throw them away.
It was completely dark before they could burn paper. When it was not dark, they would not dare to come out to withdraw the money.
On the way back and forth to burn paper, try to avoid burning paper if you encounter it, and be sure not to step on it.
Sometimes an intersection is lined with piles of paper ash and you can't get around it, so you have to carefully cross it.
When you need to take a big step forward, you should say "borrow" before passing.
Before burning the paper, draw a circle on the ground where you want to burn the paper. Do not include yourself in the circle. Leave a gap in the northwest corner so that relatives below can come in and get money.
When burning paper, you should have a serious expression and don't laugh or play, otherwise it will easily attract the attention of other gangsters other than your ancestors. Once you are entangled by them, you will at least get seriously ill.
Before burning paper for your loved ones, light two and throw them outside the circle. Answer the question correctly about the lonely ghosts who have no relatives to send money.
When burning paper, you should recite something to say that today it is so-and-so who is sending money to so-and-so.
Finally, you must insist on watching the paper money burn up before leaving, otherwise it will be picked up by other people passing by, which will make the deceased relatives unhappy.