What is the origin of boys braiding?

Little boys wear pigtails, which has a history of hundreds of years in China, and this custom is still popular in many areas. There are five situations in which boys have pigtails: First, the husband and wife have been married for many years, and the woman has never been pregnant. Both sides are older and have a son in middle age. Second, the couple gave birth to several girls in succession, and they were very happy to have a son. The third is the single transmission of several generations above the parent. Fourth, I gave birth to multiple births and didn't keep them. Later, I gave birth to a boy. Fifth, the boy's uncle's family is not rich. His uncle prepared prayer stickers for his sister's nephew, braided his hair and introduced himself to the rich family. Generally, a pinch of hair is left at the top of the head, shaped like a peach, and a pinch of hair is left at the back of the head for braiding.

Boys are very particular about shaving their braids. Generally speaking, in the first four cases, a boy cannot lose his hair until he is 12 years old. In the fifth case, the boy's uncle's son can lose his hair at the full moon, but the hair loss ceremony is usually held after the age of 6. If the boy's pigtail is accidentally broken before he is old, he can tie a small bamboo knot for six days or make up a gift; In the first four cases, the boy's parents must burn incense to worship their ancestors, pray for heaven and earth, and make up gifts; In the fifth case, the boy's uncle's family must burn incense to worship his ancestors, pray for heaven and earth, and prepare gifts (three immortals, three treasures, three sacred objects, etc. ) to give their nephews a supplementary ceremony.

There are two kinds of hair placement ceremonies:

Ceremony 1:

1, select auspicious day, auspicious time and auspicious position; Please invite a man full of happiness (an elder with a full house of children and grandchildren, if he belongs to a family, he must be the elder of a boy).

2. Prepare the incense table, lay a red cloth on the bottom, sit in the incense burner, put red scissors on the left, put ribbons on the right, and set up the futon;

3. At that time, the boy's mother will burn incense and pray; Then tie the ribbon to scissors and present it to the blessed person with both hands;

4. People who are full of happiness hold scissors and preach happy words, such as: "The small scissors are seven inches long and polished. The golden rooster crows in the sky and the phoenix crows underground. Today, the ecliptic is the day, and shaving the champion is the lang. " Then cut it from the hair root;

The boy's uncle is holding a sieve basket (covered with red cloth), which is full of big cakes, red eggs, onions, brushes and books. After the nephew loses his hair, tie up his braid with a red cloth strip, put it in a basket, and wrap it around his nephew three times, so that he can reach out and grab something to show his future luck (representing officials, wealth, wisdom, literature and good luck respectively).

6. Friends and relatives all clapped their hands and gave gifts (in the fifth case, his uncle had to prepare five-color sheep, seven-color cows, three immortals of eight-treasure fish and other gifts for his nephew, but now people usually use red cloth to pick up their wallets and send them, mostly lucky numbers such as 8888 and 6666);

7. set off firecrackers;

8. The ceremony is over.

Shaving pigtails for boys is not only parents' infinite hope for their children, but also an ancient adult education ceremony.