Ghost Festival, also known as Zhongyuan Festival, is also known as July half, July 14, ancestor worship Festival, Yulan basin Festival and local official festival. The festival customs mainly include ancestor worship, releasing river lanterns, sacrificing the dead, burning paper ingots, sacrificing the land, etc. Zhongyuan Festival is the name of Taoism. It is called "July and a half" (or "July 14") in the folk and secular world. Its emergence can be traced back to the ancestor worship and related time sacrifices in ancient times.
July and a half was originally a folk ancestor worship festival in ancient times, and it was called "Zhongyuan Festival", which originated from Taoism after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Taoism has the "three element theory". Heaven officials bless the yuan, earth officials forgive sins, and water officials solve misfortune. The name of the yuan comes from this. Buddhism calls July and a half "Yulan basin Festival". In the Tang Dynasty, when the rulers respected Taoism, the Taoist Zhongyuan festival began to flourish and gradually fixed the "Zhongyuan" as the name of the festival. The festival period was set on July 15 and has continued so far.
In ancient China, July 15 was the Zhongyuan Festival, commonly known as ghost festival. It is said that on this day, the gate of hell is wide open, and the dead will wander around the world. Therefore, the living should prepare some sacrifices to worship the wronged souls on this day. Since the Song Dynasty, the Zhongyuan festival in different places is no longer unified on July 15, but from July 11 to July 15. But different places have the same Ghost Festival taboo.