What are the traditional funeral customs in China?

Funeral custom and funeral culture are part of society and social custom culture. It is a custom and culture established, formed and developed by the living for the dead, and it is also an important content of social etiquette. It reflects and is subject to social traditions for a long time.

Funeral customs refer to white things, and different regions and nationalities have their own unique customs. The so-called mourning, "mourning" is to pay homage to or mourn the dead, that is, mourning; "Burying" is the act of burying the remains. On the one hand, the funeral is to arrange the dead, on the other hand, to arrange the people who come to treat and mourn. Funeral custom is a way to deal with the remains of the deceased and related mourning, which constitutes the last link of life ceremony. Death means the end of the journey of life. Life is limited, so life has a beginning and an end. People have life and death, and there is a life and death culture. Funeral culture is an ideological and cultural system formed around death events and activities, which is influenced and restricted by social economy, politics, ideology, folk customs and the world.

The funeral customs and culture of the Chinese nation have a long history, and there was a certain form of funeral tens of thousands of years ago. Due to the worship of totem and the dead, influenced by feudal thoughts, it developed into fear of the dead, and along this line it developed into the traditional custom of "burying the dead carefully". Judging from the current situation, it is still a field of customs and culture where idealism prevails. Superstition and feudal funeral activities are still popular and serious among the people. According to the traditional ethics of China people, when relatives are dying, they should dress up well, cross the line and buy routes, just like packing things for relatives who are away from home. After burial, every holiday and birthday, relatives will go to the grave to burn paper and send things, not only snacks and fruits, but also chocolates and beer, and even light a cigarette for the deceased. Such thoughtful service shows the human relationship between dutiful son and relatives and friends to the fullest.

Primitive people could not bear to "abandon the body" So a funeral was held. Funeral is the product of human self-awareness. In civilized society, funeral developed and became more and more complicated. For example, if an old man is busy all his life and can't get a "decent" funeral and "solemn" treatment after his death, people will always feel sorry for the deceased, and will think that future generations are "unfilial" and the deceased is "unworthy" all his life. Even in modern times, if the funeral is too hasty, people will still feel that life is incomplete. At the same time, the funerals of important people should be especially grand, such as building a mausoleum for the emperor. If the funeral of a great man is treated like the funeral of a small person, people will think it is too wrong. Funeral activities are organized by the living, not for the living. Tell others that it won't start or end. Psychological needs are also the needs of human nature. Just like material needs such as eating and sleeping. As long as it does not interfere with society, it should be satisfied.

All funeral activities are designed according to the lifestyle of the living. For example, the house of the living is called "Yang Zhai" and the cemetery is called "Yin Zhai". Living people like to be respected, so people will "respect" the dead in various ways, kowtowing and offering incense to them. The living have to eat, so they have to offer sacrifices to the dead. Therefore, funeral culture is essentially a special survival culture.

After the funeral, it is necessary to set a time for the funeral. Funerals in all parts of Shanxi are generally not "buried when they die", otherwise they will be considered unfilial and disrespectful to the deceased. As for the time of funeral, it often depends on the preparation, season, whether the next of kin arrives and whether the tomb is complete. The time can be long or short, the shortest is about three days, followed by five days, seven days, nine days ... The elderly can reach more than 100 days, all of which must be singular. In the old days, Yin and Yang teachers also paid attention to choosing an auspicious day, and set the tomb as "empty", that is, when the cemetery could enter and leave.

After the funeral time is determined, you should inform your relatives and friends. Wuzhai area is called "sending filial piety". Take a piece of filial piety cloth with you when you go to see the relationship. The older one wears mourning clothes, and the younger one wears mourning towels. Jinzhong Qixian and other places, on the day of the funeral, banners cut into patterns with white hemp paper should be hung in front of the door; The connection between paper and paper does not need paste bonding, but the paper is folded with iron or stone tools and tamped together, which is called "tamping paper", which is similar to the "chronological paper" mentioned above, but the hanging time is different. When the deceased gets the "New Year's Paper" of the octogenarian, the locals sometimes tear one for their children to wear, which is said to prolong life. Tear it home and stick it on the urn, so there are no bugs. In the old days, some places set up "taboo signs" outside the gate, with men left and women right, indicating not only the date of birth and death, the date of funeral, but also the taboo items.

In addition to the custom of cliff burial in Ningwu area, "earth burial" is very common in all parts of Shanxi. That is, "tombs", some tombs were built in advance, and some were temporarily opened after death. In the old days, teachers of Yin and Yang should be invited to sit and watch Feng Shui and set points. Then sprinkle five pills and use a silver needle to open a "ten" on the set acupuncture point, which is called "breaking ground" or "breaking ground". After "digging", you can dig the grave. Those who are buried together only need to open another hole next to the old burial place. If the deceased entered the ancestral grave, his grave was at the foot of the previous generation. Row to the grave in turn, and you can't open it again. Then ask the Yin and Yang teachers to see the geomantic omen and choose a new place to build a new grave.

Before the funeral in the old days, there were ceremonies of "ordering the Lord" in all parts of Shanxi, such as Qin County and Qi County. That is, ask someone to add a little to the original word "Wang" written on the tablet with a cinnabar pen, so that the word "Wang" becomes the word "Lord". Commonly known as "master", that is, becoming a god. The person who points to the Lord is called the "point-in-charge official", and it is necessary to invite local respected celebrities, scholars or local governors to serve. This kind of ceremony is generally limited to middle-aged and elderly people who die normally, and no young dead are held.

On the day of the funeral, relatives, friends and neighbors gathered to mourn and offered a glass of wine to express their condolences. A libation usually includes a sacrificial mat, a steamed bun, a spoon and a paper tie. The closest relatives send sacrifices. Commonly known as "sacrifice", it is mainly dishes, and each pair should be inserted with paper flowers of different sizes, followed by steamed bread, which is a kind of pasta steamed in a bowl. Most relatives and friends asked them to pull their arms and tie couplets, which later became a piece of cloth. Ordinary neighborhoods give four-color paper gifts, including candles, incense, tin foil, paper, or just a piece of paper. After 1950s, most paper gifts were replaced by wreaths.

After the mourners offered public drinks, the eldest son of the deceased bowed down to pay tribute, that is, carrying the big head of the coffin on his back and moving it out of the coffin shed with the help of everyone, commonly known as the "coffin." Throughout Shanxi, there is a custom of breaking the rice bowl used by the deceased before his death behind the coffin. Wuzhai area is called "disaster mitigation", which means disaster mitigation and disaster elimination. In some places, the medicine cans used by the deceased were smashed, indicating that no one in the family will be sick in the future, and there is no need to boil medicine. Before waking up, the sons of the deceased will hold a ceremony of "pressing the bowl with food" in Qixian County, Jinzhong. They put all kinds of vegetables and food in a porcelain jar, and then press them in turn until they are full. Cover it with a steamed bread, erect a hole with a pair of chopsticks and put some red vermicelli on it. This can of food, together with "steamed bread" and "ever-burning lamp", will be buried with the coffin at the funeral.

After the coffin is carried out of the mourning hall, it is placed on a pre-tied shelf, which has several forms, such as tofu rack, two dragon bars and one-stop bars. In Wuzhai area, there will be a table and an offering in front of the coffin, and the family members will carry the coffin and turn left and right three times around the coffin to show their affection for the dead. Pour a glass every time you turn around. After the coffin was finished, it was raised to the spirit, which was called "mourning around the spirit" locally.

Before the coffin was lifted, the eldest son of the deceased knelt down. Holding a clay pot for burning paper money, crying, and then throwing the playing pot on the ground. Xinzhou and Dingxiang areas are called "basins that have lost their children". Folk believe that if the burial basin is broken, the deceased can take all the burnt paper money to the underworld for use.

After falling on the "funeral basin", the funeral officially began. In some places in the south of Shanxi, pay attention to the big head in front when the coffin is unloaded; Out of the door, everyone will turn their heads and carry them to the cemetery. It turns out that people think that the deceased lying in the coffin is just like standing alone, and going out with his head forward is equivalent to looking back at his home and expressing his attachment to the world; When you go out, you turn your head back, just don't look back and go straight to the paradise in the west.

With the development and progress of society, human beings are moving towards civilization, in order to meet the needs of social psychology. Funeral costume culture, cemetery culture, funeral home architecture culture, funeral equipment and technology have emerged, which are very rich in content. These new branches of disciplines have formed a discipline group of funeral culturology.