The full moon day of the 7th month is a major holiday of the year, carrying profound spiritual significance for our people. This holiday is so popular, but do you know the origin of the Full Moon Day of July and the special meaning of this day? Let's find out with Mykingdom through this article.
Origin of the full moon day of the seventh month
The full moon day of the 7th month is associated with two major festivals: Vu Lan Festival and Forgiveness Day. Both holidays originate from long-standing legends, passed down from generation to generation.
Origin of Vu Lan festival
According to folk legend, Vu Lan holiday comes from the story of the Venerable Maudgalyayana saving his mother from the life of a hungry ghost (he was one of the two great disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha). The story is told that when he learned that his mother, Thanh De, was suffering in the life of Hungry Ghosts in hell, Maudgalyayana came to her and offered food to her. However, because of the karma she caused while she was alive, the rice brought to her mouth immediately turned into fire.
Feeling sorry for his mother, Maudgalyayana went to the Buddha to ask how to save her. Buddha taught: “No matter how powerful and generous you are, you cannot save your mother. We can only hope for the combined efforts of monks from all over the ten directions." The Buddha also said that the full moon day of the 7th month is the appropriate time to invite the monks and Maudgalyayana to prepare the offering tray on that day.
Sentient beings who want to release the karma of their birth should also do it this way. Maudgalyayana followed the teachings and freed his mother from the life of Hungry Ghosts. Since then, the full moon day of the 7th month has been a day of worship to show gratitude and express filial piety to parents, also known as Vu Lan festival.
Origin of the Day of Atonement for the Dead
In addition to the Vu Lan festival, the Full Moon day of the 7th month is also the day to forgive the sins of the dead. According to the concept of an ancient Chinese Taoist, the full moon day of the 7th month is also known as the Trung Nguyen period. On this day, the King of Hell will open the gate of the Demon Gate, and the souls in hell will be allowed to return to the sun. time to receive offerings and offerings from the living. Therefore, people will make offerings to sentient beings (or to ghosts) to give alms to wandering souls. That is why the full moon day of the 7th month is also known as the day of pardoning the dead or offering food.
Besides, according to Buddhist beliefs, the worship of ghosts in July originates from the story between Venerable Ananda and a hungry ghost. One night, the Venerable Ananda was sitting in his retreat when he saw a hungry ghost with a dry and thin body, a small and long neck, and fire coming out of his mouth.
The demon told him that three days later, Ananda would die and fall into a fire-mouthed hungry ghost with a burned face like his. Extremely frightened, he asked the demon how to avoid the disaster and the demon said: You must make offerings to us and for me make offerings to the Three Jewels. That way your life will be increased and I will also be reborn.
Afterwards, Ananda told this story to the Buddha, who gave him the sutra "Saving the Hungry Ghost Da La Ni" to recite during the worshiping ritual, to gain more blessings.
Meaning of Full Moon in July
Vu Lan Festival is an opportunity for children to show their filial piety and gratitude for the birth and upbringing efforts of their parents in both this life and previous lives. During the ceremony, participants will perform the ritual of releasing flower lanterns and pink corsages to wish the best and most peaceful things to come to their grandparents and parents.
Every house displays trays to offer to sentient beings on the Day of Forgiveness of the Dead. Full moon offerings in the seventh month have become a traditional ritual in the religious life of Vietnamese people. The offering trays have the meaning of giving food to the spirits, chasing away bad luck, and saving souls who have no place to go. The soul offering trays partly demonstrate the good tradition of saving suffering and being rich in compassion of our people.
How to worship the Full Moon of the 7th month according to traditional customs
The custom of offering glass on the full moon day of the 7th month has become a long-standing custom of every Vietnamese family. The day of worship and the offerings chosen to be placed on the offering tray are quite flexible, based on each family's conditions. The most important thing is that the homeowner must be sincere, read the eulogy, and express good thoughts toward the gods, gods, Buddhas, and ancestors. In addition, you need to pay attention to some of the principles below.
Vu Lan Ceremony and the Day of Forgiveness of the Dead have different worship times
According to feng shui experts, worshiping Buddha, gods and ancestors should all be done during the day, around 11 - 12 noon. Many people believe that this is the time when the spirits of the deceased are allowed into the door by the Earth God to receive blessings, without being disturbed by other ghosts or ghosts.
On the contrary, the ceremony to worship sentient beings should be performed in the evening, the best time is the hour of the Rooster, which is from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Although the day and time of worshiping the Full Moon of the 7th month are not too strict, the homeowner must worship before the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, because after this time the Demon Gate will close.
Offering tray for the Full Moon of the 7th month
Depending on the economic and cultural conditions in each place, each full moon offering tray in July will be different. You can refer to how to properly display a feast tray at: How to display a full moon offering tray in July at the company
So Mykingdom has provided you with extremely useful information about the full moon day of the 7th month . This is also a spiritual value that deserves to be passed down and spread. We hope that you can convey the good values of the holiday to children, so that they can preserve and develop these traditions. This system occurs after the child becomes an adult.
