Taoist culture and Chinese folk customs

Mr. Lu Xun once said, "China is all rooted in Taoism". Taoist culture is a native religious culture in China, which has penetrated into the traditional culture, traditional life and traditional way of thinking of Chinese people. Taoist culture has been deeply branded in all aspects of Chinese folk customs. In the traditional festivals, in the daily life of traveling at home, and in the life station of life, there are all traces of Taoism culture. 1、 There are various traditional festivals that have been handed down for a long time and have become popular among Chinese people. These festivals and their related customs are inextricably linked with Taoist culture, many of which originate from Taoist legends, and even are purely Taoist festivals. Now, we will list the Taoist legends in the festivals that still exist and still have some influence in the folk as follows, from which it is not difficult to see the influence of Taoist culture on our lives. The Spring Festival is the most solemn, lively and joyful festival in China's traditional festivals. It is full of fairy legends and customs related to the birthdays of Taoist figures. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, it is said that it is the birthday of the goddess of rice, and it is disrespectful to cook rice, which is especially popular in rural Hubei. On this day, it is the birthday of Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth, and businesses and enterprises have made a lot of money; People who eat well and dress well should get up early on this day to greet his arrival with firecrackers, gongs and drums, and three sacrificial feasts. On that night, the family wanted to eat rice dumpling, because it looked like "Yuanbao", also called "Jinyuanbao", which was said to symbolize the treasure bestowed by the God of Wealth. The ninth day of the first month is the birthday of the Jade Emperor. The Taoist classics said that after 3200 calamities, he "gradually entered the nihilistic way", and after another 100 million calamities, he became the Jade Emperor; He also said that he was the descendant of Yuanshi Tianzun, who was sent to the world by the Supreme Lord. Therefore, no one dare to neglect the birthday of the "ruler of the universe". On this day, fairies will be held in various palaces and monasteries. Good men and faithful women will go to the palaces and monasteries to kowtow and offer incense. Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) Festival is the first full moon night after the New Year, so it is also called "Shangyuan Festival". According to Taoism, heaven, earth and water are three yuan, also known as three officials, which are in charge of human disasters and blessings, and the rise and fall of ghosts and gods. The fifteenth day of the first month, the fifteenth day of July, and the fifteenth day of October are the birthdays of the three officials. On that day, the Taoist temple often held a fast meeting, and good men and women also went to the Sanguan Hall to offer incense. The fifteenth day of the first month is also the memorial day of Zigu, the toilet god. People put up offerings to welcome Zigu and tell her about sericulture farming and good or bad luck. February comes, spring is warm, and the second day of February is the Christmas of the land god. This land god is closest to the people. He can bless the grain harvest, the prosperity of the six animals, the safety of the houses, and the import of more people. Therefore, on the second day of February, the people burn incense and worship. In Gu Tieqing's "Records of the Qing Dynasty", the scene of the villagers celebrating the birthday of the land god was recorded: "The official government pays a tribute, and the officials and Xu people offer incense and fire, and each animal is happy to offer it. The village farmers are also household kettles to wish the gods." This kind of scene is difficult to see today, and now, the remote rural areas also retain this ritual custom. March Tomb-sweeping Day is another traditional festival in China. Folk activities mainly include tomb sweeping and ancestor worship, outing and wearing willows. In rural areas of Zhejiang Province, in addition to ancestor worship and outing, the Tomb Sweeping Festival also honors the silkworm god. Taoism calls the silkworm god "Xuanming Immortal". It is said that the Lingbao Heavenly Priest sympathizes with the world's ups and downs, and has nothing to gain from clothing. It is said that the Xuanming Immortal was incarnated as a silkworm moth. It teaches the people to raise silkworms and weave clothes. The villagers feel virtuous and set up a temple to offer sacrifices. The Dragon Boat Festival comes on the fifth day of May. There are different opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. As far as the national customs are concerned, most people believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from Qu Yuan and commemorated Qu Yuan. However, some scholars have verified that there is no record of the Dragon Boat Festival in the Book of Jin, and the formation of the festival may be related to the worship of water gods or dragon gods held by Taoism. They have demonstrated with examples that there are dragon invitation and dragon sacrifice ceremonies before the Dragon Boat Race in Jiangxi. Although this statement belongs to one family, it at least shows that the Dragon Boat Festival is still related to Taoism. The Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth of July is also known as "Ghost Festival". The Mid-Autumn Festival is the birthday of the Taoist god and the "day of forgiveness". On this day, ghosts will come out, or visit their descendants in the world, or make trouble to bring disaster to people. This is a ghost festival, so people should worship their ancestors and go to the grave on this day. The Mid-Autumn Festival is highly valued among the people, and the custom of worshipping ancestors and going to the grave is still preserved in the southern provinces. The Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15 has the customs of offering sacrifices to the moon, worshipping the moon and eating moon cakes. Taoists believe that this day is the day of the Yuan Dynasty of the Taiyin Dynasty. They should watch the night to burn incense and worship the moon god. The ninth day of September is the "Double Ninth Festival". There are many customs, such as traveling to climb mountains, appreciating chrysanthemums, planting cornus, flying kites, drinking chrysanthemum wine, and eating Double Ninth cakes. The legend of the origin of this festival is also related to Taoism. According to Wu Jun's "Continuation of Qi's Harmony" in the Southern Dynasty, Huan Jing of Runan traveled with Taoist Fei Changfang for several years. Fei told Huan that there was a disaster in your family on the ninth day of September. You should go back quickly and ask your family members to make red bags, hold cornel to tie their arms, and drink chrysanthemum wine from high. The disaster can be eliminated. Huan listened to his words, climbed the mountain with his family, and saw the sudden death of chickens, dogs, cattle and sheep. Later generations followed the custom. In order to avoid disasters, they climbed high on the Double Ninth Festival to drink and planted cornus trees everywhere. On the fifteenth day of October, the Lantern Festival is the birthday of the Emperor Shuiguan, and also the day when the Shuiguan solved his dilemma. On the same day, the palace and temple built a ceremony to relieve the suffering, and the people prepared plenty of delicious dishes to offer sacrifices to ancestors and gods in order to pray for good fortune. The winter solstice in November is also known as the "Winter Festival", where families gather to prepare delicious food and offer sacrifices to heaven and ancestors. People still attach importance to this festival. For example, Hangzhou, Zhejiang and other places have said that "the winter solstice is as big as the year". Why is this festival so important? It turns out that the winter solstice is the birthday of the original Taoist god, who is the highest god of Taoism, the master of all gods, and the creator of all things in the world. Of course, people dare not be careless. On the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, the custom is to send the Kitchen God to the sky. It is said that the Kitchen God was sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise the good and evil on earth. Once he found that he was dissatisfied with his behavior, he would secretly write down an account, and then he would return to the sky on the 24th of December, make a general report to the Jade Emperor, and then bring disaster to the guilty people. Therefore, on this day, people should put pig heads and wine and meat in the kitchen, burn incense and offer sacrifices, and pray for the kitchen god to "say good things from heaven and bring good luck to the earth". The above are the annual festivals influenced by Taoist legends. Through the investigation of them, we can find that some of the annual festivals in Japan are Taoist festivals, just because of the participation of the people, the secular content has been added, and is no longer limited to the birthday of a god, but has evolved into a traditional Chinese festival; Another part of the traditional New Year Festival is more colorful because of the participation of Taoist legends and sacrificial rituals. 2、 Fairy wind traces in festival activities add magic, joy and joy to the festival. Some Taoist activities and ceremonies have evolved into a deep psychological consciousness and settled in the folk. Today, we can still see the customs and habits of setting off fireworks and firecrackers, hanging peach charms, pasting the door god's Spring Festival couplets, walking on the green and wearing willows, hanging the wormwood and hanging the Pu, and hanging the seals in the spring festival at the age of, in fact, are all Taoist customs and habits of averting disasters and eliminating evil The embodiment of exorcism and pestilence. Setting off firecrackers is an essential ceremony in festivals or festive days. In the eyes of modern people, firecrackers can add joy, so they are welcomed by the general public. But its original meaning comes from a kind of exorcism. According to The Chronicle of Jingchu, "On the first day of the first month of the first lunar month, the rooster crows, and the firecrackers are fired before the court in order to avoid the mountain sao and evil spirits." Because the mountain sao and evil spirits are afraid of the light, the sound of firecrackers and red, people use the noise to scare them away, but at this time, the explosion is to use bamboo knots to burn in the fire and make a loud noise. When the Taoist priest who made pills in the furnace accidentally invented gunpowder that can make a huge noise, he applied it to the magic of exorcism to produce various kinds of firecrackers to replace the firecracker and achieve the purpose of exorcism and peace. It is one of the customs of the Spring Festival to hang peach charms, stick door gods and spring couplets. On December 30 or the first day of the first lunar month, every household gets up early in the morning to hang a peach charm in front of the door, affix the door god and the Spring Festival couplets written on red paper, in order to avoid bad luck and seek good luck