Dialogue between two generations of wives: environmental protection, diet and customs

Share441 + 12 Tweet1 EmailShares 444.Bye-bye is a deep-rooted custom in Taiwan society. Every New year, housewives are always busy in and out of the kitchen, preparing to worship heaven and ancestors. The Friday book club members of the Taichung Branch of the Housewives Union Environmental Protection Foundation had an interesting exchange of experiences on the topic of "environmentally friendly Diet and Customs".

Worship and worship to ancestors filled the table

Elders like to say good-bye, because their children and grandchildren will go home, the elderly like lively, there are many people, of course, there must be a surging meal. Good-bye has a basic "plate": the foundation master loves to eat drumsticks, a bowl of rice, a drumstick, and a bowl of vegetables is the best equipment; parents must have celery (symbolizing that people will be "relaxed"), dried bean curd (grandchildren will be "officials"), bean sprouts (take their appearance "as desired"), leeks (for a long time), three animals in chicken, duck and goose, of course, fish and pigs are indispensable offerings. There must be red vegetables and beans in the Dragon Boat Festival, and fried noodles or rice noodles in addition to rice. Such a rich meal reflects the culture of Taiwan's agricultural society.

Everyone is busy and Wushu prepares so many dishes, would you like to worship the canned food? It is agreed with the partners that what you have worshipped is usually the main meal. The ancestors ate the same as us, but prepared a little more when they said goodbye, and it seemed too insincere to worship canned food. On the contrary, the homophonic "Wangwang" rice fruit is often a necessary snack on the table because of its good luck.

Social changes. Bye-bye is also transforming.

Due to the development of industry and commerce, Taiwan has transformed from an agricultural society to an industrial and commercial society. as the elders grow old and the children grow up and leave the nest, the surging tables of the New year can no longer be digested by one or two people, and the endless dishes are heated again and again, which do not meet the health requirements. When the children get married and their wives have to go to work, they may not necessarily follow the previous generation to prepare for good-bye because of their different religious beliefs. Older mothers simply act as "bad guys" for once and make some simplifications and reforms in "good-bye".

The purpose of worship is the peace of mind of the elders and themselves, and the change of the general environment, and the mother wisely adjusts the steps of worship: for example, she simplifies the way of worship and no longer prepares too many dishes for worship; it is really hard work to remember to worship every day of the ancestors' death. if you forget, you will feel sorry. So in the communication of the elders, after consulting the ancestors, the ancestors' death dates and birthdays were concentrated on the double Ninth Mother's Day, so as to avoid the unease of forgetting the ancestors' death birthday and the tedious work of buying and cooking. The family has a simple population, and the buffet provides a small number of choices, which solves the problem of busy modern people saying "good-bye".

Private operators smell the "worship" business opportunity of social transformation and provide services that can be invited to temples. Ancestors listen to the Sanskrit singing in the evening drum and morning bell, run the folk ancestral sacrifice industry as enterprises, and prepare vegetarian offerings on behalf of festivals, which can be enjoyed on the spot or donated to charities.

Bye-bye. How to take care of environmental protection?

Reducing the burning of gold notes during the Spring Festival is a work promoted by the Environmental Protection Department in recent years. Mothers with Buddhist beliefs can pay their respects by serving tea without incense and meditation. You can even gradually communicate with the elders of the family. Li Shu, the mother of the book club, and her 85-year-old father-in-law said, "if you can already go to heaven, but we burn the gold ticket to hell for you, are we not taking you to a bad place?" The old man accepted the idea gladly.

Buddhism provides "praising the sutra back" is a better way to repay the relatives of the deceased. If the elders cannot accept these ideas, then you can reduce the amount of gold paper burning after communicating with the elders and telling the ancestors. In recent years, under the strong initiative and guidance of environmental protection groups and the public sector, it seems that some results have been achieved.

In addition, worshippers at home and temples replace fish with fresh flowers and fruits, serve tea without burning incense, and use donations instead of offerings to provide more practical help to temples. Worshiping in temples can also replace incense burning with ten silent prayers and talk to the gods with a pious heart.

Temple fairs and ceremonies often cause great environmental problems, and they have also been improved due to the rise of environmental awareness. We only have feelings for our parents, and we don't have to expect our grandchildren to miss us the same way. Worship rituals will change with the evolution of the times, nothing more than expressing the idea of pursuing far away, in a way that is acceptable to us and environmentally friendly.

With the change of social form, festivals are no longer the way of interaction between people in the traditional society, but religious belief is still an important spiritual sustenance for people, and worshiping ancestors is more of a cultural heritage. The "good-bye" ceremony can be carried out in an appropriate way. The mothers of the book club have a new idea of going out of traditional thinking and expressing the traditional "good-bye". [this article is published simultaneously on the website of the Housewives Union Environmental Protection Foundation]

(by Lin Shu-Chen / Advisory Committee of the Housewives' Union Environmental Protection Foundation Taichung Branch)

Share441 + 12 Tweet1 EmailShares 444