Worship ancestors on the first day of the first lunar month

 

Chapter 7 Ancestor Worship

 

Worship ancestors on the first day of the first lunar month

 

Worshiping ancestors on New Year's Eve is one of the important customs during the New Year. The Chinese nation has a tradition of being careful about the end and pursuing the past since ancient times. During the festival, we will never forget to worship our ancestors and repay their kindness. On New Year's Eve, people will serve dishes, pour wine, and hold a grand sacrificial ceremony to express their nostalgia for their ancestors and pray for their blessings. This traditional custom is passed down from generation to generation. Worshiping ancestors not only covers all ancient traditional festivals in China, but is also the eternal theme of Chinese folk festivals.

The forms of worshiping ancestors vary. Some go to ancestral halls to worship ancestors, while most of them place ancestor tablets in the main hall at home, display offerings, and then worshipers offer incense and kneel down in order of age. When worshiping ancestors, most fish and meat dishes are served in high bowls, which is quite similar to eating with bells and cauldrons.

It has become a Chinese folk custom to worship gods and ancestors during the Spring Festival. ​

Traditional Chinese ancestor worship can be divided into two methods: tomb sweeping and family worship.

Grave sweeping is also called grave visiting. Tomb-sweeping days are fixed on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month and the first day of October of the lunar calendar, and tomb-sweeping days are common during the Qingming Festival. In addition to paying homage, soil must be added to the tomb to prevent it from being washed away by rain.

Family sacrifice, that is, setting up a hall at home to worship ancestors. Usually on the morning of New Year's Eve, parents and their nephews go to the village to invite their ancestors to come home for the New Year. Hang the "family hall" in the main room, display the family tree, set up an offering table, light incense and candles, and place offerings. Family members kowtow to their ancestors, offer incense and burn paper. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, all men of the same clan go to the graves to pay homage to their ancestors, set off firecrackers, and some even beat drums and play music.

In ancient times, this kind of custom was very popular. Due to the different etiquette and customs in different places, the forms of ancestor worship are also different. Some go to the wild to visit their ancestors' tombs, some go to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors, and most of them place the ancestor's tablets in the main hall in sequence at home, display the offerings, and then the worshipers press the long The younger ones offer incense and kneel down in order. When Han people worship their ancestors, they usually make fish and meat bowls, which are served in high bowls, which is quite similar to eating with bells and cauldrons.

For southerners who live in Beijing, worshiping ancestors during the Spring Festival is particularly grand. Most of them are eight bowls of dishes, with a hot pot in the middle and cups and chopsticks according to the spiritual position. On New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, the hot pot is fanned out and the dishes can be changed at any time. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, vegetarian dumplings are served, and on Yuan Yuan night, Lantern Festival is served. Every morning and evening, incense is burned, kowtow is offered, and new tea is offered.

Although there are different forms of ancestor worship, most of them are hung on New Year's Eve and the offerings are withdrawn on the night of the Lantern Festival. Relatives and friends who are close to you must also visit the ancestor hall when paying New Year's greetings. Not only should they be careful to follow the distant past, but they will never forget their intentions, because of the virtue of respecting their ancestors. , also saved by this.

 

Traditional Ancestor Worshiping Ceremony

 

Before the ceremony begins, the deacons take their places. The deacons, that is, the staff of the priests, stand in front of the case or on the left and right sides where the sacrifices are placed; the officiant, that is, the person who heads the sacrifice, usually 3-5 people, stands in the front row; the rest, called the accompanists, are in the row behind the officiant. stand.

Then, first the officiant washes and dries his hands; then the deacon washes them. After washing their hands, the officiant and deacons returned to their original positions.

The officiant began to kneel down in front of the incense table. The deacon will give the lit incense to the officiant. The officiant will receive the incense and bow three times and then hand it to the deacon to insert it into the incense burner. The officiant will hold the pot with both hands and pour the wine into the empty wine glass pre-placed by the deacon. The deacon will bring the wine to In the wine glass placed on the table.

After the officiant kowtowed three times, he stood up and took a step back.

Then comes the first dedication ceremony. That is to say, kneel down before the throne of God.

As before, the first offering and introduction of wine are carried out.

When offering wine, when something is called out, the deacon will touch the object with both hands, and then sing a prayer in front of the table. The food that is offered is si, that is, rice; delicacies such as golden vegetables, rice noodles and other dishes; animal sacrifices, such as chickens, goose, fish, etc.; rigid hyenas, pigs; soft hair, sheep.

After the wine offering is completed, the person who reads the sacrificial text goes to the right side of the officiant and kneels down, followed by the rest of the people.

While the congratulations are being read, the gong, trombone, trumpet, erxian, etc. stop playing. After reading the sacrificial text, the next step is to offer sacrifices. Ya, that’s the second time.

When Xingya offers gifts, he first offers wine, chopsticks, food, dishes, sacrifice rituals, soup and salt, and mane and feathers. After drinking, kowtow and reset.

Then make three offerings of gifts, three offerings of wine, drink the wine, kowtow, and return to the throne.

After the three offerings ceremony is over, the next step is to perform the food ceremony, and the ceremony is to persuade.

At this time, the officiant holds the wine flask and fills the wine glass provided by the deacon. Then he holds a pair of chopsticks in both hands and orders the rice and vegetables brought by the deacon. The deacon pours the wine into the wine glass on the table and puts the food on the table. Return to the case.

The next step is to offer mountain tea, fruits, blessings and treasures. Mountain tea actually refers to tea; treasure refers to gold and silver sacrifices. Each of the officiating priests took the sacrificial text and bowed three times before handing it over to the deacon. Each person took a few gold and silver coins and bowed three times before handing them over to the deacon. The deacon spreads the sacrificial inscriptions on top of the gold and silver, and burns them together later. When burning sacrificial inscriptions and gold and silver, you must light them before you can start burning the cannons.

At this time, everyone goes to the place where the gold and silver are burned to watch. Usually the officiant brings a glass of wine ring and sprinkles it on the burning gold and silver. Then return to the original position and stand. Then there are three kowtows, six kowtows, and nine kowtows.

Until the bow is finished. At this point, all ceremonies are over. Everyone stood and bowed.

The deacons can now remove the meal and start packing up the items for worship.

 

The house is full of people worshiping the god of the year

 

Starting from the first day of the first lunar month, China has entered into the theme of welcoming the new year, offering sacrifices to gods, and praying for a good harvest.

On the New Year's Day, many towns and rural areas begin to welcome the Spring Festival, receive blessings, and worship Tai Sui and the gods from early in the morning. Firecrackers blast, fireworks illuminate the sky, bid farewell to the old year, welcome the new year, and other various New Year celebration activities reach their climax. .

On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, and get neatly dressed

On the morning of the Spring Festival, when the door is opened, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door and firecrackers". After the sound of firecrackers, the ground was filled with broken red, shining like clouds and brocade, which was called "Man Tang Hong". At this time, the streets were full of auspiciousness and joy.

The saying "open the door and firecrackers" has been around since ancient times. When the New Year arrives, the first thing every household does when they open the door is to set off firecrackers to ward off the old and welcome the new with the beeping sound of firecrackers.

On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month to welcome the New Year, vegetarian dishes are offered to worship the "Sui God". Paying New Year greetings is one of the ancient annual customs. This traditional custom has been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times.

  "Sui" is also known as "Sheti" and "Tai Sui". It is the name of a star in ancient times and is also a god of folk belief. The year is based on the sixty-year cycle of the stems and branches. There are 60 people in total. Every year, there is a year-old god on duty. The Tai Sui who is on duty that year is called the "year-old Tai Sui". He is the master of the year and is in charge of the human world that year. Good and bad, good and bad. As stated in "San Ming Tong Hui": "A person who is too old is the master of one year old and the leader of the gods."

Paying New Year greetings is the oldest traditional Chinese New Year custom. This ancient custom is still popular in Guangdong, especially in the Wuchuan area.

In many places, there is a custom of eating vegetarian food on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, vegetarian dishes are used to worship Tai Sui God. Breakfast must be vegetarian, including vermicelli, yuba, nostoc, mushrooms, etc. All the vegetarian dishes that should be eaten this year are eaten in this morning, and then you can eat big fish and meat. .

In the morning, each family burns incense and pays homage to heaven and earth, and pays homage to their ancestors. Then they congratulate their elders on the New Year in turn, and then go out to visit relatives and friends. Relatives and friends of the same clan send congratulations to each other and wish them good luck in the new year.

 

Ancestor worship customs during the Spring Festival in various places

 

Taiwanese people turn from New Year's Eve to Spring Festival. At the third watch, the first important thing is to worship gods and ancestors. At that time, red candles were shining brightly, tea, red beans and other sacrifices were offered, and people were solemn and respectful. After worshiping the gods, you have to kowtow to your ancestors, which is called "Spring Beginning". Welcoming the new righteousness is also called "opening the righteousness". At the end of the ceremony, gold paper is burned to offer to the ancestors.

On the first day of the first lunar month, people in Ningbo, Zhejiang will light incense and candles in front of the portraits of their ancestors, and offer rice dumplings, cakes, cakes and fruits, and family members will kneel down and worship in turn. Some also enshrine the remains of their ancestors in the ancestral hall, and the family members go to the ancestral hall to perform ancestor worship rituals.

During the Spring Festival, most families in Dongguan, Guangdong, first choose an auspicious time in the almanac to hold an ancestor worship ceremony. The sacrifices are tea, wine, rice, savings boxes, fruits, Rulong (rice cakes), Ludui and vegetarian dishes. . The procedures for worshiping ancestors are: burning incense, lighting candles, burning ingots, and setting off cannons. The whole family worships ancestors according to the order of seniority and age. When people in Zhongshang worship their ancestors, lights are always on and cigarettes are constantly burning.

When people in Kaifeng, Henan Province stay up until the fifth watch of the year, they wash up first, put on formal attire and hats, place sacrifices on the altar table, burn incense and candles, and set off firecrackers. The family kneels down to worship and offer blessings to their ancestors, according to their elders and younger generations. "Nian Blessing".

On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, people from Luotian, Hubei Province, first go to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors and pay New Year greetings. The people guarding the ancestral hall have already prepared sacrifices to be placed in front of the ancestors’ shrines, and they have also prepared a long pole with firecrackers hung on them. When the tribesmen arrive, they will Light a fire to express welcome to ancestor worship. After the ancestor worship ceremony is completed, you will be served with fruit boxes, tea or a sumptuous breakfast.

In the Northeast region: at midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, people of all sizes put on new clothes, new hats, new socks, new shoes, worship their ancestors, light candles, burn incense, and burn incense in front of the shrines dedicated to their ancestors. Paper is given out, firecrackers are set off, and descendants kneel down to worship as a ritual, which is called "issuing paper inoculation".

In the Guangdong and Guangxi areas: at five or six o'clock in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, sumptuous food and wine are laid out in front of the ancestral hall. The whole family, men, women, old and young, all put on new clothes, line up in order of seniority, and kneel down and kowtow to their ancestors.

In the eastern Henan area: after breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the whole family will worship their ancestors, in order of seniority, first male and then female, and kowtow and kneel before the ancestor's shrine one by one.

In the western Sichuan area: in the incense burner in front of the ancestral shrine, long incense smoke is lit, the red candle burns brilliantly, and the copper chime is knocked loudly, filling the solemn atmosphere. The elders led men, women, old and young, standing neatly on both sides in uniforms and clothes. They burned incense, lit candles and burned paper before their ancestors. In order of seniority, they knelt down and worshiped their ancestors, served wine and meals, and burned paper money.

Worshiping ancestors on New Year's Eve is one of the traditional customs in our country that has been passed down to this day. On the one hand, it stems from the traditional concepts of "Filial piety comes first" and "Prudent pursuit of the future". On the occasion of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, it expresses filial piety and nostalgia for the ancestors; on the other hand, it is due to people's deep belief that the gods of ancestors can protect their descendants. Progeny, so that future generations will prosper.

This traditional custom has been passed down from generation to generation. People always hold sacrificial ceremonies every New Year's Eve to express gratitude and pray for blessings. In the past, ancestor worship ceremonies were usually held in the clan ancestral hall on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. Clan members of the same surname dressed in costumes participated, and the ceremony was relatively grand. Nowadays, ordinary people usually place fine wine and delicacies in front of their ancestors' shrines at home to worship before having the family reunion dinner.