Chang’an Small Restaurant

Chapter 16 Offerings for the Ghost Festival

A week after the Double Seventh would be the Ghost Festival[1].

During this period, the Ghost Festival was considered a major event; all of the monasteries in the city would hold a religious assembly. As an annual tradition, the imperial palace would bestow Ghost Festival offerings full of rare treasures to Qinglong[2] and other similarly famous temples. Many civilians also go to the temples to offer sacrifices and pray for blessings. Often, in front of these big temples were opera performers and Buddhist scripture lectures, livening the whole venue.

Even the smaller and lesser known temples were very busy these days. This included Guangming Nunnery, the nuns had already cleaned and tidied up the whole building a few days ago. On the first day of the Ghost Festival, Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue recited sutras while wearing a formal kasaya[3]. Afterwards, the nuns would bring out a golden Ghost Festival offering baskets decorated with lotus patterns.

Shen Shaoguang presented her steamed honey offering pastry and donated some incense money, and continued to listen to the scriptures together with other devotees.

After the morning ceremony, Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue smiled at Shen Shaoguang and said, "What a delicate thing! Though it seems quite different from the Double Seventh Cakes, it’s also just as face-lifting with so many several layers stacked on a single plate."

Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue was indeed a master foodie, she could immediately spot the difference between the Ghost Festival Honey Offering Cakes and the Double Seventh Cakes. The Double Seventh Cakes were fresh and delicate and focused mainly on the taste, so it couldn’t be stored nor piled up. Honey offering cakes are mostly made with butter, honey, and flour, it could be steamed, fried, or baked. Each individual piece was straight and elongated and it could be stacked into three to five layers on a plate. The golden color was beautiful and honorable. Moreover, it had a longer shelf life, there was no problem in keeping it outside for six or seven days.

Unbeknownst to Senior Buddhist Nun Yuanjue, Shen Shaoguang's making of this honey offering cake was also related to the Double Seventh cakes.

In this dynasty, making tributes to offer as sacrifices was traditionally done by the family. The harsh reality of ‘pleasing the seniors[4]’ was a compulsory duty for the head madam of the house, so Shen Shaoguang didn't plan to exploit this festival. To her surprise, a customer who had tried her Double Seventh Cakes came to the store and ordered the same pastries to be used as offering sacrifices to their deceased parents on the fifteenth.

"When my parents were still alive, we were nothing but an impecunious family; they had never eaten such a delicate pastry in their lives. Now that I have fortunately improved my financial situation, I want them to try it too." The person who requested the cakes was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was wearing a silk gown and had a dark complexion, he looked to be a merchant who traveled long distances. While he spoke, the man’s face retained a sorrowful expression.

Shen Shaoguang also had a solemn and respectful face. She understood the feeling of ‘the children want to aid but their parents could no longer wait[5]’, she also wanted to do this business, but the shortcomings of those Double Seventh Cakes had to be clearly explained. Those pastries couldn’t even last three days of the Ghost Festival; once it sits in the wind, it will either crack, or disperse, or even spoil.

The man also knew that Shen Shaoguang was telling the truth, so he frowned in dismay.

Shen Shaoguang then recalled an editorial content she had published in her previous life titled "The Manchurian-Chinese Pastries[6] That Were Lost in Time", and said, "I'll change the recipe and try different methods. Be it steamed, baked, or fried— I’ll try to come out with a more adequate product."

After she made a couple varieties, Shen Shaoguang had the customer taste each one. Once he nodded in approval, Shen Shaoguang created Tang Dynasty's first ever honey offering cake in the style of the Manchurian-Chinese stacked pastry feast. It was naturally incomparable with the mini mansions made of honey offering pastries created during the Qing Dynasty, nor could she compete with the stacking craftsmanship during the early Republic of China. However, in the Tang Dynasty, the predecessor of more than a thousand years, it was more than enough to relieve a traveling merchant’s longing for his absent parents.

After one was completed, she made another. In the end Shen Shaoguang simply made three total. One for the merchant, while the second offered to Guangming Nunnery. It was to return a favor while also increasing the popularity of the nunnery. The last pastry was to be taken to Shing Wong Temple, located outside the city, on the day of the Ghost Festival as an offering.

Her current body’s biological parents and elder brothers all didn’t die of old age, nor were they provided a tomb to rest their bodies. It was said that offerings for those who die in this matter had to be sacrificed at Shing Wong Temple. Therefore, on the dawn of Ghost Festival, Shen Shaoguang simply closed the store and took A’Yuan to the outside of the city in a rented mule carriage.

Compared with the bustle and splendor of the temples in the city, Shing Wong Temple was much more desolate. The paved pathways were covered with weeds with mold covering the courtyard walls. The cakes and fruits placed in front of the offering table were very fresh and rich, probably left from a recent visitor. There was a lame old Taoist Priest in his fifties and a young Taoist boy taking care of the incense in the temple.

Shen Shaoguang placed her pastries and fruits onto the table, lit a few joss sticks, burned some joss money, offering these sacrifices to the Deity Shing Wong, her parents, and her other related family relatives. Before she left, Shen Shaoguang also gave some money to the old Taoist Priest.

The old Taoist Priest received the money. After he introduced his taoist name, he saluted and said, "The local Shing Wong is most effective, and will definitely extend his blessing to your prayers." The old Taoist Priest was given a generous donation from the last guest, so he didn’t care for Shen Shaoguang's money very much, but preferred her offerings more. When he was younger, he used to reside in a large Taoist monastery within the city. Even so, the offerings of the nobles were never this well put together. Once the sacrificial offerings were taken off, he’ll have to give it a good tasting.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and reciprocated the salute. She was only doing her part and hoped that their souls could be at peace and not suffer in the afterlife.

Now that she came to the outskirts, Shen Shaoguang decided to delay their trip back to take a stroll around with A’Yuan. This was the first time she had seen the countryside of this era.

Thatched cottages surrounded by the constant sounds of chickens clucking and dogs barking. Traces of smoke billowed from the cemetery as a few farmers were on their way home after worshiping their ancestors. If this was a painting, it had a very artistic conception, but if this was one’s living situation...

Shen Shaoguang turned to look at the clear river water, under the willow tree by the riverbank stood a man in a white robe. A few servants were waiting with their horses not far behind him. When the man turned his head, Shen Shaoguang quickly recognized him to be the scholar who laughed at Second Young Lady Pang in front of Guangming Nunnery.

Both of them were caught off guard at the sight of a familiar face. Shen Shaoguang bowed in ceremony, and was about to turn and leave when the man came over.

"Miss, did you also visit Shing Wong Temple to offer sacrifices?"

"Yes." Shen Shaoguang smiled.

"I wonder— for whom it’s for?"

Was it a trend for the people of Chang'an to be deep in conversation with a comparative stranger? Shen Shaoguang gave him an inquisitive look; the man had a pair of romantic peach blossom eyes, but at this moment a faint melancholy and sorrow conveyed from them.

"Close relatives." Shen Shaoguang finally answered.

"Who did you offer sacrifices for, Sir?" Shen Shaoguang then asked.

"A friendtor." Though it’s his friend’s and not his.

Shen Shaoguang nodded. To be willing to make a special trip out of the city, then they must have been very close. Moreover it was to Shing Wong Temple, so his friend may have also ended tragically. Shen Shaoguang recalled Gu Zhenguan’s cí poetry[7] verse from the ‘Song of Golden Silk[8]’: 

‘I continued to drift. After ten years, I have yet to repay these great favors; an indispensable mentor and friend[9].’ 

When she took another look at the man fully donned in white, Shen Shaoguang couldn't help but project the circumstances of the poem onto him. Her tone softened, "My greatest condolences." She saluted again, put on her veiled hat, and walked away with A’Yuan.

Looking at Shen Shaoguang's departing back, the scholar in white raised his eyebrows and smiled. She was so eloquent that day, but also so understanding today. Are all the little ladies this particular nowadays?

Lin Yan came back from a walk in the woods and followed the direction of his friend's gaze.

"Your female neighbor is very interesting." Pei Fei laughed.

Lin Yan indifferently replied, "It is better not to gossip about women."

"You are so old-fashioned! If your future bride is as witty and intelligent as her, wouldn’t she be bored to death by you?!"

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Footnotes:

[1] Ghost Festival - Ghost Festival on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. It is believed that during this month the gates of the underworld open and spirits are released with the freedom to visit their family, loved ones, or just roam around. To appease them, offerings are made, usually either food or joss money, or a combination of both. Read more here - https://oftaiwan.org/culture/ghost-festival/ 

[2] Qinglong Temple - Also known as the Green Dragon Temple, is located in the southeast of the ancient city of Xi'an, only 1.5 km (about one mile) away from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It is a famous Buddhist temple with ancient architecture and a Cultural Relics Museum. Qinglong Temple is one of the cradles of Esoteric Buddhism, one of eight Buddhist sects. Read more here - https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/dragon_temple.htm 

[3] kasaya - Robes of fully ordained Buddhist monks and nuns, named after a brown or saffron dye.

[4] ‘pleasing the seniors’ (主祀奉蘋蘩) - This phrase is taken from a poem by Bai Juyi. I really dumbed down the phrasing in the translations because my English really can't replicate the complexity of this verse haha. But you can read a decent translation of the poem here: - http://tangshi.tuxfamily.org/baijuyi/0038.html 

[5] ‘the children want to aid but their parents could no longer wait’ - is the half of the verse, but the whole reads:

‘树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在’

‘The trees long for peace but the wind will never cease, the children want to aid but their parents could no longer wait.’

It's an old saying which means the children want to support their parents, but parents can't wait for that day. Taken from the collection: 'Han shi waizhuan'

[6] Manchurian-Chinese Pastries - Basically it's a stack of different pastries onto a plate. The taller, the better. Watch the video starting at 5:11. There's an English translation, but instead of pastries, they used the pinyin 'bobo'. https://youtu.be/c_FJoniE-mY?t=311