Chapter 154 On the sixth day of the first lunar month, send the poor god

"Sending the poor" on the sixth day of the first lunar month every year is a very distinctive folk custom in ancient my country.Sending off the poor is offering sacrifices to the poor ghosts (poor gods) to go out, so that the God of Wealth will come in next year and make a fortune. So, who is the poor god? Poor god, also known as "poor son".According to the notes of Song people, the poor ghost is the son of the ancient emperor Zhuanxu.He is weak and short in stature, likes to wear rags and eat porridge.Even if new clothes were given to him, he would tear them or burn a hole with fire before wearing them. Therefore, everyone called him "poor man".On the dark day of the first month, the poor man died, and the palace officials buried him and said, "Today, send the poor man away." Since then, the poor man has become the god of poverty that everyone fears.

The custom of sending the poor was very popular in the Tang Dynasty. Han Yu, a great writer, once wrote an article "Sending the Poor", and Yao He in the Tang Dynasty also wrote the poem "Three Poems of Sending the Poor on a Dark Day".After the Song Dynasty, the custom of sending the poor was still popular.The specific ritual of sending the poor is not only to prepare a symbolic car and boat for the "poor ghost", but also to bring him dry food.In some places, there is also the practice of "sending the poor with banana boats". The custom of sending the poor to the poor, which is widely spread among the people, reflects the traditional psychology of the Chinese people who generally hope to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new, send off the old poverty and hardship, and welcome a better life in the new year.