Urgent! ! ! ! What greeting should be written on the girder of the new factory building?

In the traditional folk custom of building houses, the most important ceremony is the "Ritual of Sacrificing Beams" which is still popular in some rural areas. The process is as follows: after the main roof truss is completed, choose an auspicious day, usually when the sun rises in the morning. One is to put the main beam (the word "Lou", also called the central beam, main beam or girder) under the roof of the roof truss, and tie the middle end of the beam tightly with red cloth, or wrap it with HongLing, or paste the words "Fulu" and "Jixi" with red paper, which is called "Pihong"; At both ends of the beam, there is a red cloth bag wrapped with zongzi, steamed bread and cakes. At that time, friends, relatives and neighbors will come to congratulate the gifts, which is called "stepping on the door". Then, the master invited the craftsmen to drink, and the more elegant ones also lit incense sticks to offer sacrifices to Lu Ban. Then, please ask a skillful craftsman to recite Liang Wen or sing Ge Liang, which is called Zhu Ji. Set off firecrackers at the same time.

With the sound of firecrackers and auspicious wishes, the two craftsmen lifted the girder from both ends in a horizontal posture, climbed the stairs on the ladder, and the package hanging on the girder also rose. This is called "feeding grain". The craftsman put Liang Mu in the mouth at the top of the column and set off firecrackers to show the end. Rotate the flashlight to "light up" all the wood and walls and drive away evil spirits. This is called "illuminating the beam". Then throw the zongzi, cakes, steamed bread and other things in the two bags for everyone to pick up. This is called "grain harvesting" and "rolling beam". After all these actions were completed, it was already noon. Everyone left the new house and let the sun shine on the roof truss. This is called "sunbathing". Finally, a banquet was held, and the host, craftsman and guests toasted each other until they enjoyed themselves.

The most important thing in Liang etiquette is to "wear red", that is, tie the beam with red cloth, wrap it with HongLing, or affix red paper. Why do you want to do this? What's the significance? Folklore scholars have different opinions.

According to folklore, this was initiated by Lu Ban, the father of craftsmen. It is said that two craftsmen built a house for others, because they were not careful, they shortened the material of the main beam by half a foot. When waiting for the beam, it is not stable. Just when he was extremely anxious, an old master came. He picked up a saw, cut the girder in two and put it on the gable. It's neither long nor short, just right! In order to cover the flaw in the middle, the master took off his red cloth pocket and hung it in the middle of the beam. The red cloth was blown by the wind, and the new beam was particularly beaming. They hurried down the ladder to thank their master, but couldn't find a figure. It turns out that he is Lu Ban. Since then, when building houses, craftsmen have to wear red on the beams and burn incense at the same time to thank their ancestors for their kindness in coming to help in an emergency and pray for their blessing in the smooth implementation of the beams.

Another said that the red color on the beam is a tribute to the beam. There is another legend about its origin:

Once upon a time, there was a poor scholar named Wu Liangxin who failed the exam in Beijing and spent all his travelling expenses. Just when he was tired and hungry, he dozed off on a big poplar tree seven or eight meters high. In a daze, he heard someone calling. When he opened his eyes, it was a girl. The girl invited the poor scholar home for dinner. From then on, the two lived alone and became husband and wife. The next spring, the emperor needed a girder to build the palace. The supervisor took a fancy to the poplar tree that the poor scholar was dozing off, but no matter what method was used, it could not be cut down. The emperor then offered a reward: whoever can cut down poplar trees will be recruited as a son-in-law. The girl told her husband that she had a secret of cutting poplars: "Cut until March 3rd. Time can't be wrong, the chicken crows for the first time. " It turns out that the girl is the embodiment of Populus alba. Because she saw the poor scholar, she married him and helped him live. After remembering this secret, my husband made a bad idea. On the second day of March, after he went out, he went straight to the city and tore up the yellow list with the imperial edict. The next day, when the rooster crowed all over, he ordered the craftsman to cut down the poplar. The poor scholar went to Beijing with the supervisor; Poplar trees are also made into girders. But when you get to the beam, you can't lift it. The emperor dreamed that a fairy said to him, "If you want to put a girder on it, a good couple will put a girder." So, using this as an excuse, the poor scholar was put to death, skinned and put on the girder. Sure enough, the girder was successfully erected in the local area. Since then, when people build houses and erect trees, they have the custom of using HongLing as a beam. It is said that HongLing means to get lucky by seeing red (Folklore and Legend of China, edited by Xu Hualong and Wu Jufen, Yunnan People's Publishing House, 1985).

All of the above are passed down by word of mouth among the people, but scholars have other explanations. For example, what Mr. Tao Siyan said is actually related to the ancient concept of strange trees. Ying Shao in the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded the rumor that "most people in the world think that logging is a bloody monster" in "Nine Monsters". In addition, the ancients thought that "things will be strange after a long time." Wood used as purlins by the people is mostly tall and strong old trees, so it is red for fear of being unfamiliar. In the traditional custom of logging to build houses, there is also the practice of wrapping the trunk with red cloth or red paper before logging, and then cutting it down or sawing it down. Its intention is the same as that of the front beam, implying the potential pursuit of repelling the tree monster and guarding the new house. Looking at the connection between Professor Tao's theory of "wearing red to exorcise evil spirits" and the above-mentioned legend of Yang Guifei, it seems that the two are consistent. According to the records in Song Dynasty and Volume I of Literature and Art about "Wen Zisheng paid tribute to Liang at the end of Wei Dynasty", the custom of Liang was formed at the latest in the Northern Wei Dynasty, so the concept of "strange gods" in Customs has a considerable influence on this, which is entirely possible.

In addition, Mr. Cai Dafeng, who studies the architectural history of China, pointed out that Shangliang (referring to "Dong") is a folk activity based on Liang, which not only embodies Dong's architectural concept, but also reflects his social and humanistic values. This activity has its historical evolution process. In Da Gui, Yi people, there is a custom of offering sacrifices to buildings with imperata. Mao Shi's exegetical biography: "Bai Mao, take clean and clear." The ancients used wool to sacrifice. "Zhou Li Shi Xiang": "The big sacrifice is ashamed of the cow, and * * * is ashamed of the hair." Sacrifice for the radius of the building, padded with imperata, is the same as the big sacrifice, which shows that the ancients attached importance to architecture. From this, we can know that Dong was praised for it in the Zhou Dynasty, but the ancients paid attention to Dong's structural characteristics. Dong's radius is a dangerous phenomenon of structural damage, and the purpose of sacrifice is to pray for avoiding this danger. Therefore, it can be said that this is the embryonic form of the later Liang Dengli, at least conceptually (Study on Liang Dengli in China Folk Architecture, Volume II, National Style, No.6).

Then, does the mysterious ceremony of wearing red on the beam come from the ancient people's understanding and fear of the structure and function of the beam? This is another unsolved problem.

References:

Baixing folk custom etiquette daquan