癸巳蛇年送寒衣懷思之期 Offering of Winter Clothing to the Wanderings 2013

In Taoist Culture, there are 3 Major Days for the Taoists to show their Filial Piety, Gratitude and Thanksgiving to the Ancestors/Pass-on Members and also, to perform a Minor Concern to the Wanderings or Un-attended Souls. These 3 Major Days in Taoist Culture is known as The Three Gratitude Days for the Souls or San Da Ming Jie in Chinese (三大冥節).

So which are the 3 Days?

There are,

1 – Qing Ming Period aka The Tomb-sweeping Festival (清明節)
2 – The Seventh Month Celebration aka Zhong Yuan Festival (中元節)
3 – The Offering of Winter-clothing Day aka Han Yi Day (寒衣節)

For Qing Ming Period, usually it will falls in the Lunar 2 Month till Lunar 3 Month, whereas the Seventh Month Celebration will starts on the 1st Day till the Last Day of Lunar 7 Month.

And so, when is the Date for Winter-clothing Offering?

It actually falls on the 1st Day of Lunar 10 Month and this is why, in the Ancient Chinese Records, it is also known as Shi Yue Shuo Jie (十月朔節), meaning the Starting of the Lunar 10 Month or the starting of the Winter Season.

To know more on the Origin of the Offering of Winter Clothing Day, you all may wish to proceed to this Link (寒衣節的由來):

http://javewutaoismplace.blogspot.sg/2009/11/offering-of-winter-clothing-for-pass-on.html

For Year 2013, it falls on 03 Nov, a Sunday.

So how was this Offering of Winter Clothing being carried-out in the Ancient China?

According to the Ancient Records, the Offering of Winter Clothing are being categorised into 2 types,

1 – Home-based Offering (家中祭奠)
2 – Official/Governmental Offering (公眾祭奠)

For Home-based Offering, Descendants/Family Members must prepared the necessary Offerings (as below) for the Honouring of the Pass-on Members at Home or at the Graves,

1 – Incenses & Candles (香燭)
2 – Paper Offerings (including the Paper-bag of Winter-clothing 紙料/寒衣包袱)
3 – Scriptures (or engaged Taoist Masters for the Chanting 經懺)
4 – Seven Cooked Dishes (七道熟食)
5 – One bowl of Soup (湯料一碗)
6 – The Three Sacrificed Meat Offerings (Pig, Fish, Chicken/Duck 三牲)
7 – Cooked Rice (米飯)
8 – Wine/Chinese Tea (茶酒)
9 – Four sets of Bowls/Spoons/Chop-sticks (四副碗筷)

Once after All the Offerings are being prepared and placed in order on the Altar, the whole Family has to make 3 Kowtows to the Ancestors and after 3 rounds of Offering of Wine & Tea, the Burning-off of the Paper-offerings and Winter-clothing will be done. On the Paper-bag of Winter-clothing, the Names of Three Generations Ancestors will be indicated – meaning, Father, Grandfather & Great-grandfather (寒衣包袱之上書有祖上三代名諱).

After the Honouring of Ancestors, the Family Members will then gathered a bowl of Rice and some dishes from the Ancestor Honouring and then throw the bowl of Rice and the dishes onto the Main Road or at some Grass-areas nearby the House, this is to Offer the Food to the nearby Wanderings. For some Families, they will also burn some Paper-offerings at the Road-side, hoping that, after the Wanderings got the Offerings, they will “Blessed” on the People staying in the area. In Taoism, this is known as Ji Gu (濟孤).

For Official/Governmental Offering, this is usually being carried-out by the Area Officers or Magistrate Office (地方官/知縣/等) – The Offering reaches Peak in Ming Dynasty.

In the Morning of the 1st Day of Lunar 10 Month (農曆十月初一日早晨), the Officer will arrived at the Temple dedicated to Lord Cheng Huang aka City Deity (城隍尊神) and made a report on the Objective of the Day’s Event and then, the Constables (衙差) will shift the statue of Lord Cheng Huang onto a prepared Sedan-chair and on the Sedan Chair (大紅轎), there are 1 or 2 plaque(s) with the words written on it – Feng Zhi Si Gu (匾書有 - 奉旨祀孤), meaning this Offerings to the Wanderings is being Authorised and Granted by the Emperor. In Ming Dynasty (明朝), The Lunar 10 Month Procession of Lord Cheng Huang is also known as Fang Gui Shou Ji Ri (放鬼受濟日), meaning Releasing of Souls for Salvation.

Once the statue of Lord Cheng Huang is being invited on the Sedan-chair and secured firmly, the Officer will lead the way and starts the Procession of going round the whole Village/Town/City (遊境濟孤).

During the Procession, the Officer will stop at certain areas/corners and ordered the Constables to burn some Paper-offerings, this is to show the “Concern” for those un-attended Souls or Suffering Wanderings in the Area. By doing so, the Officer hopes that the Wanderings will not disturb the Mortals living in the Area.

After the whole Procession was done, the Officer will lead the Sedan-chair back to the Temple and ushered Lord Cheng Huang back onto the Altar and on the very night, simple Dinner will be held at the Area/Village/City for the People staying around, this is to celebrate that Harvesting had completed and a Year is about to end.

In Summary

Due to lost of Interest in Chinese Culture, lost of Recognition in Root-Culture and the Down-fall of Taoist Culture, many such Traditional Practices are gone or being forgotten by a lot of the Taoists/Chinese.

Shall Oneself still continue such a Culture?

Is Oneself doing it for Fun?
Is this Culture important to Oneself/Us?

I think this is something that worth many of us to sit down and ponder over it.

Last of All, hope to see more Taoists/Chinese get involved in this Culture before it is gone.

Theme Song for Han Yi Festival (寒衣節主題曲﹕孟姜女):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKuy_0zkBaw&feature=colike
http://youtu.be/SF3a0vfUR5w