15/11/2024
Cheng Bohan
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in China is called the Shang Yuan Festival (Upper Yuan) 上元节, which celebrates the Lantern Festival, a tradition that dates back to ancient times. The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is called the Zhong Yuan Festival (Middle Yuan)中元节, dedicated to ancestral worship. The fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month is called the Xia Yuan Festival (Lower Yuan), also for ancestral worship. The origin of the Xia Yuan Festival is related to Daoism.
In Daoism, there are three officials: the Heavenly Official, the Earthly Official, and the Water Official.天官，地官，水官 It is said that the Upper Yuan's nine qi bestows blessings through the Heavenly Official, the Middle Yuan's seven qi grants pardons through the Earthly Official, and the Lower Yuan's five qi resolves difficulties and catastrophe through the Water Official. The birthdays of these three officials fall on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Heavenly Official's blessing), the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month (Earthly Official's pardoning), and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month (Water Official's resolution of difficulties), respectively. These three days are known as the "Upper Yuan Festival," "Middle Yuan Festival," and "Lower Yuan Festival."
On the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the ancient Chinese Xia Yuan Festival, coinciding with the harvest season in rural areas, people traditionally make rice cakes (ci ba) 糍粑and share them with relatives and friends. In the Wujin area江苏省常州市武进区, almost every household would make small glutinous rice balls with vegetable filling using newly harvested rice flour, steam them, and offer them outside their main door in a ritual called "offering to heaven." An old saying goes: "On the tenth month's fifteenth, pull the rice cake roller and make offerings to the Three Officials."“十月半，牵砻团子斋三官”
In Daoist tradition, this day was considered one of the birthday of the "Three Officials" (Heaven, Earth, and Water Officials). Daoist would erect poles outside their doors with yellow flags bearing phrases such as "Heavenly, Earthly, and Water Palaces," "Favorable Weather," "National Peace and Prosperity," and "Disaster Prevention and Blessing." “天地水府”“风调雨顺”“国泰民安”“消灾降福”
In the evening, three lanterns would be hung at the top of the pole, and rice balls would be offered to the Three Officials. Common people would worship deceased spirits and pray to the Xia Yuan Water Official for help in resolving difficulties. After the Republic period, this custom gradually declined, and people moved the ceremonies for ancestral worship and paper money burning to the Zhong Yuan Festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
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