The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is Zhongyuan Festival as
well as Hungry Ghost Festival, Yu Lan Pen festival and Shi Hu. The
date will be on Agust 15, 2008.
It used to be a religious ceremony in India. The Buddhist would
hold the Yu Lan Pen Festival in memory of their forefathers. The Yu
Lan Pen canon was compiled to encourage the Buddhists' piety, so it
went with the Chinese custom of commemorating their ancestors and
became popular in many Chinese regions.
There was a popular folk tale about how the monk, Mu Nian, saved
his mother from suffering. Mu Nian had great magic power. One day
his mother fell into the mouth of a hungry ghost and turned into
flames in endless suffering. Mu Nian had no idea to save his
mother, so he asked Buddha for help. Buddha told him the Yu Lan Pen
canon and asked him to save his mother on the 15th day of the 7th
lunar month with the help of Yu Lan Pen.
China followed the custom since the Liang Dynasty (502-557 A.D.)
and it was evolved into the present Zhongyuan Festival. In addition
to the fast provided for the monks, the present festival has
special sacrificial ceremonies.
When the festival sets in, a sacrificial altar and a chair is
built for the Buddhist priest either at street entrances or in
front of villages. In front of the chair sets the statue of the
King of Hell Di Zang. Under it are plates of flour-made rice and
peaches. On the sacrificial alter are three spirit tablets and
three funeral banners. After noon, pigs, sheep, chicken, geese and
cakes, fruits of all kinds donated by households are displayed on
the altar. On every sacrifice the Buddhist priest will put a
triangular paper banner of three colors with special characters.
After the rite gets started in solumn music, the priest will strike
the bell to call back the souls, other monks singing chimes of
incantations. Then he will throw the rice and peaches into the air
in all directions to distribute them to the souls.
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At night, incense is burnt in front of the door of each household.
The more incense, the better, for the amount of incense stands for
the degree of prosperity. In some places, people flow water
lanterns. Such lanterns are made by setting a lotus flower-shaped
lantern on a piece of board. According to the Chinese tradition,
the lanterns are used to direct the ghosts. Ghosts find their way
back when the lanterns are out. On the festival, all shops are
closed to leave the street to the ghosts. In the middle of each
street, an altar of incense is set every 100 paces with fresh
fruits and sacrifices displayed on it. Behind the altar, the monks
will sing songs that only the ghosts can understand. This rite is
called shi ge'r, meaning singing ghost songs.
Shangyuan Festival falls on the same day as Lantern Festival,
when people hang out various beautiful lanterns to celebrate the
first full moon of the Lunar Year. Zhongyuan Festival follows
Shangyuan Festival. As the former is one for the ghosts, people
think that they should also hang out lanterns to celebrate for the
ghosts. However, there is some difference. As human beings and land
belong to yang, which means positive, so ghosts and water belong to
yin, which means negative. The dark and mysterious underworld
usually reminds us of the gloomy sepulchral hell where the ghosts
suffer. So at Shangyuan Festival, lanterns should be hung on land
while those at Zhongyuan Festival should be flown on waters.
(China.org.cn)
