What's the point of recognizing a godmother?

"Worship the godmother" is to adopt the father and foster mother, which is a popular conservation custom in China. In the north, it is called "recognizing michel platini, godmother"; In the south, it is called "recognizing the father and sending the mother away", commonly known as "worshiping the master and the mother".

Friar relatives in infancy may be permanent, this relationship may last a lifetime, or it may be temporary. From three to five years to a hasty meeting, it is irrelevant from then on. The object of "worshipping relatives" is both people and things. One of its purposes is to be afraid that children are delicate and difficult to have children, or that they have died before, and that they have no children, so that they can avoid disasters and save their children by "worshipping relatives"; Second, the child's fate is not good, and the father and mother are forced to transfer their fate by "visiting relatives" to achieve harmony and prosperity. In order to make children easy to raise, "godmother worship" generally likes to recognize families with many children or poor families as adoptive parents, because children in families with many children are like flocks of small animals, and it is easy to grow up; In addition, poor families generally have more children. They are not exquisite, but they are easy to support and grow up. Of course, there are also two families who are willing to admit that each other's children are adopted sons and daughters in order to enhance their feelings. As for the rich people who admit that Hannah Quinlivan and the dancers are goddaughters, they have ulterior motives and have nothing to do with us.

Due to different geographical, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, the habit of "visiting relatives" is also very different in etiquette and customs.

In Beijing, it is generally believed that recognizing michel platini as a godmother will be detrimental to her own biological children, so she is not a close friend, and people are usually afraid to ask whose biological children michel platini and Ma Yu are; And worship the godmother, the two sides should exchange gifts and hold banquets. After that, godchildren and goddaughters will give gifts to michel platini and godmother every year, and michel platini and godmother will also give gifts back. Therefore, no wealthy family is difficult to socialize.

Since you want to "worship your relatives", you have to choose an auspicious day to hold the ceremony. At that time, parents should not only prepare a sumptuous banquet, but also prepare gifts for their children to pay tribute to michel platini and godmother. In this gift, the most important thing is the hat for michel platini and the shoes for dopted mother. In addition, it should be matched with items such as cloth. Of course, michel platini and dopted mother can't just go in and out. Michel platini and dopted mother must provide their adopted sons and daughters with rice bowls, chopsticks and a long-life lock. In addition, they should also have a set of small clothes, such as shoes and socks, hats, bibs and Chinese-style covers. In the past, for these gifts, wealthy families would go to jewelry stores to order silver bowls and chopsticks, or go to Huguo Temple and Baita Temple to buy wooden bowls to prevent children from breaking them by mistake. If you break the bowl just in case, it is considered very unlucky.

In some places in Henan and Shaanxi, "worshipping relatives" is done by "touching". In Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, Henan Province, on the first morning of a baby's birth, the baby's father will go out and "touch" his surname. The first person who is "touched", regardless of sex, age, the father of the baby will kneel and kowtow, then explain to him that there is a baby at home and ask another person to name the baby. In the past, most people who got up early in rural areas were old scavengers. Some people were unprepared, but because of customs, it was not convenient to shut them out, so they had to make up their minds. As a result, names such as "dung basket", "dog head", "dog baby" and "cat baby" came out. Although these names are a bit indecent, they are just nicknames, which are people's favorite names for children. It doesn't matter much if they are called children. In some places, people who are "touched" will not only name the baby, but also give the baby a gift and be recognized as the godfather godmother. In some places in Shaanxi, the "recognition of godmother" is usually carried out by my grandmother or grandfather on the day of the child's "full moon". The first adult I met after going out was worshipped as godmother or michel platini. Of course, this kind of "collision" is random, and most occasions are arranged in advance. The first person you meet is someone who has a good relationship with family or status.

In Hangzhou, children have another custom of "visiting relatives". The godmother they worship is not a real person, but a "ghost" often mentioned in Lu Xun's articles. There, "parents are afraid that their son won't live long, and they are afraid that it will cost a lot of money to worship their parents, so they don't send it to others, but to ghosts", commonly known as "worship Hu Ganye". According to local legends, ghosts are ghosts sent by Yan Luowang to detain the souls of the dead. He sent his children to the ghost, hoping that it would not detain his son's soul to protect his longevity. In the past, the world didn't know the ghost's surname, so it was called "Hu Ganye". The way to worship Hu Ganye is: the parents of the children should first make a brand-new white dress, then take it to the temple and change it into the old clothes of Hu Ganye's idol, and burn shochu, sesame seeds, incense and silver ingots. Finally, the messenger's son was named Chinese monk by the temple. Since then, every July, the parents of the child will take him to the temple to celebrate his birthday for Grandpa Hu until the child reaches the age of 16.

Besides the Han nationality, some ethnic minorities in China also have the custom of "visiting relatives", such as Tujia nationality. Tujia children not only give their children to people with other surnames as "godchildren" and "goddaughters", but some families also give their children to trees, rocks, wells, pigs, dogs, chickens and other things, and name them after things they worship. If it is a boy, it is generally called "rock protection", "water protection", "pig protection" and "chicken protection". If it is a girl, it is usually named as Yanmei, Shui Mei, Dog Sister and Chicken Sister. Because in the view of Tujia people, only by sending children to others or things can disasters be eliminated and children grow up smoothly.

However, as long as the children formally kowtow to michel platini and dopted mother and change their names to michel platini and dopted mother, the ordinary "godmother recognition" ceremony will be completed. If the child is young and particularly delicate, when recognizing the dopted mother, the dopted mother will wear a particularly fat red trousers and sit on the kang, and others will hold the child out of the crotch, indicating that the child is her own. Then dopted mother puts a longevity lock on him (her) and gives him a baby name, which will be used when eating the chopsticks presented by father and dopted mother in the future. This means that children will become their children from now on and eat the food of their families, regardless of their biological parents. From then on, children can borrow the blessings of michel platini and dopted mother to grow up smoothly and live a long and healthy life.

Although the conservation custom of "visiting relatives" has different forms in different regions and ethnic groups, we can still find some commonalities, that is, (1) they all have the same purpose, that is, to make children easy to raise and grow up smoothly; (2) The causes are similar, and they all have a strong superstitious color; (3) Emotions are consistent and full of strong human feelings.

Claiming to have a family relationship

Identifying kinship is a popular folk custom in rural areas of Shanxi in the old days. After the kinship is recognized, most of them have frequent contacts, imitating the way of family communication and forming a relatively fixed kinship.

In rural areas, although there are no fixed programs, michel platini, dopted mother, brother and sister are recognized godmothers. The reasons for the formation of confession are roughly like this. The two families are friends and have a good relationship. In order to make this connection relatively fixed, the method of letting the next generation recognize and express their feelings is adopted to deepen communication. For example, foster parents, foster mothers and so on. Some are because one party has great kindness to the other's family, and one party repays the kindness of the other party, so they form a long-term relationship by acknowledging their relatives and acting as their adopted sons, so as to achieve the purpose of gratitude. Also, because the children are delicate and afraid of premature death, they adopt the method of betraying relatives, so that the michel platini brothers and sisters can keep their children, so that they can avoid misfortune and grow up. There are also some families who have become expensive in order to climb to the top, so that children can recognize the rich as michel platini, or they can benefit from it in the future. In addition, children are sent to nurses' homes to nurse at an early age, thus forming a new relationship between children and nurses. In rural areas, they are called wet nurses, wet dads and wet brothers. In fact, this is also a godmother relationship. There are many reasons to admit this kinship, but the appearance of this kinship naturally makes the relationship between the two families enter the sequence of kinship communication.

There are relatives all over Shanxi, especially in Yanbei, Xinzhou, Jinzhong and Jinnan.

Rural customs, once the godmother is recognized, everything should be carried out in accordance with the general procedures of rural communication. All children who recognize michel platini as their godmother should follow the procedures of rural customs in celebrating the Chinese New Year and celebrating their birthdays. To be a godson, we should take care of michel platini and dopted mother, do our godson's duty and give some financial support. On the other hand, michel platini's dopted mother has to ask about her son's marriage, having children, building a house and other major activities, and give necessary support and funding.

With the development of society, there are fewer and fewer relatives in rural Shanxi, but they still exist in rural areas. This is a special kinship that exists in society and has become a side of the social relationship network.

La michel platini

"La michel platini" is a primitive way of making friends, which is very popular in many places in Baoshan. From the perspective of folklore, the formation of this custom is related to backward social production and people's "psychology of asking for help" when they encounter difficulties, so it is most common in mountainous areas with vast land and vast resources, sparsely populated areas, lack of medical care and medicine, and simple folk customs.

In the mountainous areas such as Wayao, Wama and Wafang in Baoshan, there are usually two ways to "pull" michel platini. One is to determine the goal through consultation and get married. That is, when the dolls in the mountains can run, parents will show their wishes to acquaintances in neighboring villages. If the other party agrees, they will choose an auspicious day to kill chickens in cook the meat, invite relatives and friends, kowtow and name them, and complete all the "naming" procedures. It is said that this doll was "adopted" to michel platini, and once she changed her surname and first name, it was not her own son. Even if there are some accidents in her life, they will be solved.

What is interesting is another kind of "pull" method-"resigned to fate and forced to pull." Marriage in this way can only be carried out from the second day of the New Year to the Lantern Festival. People who want to "pull michel platini" usually choose double day, and men will bring roosters, bacon and other foods. Before dawn, they crossed a thin white line in the narrow road outside the village where pedestrians must pass, and then ambushed nearby: whoever passed by here and tripped over the white line was regarded as in-laws, and the ambush rushed out and bowed and shouted "in-laws." "God's will" is hard to violate. Under normal circumstances, newcomers can only promise, otherwise they will be accused. So I buried the pot to cook and had a picnic. After eating and drinking enough, go to the village to "recognize the door" and hold a worship ceremony. If the newcomer is a woman, she is of course a "dopted mother"; If they are unmarried, they are "brothers", "sisters", "brothers" and "sisters"; If you happen to meet cows, horses, sheep, dogs, etc. It will also be "pulled"-its owner will take over all formalities and obligations, but the name must be determined according to the name of the tripped animal, such as horses and dogs.

Whether people choose it intentionally or are determined by "fate", once the godmother is formed, the two sides will take care of each other like a family, visit each other in time during New Year's Day and New Year's Day, treat each other with brotherhood, live in harmony and even love each other from generation to generation. This is a much-told story.

What is even more amazing is that in some mountainous areas of Tengchong County, there is a custom of "pulling out" a big tree as "michel platini". Many people worship a strange tree as "michel platini" since childhood, because their parents think that the ancient trees are towering and deeply rooted. Once they are worshipped as "michel platini", they can bless the dolls to live longer. Especially devout people should also ask the clergy to help them calculate whether the tree is willing to accept it. If so, they should choose an auspicious day to burn incense, worship three times and knock nine times, and then they can be considered as "human trunk relatives." Finally, we have to give the child a name with branches and leaves. Because this custom has a long history, many famous ancient trees in Tengchong, such as Leishu in Xiaoxi, the big oak tree in Daiju, the Shuang Shan in Heshun, the goose feather tree in Mazhan and the Ginkgo King in Mazhan, are bustling under their knees, and many adopted sons and daughters are still alive or have long passed away, so are many of them.