There is a special festival in Xi'an, which is generally called October 1 by locals. In many places Xi'an people said that October 1 is also called the Winter Clothing Festival, is one of the most important traditional sacrifice festivals of the Han people in northern China, the people in northern China will also be the Winter Clothing Festival and the Qingming Festival every spring, the Zhongyuan Festival on July 15th collectively called China's three "ghost festivals", in Xi'an rarely heard of like Sichuan and other southern regions to spend the July 15th Middle Yuan Festival, so October 1 and Qingming Festival has become one of the two most important Han Festivals in Xi'an related to the sacrifice of the Han people.
According to legend, the Winter Clothing Festival originated in the Zhou Dynasty, and its actual final formation probably did not predate the Song Dynasty. People will sweep and burn on the day of the Winter Clothing Festival to commemorate the deceased relatives, some of the city residents are called sending winter clothes so it is called the Winter Cloth festival, outside the city because the whole process is mainly to burn paper money on the grave, so it is generally called burning paper or going to the grave.
In some places, especially in rural areas, if you pay attention to burning paper sacrifices at home and are close to the cemetery, in addition to burning paper money in front of the cemetery, you will generally light incense, wax, and offer fruit and pastries in front of the grave.
If you are far away from home or it is inconvenient to go back to your hometown to burn paper, on october 1 in Xi'an, people will find a nearby intersection to draw a large circle in the direction of their hometown, and write the names of their relatives in the large circle or on paper money and burning paper.
At the first of October, in addition to general offerings such as food, incense candles, and paper money, there is also an indispensable offering, the cloak. During the sacrifice, people burn the winter clothes made of paper together with the paper money to the deceased ancestors and other relatives, called "sending cold clothes".
On October 1, the weather in Xi'an and even the whole of northern China gradually became colder, and when people bought clothes for themselves, they had to burn some paper for their deceased relatives to make winter clothes, which meant that they would send their relatives clothes to survive the winter. When sending winter clothes to relatives, some exquisite people also burn some "five-colored paper", saying that there may also be robbers and evil people in hades, so as to prevent some lone ghosts who have no one to sacrifice and their relatives from snatching clothes. With the development of the times, now people in addition to burning paper money to send winter clothes will also burn some things printed with supermarkets, bank patterns, all the things that time have may be printed on paper or made of paper, burned together when "burning paper", some people say that these customs profoundly show the mourning and concern of the living for the deceased relatives.
Burning paper money is for the deceased relatives to have better living conditions there, and everyone understands that the relatives can't receive anything except your heart, and everyone who goes to "burn paper" is actually a ritualistic heart, in the end, it is also a way to carry forward the traditional Chinese virtues and family style! Some people also say that the so-called "October 1" and "burning paper" are feudal superstitious activities, when relatives are alive, it is better to be kind, people have nothing to do when they die, what is the use of burning more paper money? Some people also say that whether the "relatives" who burn paper can really "receive" or not know, but the fire caused by "burning paper" every year has been very much; some people say that the current smog has a lot to do with "October 1" and "burning paper", and "burning paper" must be prohibited. Over the years, the debate around "whether to burn paper" and "whether to burn paper" has never stopped.
With the fire caused by "burning paper" in previous years and opposing feudal superstitions, as well as a series of large-scale comprehensive rectifications such as "pollution control and haze reduction" and "defending the blue sky" in recent years, Xi'an's "October 1st" and "burning paper" are far less grand than in previous years, but they have been inherited, and even there will be people who "burn paper" on October 1 and chengguan who rectify "paper burning" will still stage "hide-and-seek" at every turn.
Finally, there is another point to say about the "burning paper" on October 1st: now Xi'an people's so-called October 1 is not a specific day, but more than ten days between the end of September and the beginning of October of the lunar calendar, most people in Xi'an burn paper money to send winter clothes before the first day of october in the lunar calendar, and there are also days after the first day of October.
What do you think about October 1st and "burning paper"? On this topic, everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area and share it with more people.
I am Huang Kun, a native of Xi'an, "Huang Kun Says Xi'an" is about my personal understanding and understanding of Xi'an, as a Xi'an person born in Xi'an, I plan to take "Huang Kun Says Xi'an" as the theme, through video and graphics to introduce the history of Culture and people's lives in all aspects of Xi'an, hoping to let more people understand Xi'an through their own efforts, more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Xi'an!
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