What does the old saying in the countryside mean, "Carpenters don't trim their edges, butchers don't kill pigs with five claws"? Does this make sense?

In China's folk culture, there is a folk custom called industry taboo, and this old rural saying refers to two kinds of industry custom taboos.

The key to "carpenters don't make scraps" is to find out what "scraps" are, otherwise this sentence is not ideal. Or there will be deviations in understanding (traditional carpentry)

Trim is called "full-size material" or "full-size material" in woodworking industry. That is to say, when a carpenter does anything, the length (height) or width mantissa can't be measured by ruler (big wood) or ruler (Xiao Mu). For example, the height of a cabinet is exactly six feet (in ancient times, carpenters used a ruler), neither more nor less. Now the wood used by carpenters to make this cabinet is called trimming. If the height of this cabinet is six feet one minute, or five feet nine inches eight minutes, it is not made of the same material.

The so-called "hand in hand" is a folk saying. For example, in some places, there is a kind of "men hand in hand, women hand in hand", and there is also a local custom that "men hand in hand for nine occasions and women hand in hand". The word "equal head" here refers to the whole "ten", such as fifty, sixty, seventy and so on. And the word "equal head" in "equal head material" is a folk concept. That is to say, when woodworking is cutting, the industry prohibits making full-size things, and the mantissa must be "inch" and "minute" (city ruler unit). For example, the height of a wooden house is three feet, which is a general term. There must be a mantissa, that is, "inch" or "minute", such as 20 feet 9 feet 8 minutes, or 20 feet 9 feet 8 inches.

(traditional carpentry)

In China folklore, the length, width and height of carpenter's houses and furniture are not full-sized, and they all drag an inch or a minute. This rule is stipulated in the book "Lu Ban Jing", such as "the stool cannot be separated from three, the door cannot be separated from five, the bed cannot be separated from seven, the coffin cannot be separated from eight, and the table cannot be separated from nine". Here the numerical units of mantissa three, five, seven, eight and nine are all "inches". The length of wooden benches is generally two feet three inches, and the width of beds is three feet seven inches, four feet seven inches and five feet seven inches.

The reason why workers and carpenters want to avoid trimming is because the woodworking industry thinks that trimming is not good for them, and "trimming" means the end of woodworking, or that people live to the end, which is certainly something that carpenters don't want to happen. Of course, this was a taboo in the woodworking industry in the past, but now carpenters in many places no longer pay attention to it.

(traditional wooden house)

Butchers don't kill pigs with five claws.

As the name implies, a five-claw pig has five claws, while a normal pig has only four claws. Generally speaking, people say that a five-legged pig has only five claws on one leg, not all four legs have five claws, but the other three legs still have four claws.

In China, it is taboo to raise and slaughter five-claw pigs. The northern custom thinks that the five-claw pig is Long Bian, and the southern custom thinks that it is disaster arrival. People think that raising five-claw pigs will make families suffer fierce disasters, so five-claw pigs are commonly called "fierce pigs" and are regarded as "unlucky pigs" or "back pigs"

Generally speaking, raising pigs and buying piglets in rural areas are all carefully selected, from head to toe, from mouth to coat color, walking condition of front feet and so on. , are carefully observed. In addition to distinguishing whether it is a "Lingguan pig" that is not suitable for breeding, such as broken head, white face, horseshoe and iron mouth, the five-claw pig is the main target for buyers to distinguish. When I meet a pig with five claws, even if I don't give it away for nothing, no one wants it, and my family doesn't dare to raise it for fear of getting into trouble. In the old society, in rural areas, under normal circumstances, sows were usually drowned after giving birth to five-claw pigs, so as not to harm people.

(China traditional flower pig-piglet)

Nevertheless, there are still some careless five-claw pig farmers, but killing pigs has become a problem again. Butcher's industry taboo, that killing pigs with five claws will bring you unexpected disasters, generally do not kill pigs with five claws, but there are folk butchers who kill pigs with five claws, but the way of killing pigs is a bit special.

Kill a pig with five claws, but not at home. You should kill it at a big intersection where no one else is there. You can't worship God or eat blood and let it flow away. Afraid that the pig with five claws is a ghost, in order not to let it recognize it, the pig killer must "incarnate", that is, disguise. You should draw on your face with the ash and ink at the bottom of the pot, cover your head with a cloth, put on your hat, wear hemp fiber backwards and wear shoes backwards. After killing a knife, turn around and run, and you can't look back. After the pig dies, it will take at least half an hour (an hour) to transport it home.