Read my father's prose.

19 August 20th13 (July 13th of the lunar calendar), an old man who died at the age of 77 just two days after his birthday, finally passed through the hardships of his 77-year-old after a bumpy career and suddenly left me. After receiving a call from my second brother from Zhuanglang, I reported to the president immediately, finished the formalities of terminating my vacation, got on the bus that arranged for me to go back to my hometown to attend the funeral, took my wife and two daughters, sat silently all the way, and arrived at my hometown around noon 1 1, crying loudly, as if tears suddenly poured down for a century. I'm almost still immersed in that great grief.

Time flies like water, quietly passing through your fingertips, leaving no trace. How fast! My dear father has left us for three years. On the third anniversary of his death, I can't help but want to write something to my father. The pen has not moved, tears have flowed, and sadness has begun. Three years ago, my father left us, left the hustle and bustle of the world, left the torture of diseases, left the troubles of the world, and went to a paradise where there would never be sadness, troubles and diseases. Walking-it was a relief for him, but it left us with endless sadness and thoughts.

Before my father died, I wrote several articles about my father. No matter how many articles I have written about my father, I can't write down my endless thoughts, nor can I write down my father's 77 years of hard work. He has crossed more bridges than I have, and his legendary life experience can write a touching long series. Unfortunately, my pen can't measure my father's life track. His story and experience, with his grave, left us endless regrets, and everything will eventually. For more than three years, my father's long-lost figure has come into my dream country from time to time to comfort my missing heart, miss him, respect him, love him and miss him. This endless affection will accompany me all my life. I will suddenly think of my father at a certain moment, and a long helpless sigh will accompany my heart and tears. This yearning is deeper and longer than any emotion. Countless thoughts under the night sky, many encounters in dreams, and many memories of the past, now I have to record my guilt with a pen, call you with my family, bless you with my heart, and miss you with words. We can't forget your earnest teachings and your ardent expectations of us.

My father is strong, but he has a kind and compassionate heart. He has done countless good deeds in his life. I think, he will certainly be able to enter heaven with extraordinary bearing and noble character, beyond the secular reincarnation. Perhaps at the moment, he is somewhere in heaven, kindly looking at his wife, children and grandchildren in the secular world. His soul protects us and makes us live a safe, healthy and happy life.

It is painful to recall my father's illness since 2008. Every time I think about it, I have a heart-wrenching pain.

Be careful and filial for three years, and always pursue all my heart. This is a couplet written by Mr. Yin Yang, which is posted on the door of the mourning hall after his father died. It has been almost three years since my dear father died, and his life has become another form, which will always exist between heaven and earth. From Zhuanglang to Huating, and then from Huating to Zhuanglang, I have traveled all over the world for three years. I can't see my father's figure or hear his tearful laughter. For more than a thousand days in three years, my father's five children, five daughters-in-law and thirteen grandchildren burned piles of paper money in the traditional way of their hometown, and used Mingbi again and again to call my father back from his dream and send greetings to his children and grandchildren. It's like dying in despair.

It seems that I didn't really realize what death is until 20 13. I was 5 1 year old that year.

That autumn, the most important person in my life was as great as a mountain. My old father left me. After that, every inch of time I experienced, I was almost immersed in that great grief.

According to the funeral ceremony of Xue Jiahe in his hometown, the mother asked her sons to "manned" the funeral for her, which was extremely sad and honored. During the three days of singing suona, she held a painful and traditional funeral according to the custom left over by her ancestors. Below, I sorted it out in a flowing way here: (1) Become a fugitive. To become an outlaw is to move my father's body from the kang where he slept before his death to the ground of the main house. Because the ground is covered with a layer of wheat straw, it is called "becoming an outlaw". It should be noted that the remains can only be moved and buried once, and more than two times are called "moving and burying". It is said that once it is "moved and buried", the living and the dead will have no peace. According to our Xue Jiahe's habit, we should put a shroud on the old man as he lay dying. Wearing shirts and underpants, then wearing black cotton-padded clothes, cotton-padded pants with a robe and a gown. Fabric, choose silk (meaning silk) instead of satin (homophonic); The whole suit can't have buttons, but it should be tied with a belt to show that there are successors, that is, with "children". When my father swallowed his last breath, I sent my in-laws to close his father's feet and tie them with hemp rope to prevent them from being separated when moving the body. At the same time, burn some paper money at my dad's bedside, that is, "road money", in case my dad's undead need it on the way to Naihe Bridge. Next, tie a piece of white paper on my father's face, which is called "dough". (2) save the body. The process of rescuing a corpse sometimes takes several hours or even more than ten hours. In principle, the daughters do it themselves. However, with the changes of the times and the emergency at that time, because we were five adopted sons and had no daughter, things were urgent, and my fourth brother and several cousins came to save my father's body first. Saving the corpse is to unbutton my dad's coat, put a dough shaped like an ashtray above the navel, and pour high-concentration white wine into it. Because the bottom of the dough is very thin, the wine will penetrate into the skin. In this way, the wine was added over and over again, and it was blown over and over again with a dustpan fan until my father's body was stiff and his head shook. We Zhuang people think that the more rigid the body is, the less prone it is to decay, and the more filial our daughters can show. As for why the more rigid the body is, the more filial the daughters can show. I later asked the old people in our village the answer. The process of saving the body was all carried out by the daughters on their knees, and there was silence in the mourning hall. Even in June, there is a little grass on the ground, but kneeling for more than ten hours is also a very painful thing. It turns out that saving a corpse is also a way to save a child's conscience. Because it was nearly noon when I got home from Huating, I failed to fulfill my filial piety of "saving the corpse" for my father, so it was defined as "dog baby food" by our family. (3) breaking filial piety. Breaking filial piety is to divide the severity of mourning according to the distance of blood relationship. Generally speaking, a son's mourning is the heaviest. According to the Confucian classic "Yili". Fu ",the five grades of filial piety are failure, meritorious service, meritorious service and numbness removal. The dutiful son wears a mourning crown made of hemp rope, a mourning shirt made of linen, white cloth shoes around his waist and a mourning staff. The son lost his staff the shortest, followed by grandson, great-grandson and Yaoyao. The dutiful son's shirt was torn into raw edges with linen, and the side and bottom edges of the left and right clothes were not sewn, revealing the damaged part to show that there was no decoration. There is also a special emphasis on the vamp covered with white cloth. Because my father left first and my mother was alive, our filial shoes were only covered with a pointed one. When my mother left last year, she wrapped the whole shoe for three years. The second is the daughter's filial piety. Their filial piety is slightly lighter than that of their son, but the filial piety of their daughter-in-law is the same as that of their son. The length of the filial piety shirt is also slightly shorter, and the filial piety crown is consistent with the son. No matter whether parents are alive or not, shoes can't be completely covered and the waist is not tied. The mourning period is three years. The second is to break filial piety for my nephew. Because of distant relatives, they only have a filial piety crown, and the mourning period is 100 days. Finally, filial piety broke the grandson. Their mourning clothes are shorter than their daughters' and have no waist, while their shoes only cover their feet. The mourning period is 100 days. After my old father, my seventh son, died, I let my father break our filial piety in the Spring Festival. Starting from my grandchildren, I directly changed from my son to my daughter-in-law. After the funeral, all the mourning clothes and hats will be cut into small pieces like nails and nailed to the main wall of the house. Then the son, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter hang them on the wall in turn, and then use a piece of white paper to prevent dust. (4) hit the grave. Xue Jiahe's people started from their ancestors and were buried with them. Old people often say that the dead are like gold, and people should be buried as soon as possible after they die. Therefore, beating the grave is the first important thing in the funeral. We Zhuang especially believe in "Feng Shui" and "Pulse Qi", and think that our ancestors are buried in their own plots. Please choose a "land of geomantic omen" and be practical. Therefore, we Zhuang people are very cautious and serious when choosing the tomb site.

After his father's death, the eldest son accompanied Mr. Yin and Yang in our village to our private plot "Bay" with tools such as compass, ruler, rope stake, wooden nail and shovel. Choose the "mountain direction" with good feng shui and outline the tomb site, commonly known as "dog blood land" "Hook pit" should also take into account later, the husband and wife buried their son "Diaojiaolou" for their parents and other matters. Because my father entered a new place, on the seventh day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in 2004, our family asked Mr. Yin and Yang to measure and mark repeatedly with the eight diagrams compass, and determined the new place of 19, that is, 19 meters square, put on incense tables, pay homage to ancestors, pay homage to heaven and earth, and perform ceremonies. This ceremony is abbreviated as "Cheng Ying". We Xue Jiahe call this bricklaying, which is also called being occupied by ancestors.

After the Yin and Yang master determines the "acupoints", the dutiful son will also chant scriptures and mow the grass. When he breaks ground, he will burn incense and give gifts and pray for God's blessing. This is the "foundation stone ceremony" for the old man to build a yin house. I remember when I was digging my father's grave, the teacher of Yin and Yang told me to tie a straw into a scarecrow, press a bowl of wheat with a bowl, and take a silver ornament. Hold it in your hand when Yin and Yang recite the mantra. They took a kitchen knife, cut the scarecrow's face into three sections, which is called "mowing", and scattered wheat at the cut place is called "falling veins". Our burial tomb is divided into two parts: one is an "open pit", which is about 6.4 feet deep and 4 feet wide vertically; The second type is "tunnel kiln". At one end of the big head at the bottom of the "open pit", there is an earth hole that can be put into a coffin, generally more than 3 feet high and 8 feet deep. In the past, local burials generally did not use bricks and stones except officials and gentry. Since the reform and opening up, the living standards of our Zhuang people have generally improved, and the specifications for tomb repair have also improved. At present, brick hoop is mostly used in "tunnel kiln", commonly known as "brick hoop tomb". My father's grave was directly drilled into an "open pit" with a length of 1.2 feet according to the new method now, and a "tunnel kiln" with 2400 bricks was 6 feet behind it. Now, most of us Zhuang people have arranged the tomb site long ago while the old man is still alive. One is that after the death of the old man, he is prepared; Second, let the old people look at the "Home Ownership Plan" after their death to show filial piety.

Since my father's grave broke ground, the village club has sent six lean male laborers, and the general manager has also appointed an elderly man to serve in the soil, eating three meals a day and trying his best to entertain him. The earthwork meal was sent by the dutiful son. Father's job of delivering meals naturally belongs to me, because I am the eldest son. When eating, you should "kneel down with me, and you can't afford to die until the end." Every day, the dutiful son goes to the cemetery to offer cigarettes and tea to grave-sweepers, kowtow to them, and propose a toast to them when eating. This is an indispensable etiquette for Xuejiahe people and a legacy left by our ancestors. (5) embarrassed. We call it a "warm coffin", that is, we put a mattress and a triangular diamond pillow filled with plant ash and cypress leaves in the coffin already prepared, then carry the body into the coffin with hemp rope, put it in the "Big Dipper" with seven dynasties of hemp money at the bottom of the coffin, and put four dough sheets and some paper money (now changed to silver dollars) in my father's sleeve. I gave my dad hemp money according to the teacher's instructions. On the one hand, paper money is used to buy the passage of the underworld, on the other hand, it is also used to show that future generations can make a fortune. When warming the coffin, people present can't call any living names, and then pull down the veil tied to his father's face and put it in the coffin to prevent future generations from being speechless. Finally, cover the quilt, cover the coffin and fix it with wooden nails. Avoid using nails, because nails will rust and not melt, and are considered harmful to the dead. In this process, the dutiful son, the dutiful daughter and the wife or husband of the deceased can't stay in front of them, but kneel in the yard and can't cry. They are worried that the deceased will be unable to go on the road because they can't bear to hear the cries of their loved ones. When the coffin lifting process is all over, the manager will make our dutiful son cry and send their relatives to report to that world. (6) Funeral. According to the auspicious funeral chosen by Mr. Yin Yang, my father attended the funeral on July 15. Before the funeral, my family used a discontinuous cannon as a signal to inform the villagers in our village to carry my father for burial. My father's coffin was carried to the cemetery by a young man in the village. I have a fermentation basin on my head, a coffin and a mourning staff. Later, my wife, brothers and sister-in-law followed suit and cried all the way. Go to the grave and be buried first, that is, tie the coffin with a rope and carry it to the "open pit" with mourning clothes on your back. Look at that. I am the eldest son of our family. Of course, I took a broom to sweep things out of the grave and wiped off the footprints. Some people dragged me up and held another spiritual card, continued to sweep things, and went home first, crying and repeating "Dad, go home" all the way, in order to "call my father back". After I left, the dealer raised the first shovel in the grave and soon buried it. The old father under the grave will be buried forever in the new grave we built for his old man.

The funeral custom of Xuejiahe still retains the ancient etiquette. In the 100 days after his burial, at dusk, his relatives all went to the grave to send lights to the deceased. It is intended to illuminate the long dark road for the dead. Our hometown calls this "hanging lanterns". I sometimes think about the underworld, what a dark tunnel it is, and what kind of world is at the end? I still don't know. All I know is that in the next 100 days, I will light a lantern for my old father, also called the grave lantern. On the third day, I still don't believe that death is an irreversible journey. I knelt in front of the grave alone, burned paper and flogged, crawled in front of the grave and cried, always trying to wake my sleeping father. The night before I returned to Huating, I stood in front of my house and looked at my father's grave lamp from a distance. In the evening breeze, the grave lamp is swaying quietly. When I bid farewell to my father's lonely grave, I couldn't help looking back at the spark frequently. I'm afraid it will go out as soon as I turn around. I need it to illuminate my father's lonely night, and I need it to illuminate my life, my relatives, my children and grandchildren.

Father, are you okay over there? I miss you! I miss you! I really miss you. I always thought I was strong. I didn't realize I was so fragile. I will cry when I miss you, and my heart will ache when I miss you. When I was a child, my father often took our brother back to the house, but he put on his sweatshirt and went on working in the dark. At this time, the whole mountain village in my hometown is asleep, and occasionally I hear one or two dogs barking and birds barking.

Think about it, think about it. But death is really like a one-way ticket with no return. For three years, dear old father, no one can really tell me the news that you are on the other side. Past scenes, how many times, in the dream, I returned to that vast and quiet mountain village, missing as painful as needles!