Celebrating the Zhongyuan Festival is an important folk custom in rural areas
Every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan Pudu) is the grand annual event of the local area, and it is the most important occasion of the year for Farmer Dad.
Every year during the Ghost Festival, every household in the farming village where Little Farmer lives takes part in the local temple's Pudu ceremony, and each family brings its offerings to the temple so that the Zhongyuan Pudu can be held together. The temple staff set up the canopies in advance and prepare the tables for the Pudu; on this day, almost every household mobilizes all its members.
The Pudu ceremony runs from about six thirty in the evening until around nine thirty at night, roughly three hours in total. As the Pudu nears its end, everyone begins standing by their own tables, waiting for the Taoist priest to call out ”shou” (collect)! (Calling ”shou” means the offerings can be packed away! At the same time, the Taoist priest begins chanting the scriptures.) And this part of the process is also the most interesting and most tense moment of the whole Pudu.
Because the moment the Taoist priest gives the order and shouts ”shou”, everyone suddenly moves extremely fast, as if they had pressed the fast-forward button while watching a DVD. Each person holds a big bag or box in one hand, while with the other hand they quickly sweep the offerings from the table straight down into the bag or box. The whole process is very tense, because everyone wants to pack everything on the table away before the Taoist priest finishes chanting the scriptures, and the scriptures are finished in about ten minutes. This custom has been passed down from earlier times to the present day, and it is said that the earlier a person finishes packing up, the more prosperous they will be in the coming year.
The Zhongyuan Pudu is not only a traditional custom, but also the annual major event for the residents of the farming village.
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