Who knows the funeral customs of the Hakka people?

The Hakka people is a distinctive feature of the Han Chinese folk, but also the Han Chinese in the world's widest distribution, the most far-reaching influence of one of the folk, since modern times, a large number of scholars on the Hakka culture and customs of a series of in-depth and extensive research, Hakka funeral customs are less studied, this article is an attempt to the Hakka funeral customs to make a more comprehensive expression to enhance the world's understanding of Hakka culture. Daily life, the Hakka people are very concerned about etiquette, funeral etiquette has always been the importance of the Hakka people, a lot of procedures, a large scene, the Hakka people are often prepared before the birth of the coffin, placed in the second floor of the Tulou free room, or set up in the corridor on the beams of the roof, compared to other rituals and customs, funeral customs to come to a more solemn and dignified, the Hakka people for this, do a very considerate, the burial from the thick, the ritual from the extravagant, abundant their Feasts, drunken spirit side, drums and music to lay goodbye, in the Hakka mountainous areas, the old customs still exist; Hakka funeral concepts basically inherited the Han tradition, believe that the soul does not die, attach importance to good fortune, longevity, filial piety, funeral ceremonies pay attention to the ceremony, pay particular attention to feng shui; the elaborate funeral customs first from the concept of the soul does not die, the ancients believe that the soul of the living is dependent on the physical body, and the soul of the soul and the physical body is separate from the death of the soul is able to be independent from the physical body The ancient people believed that the soul is independent of the body, has superhuman power, and will protect the future generations, so the soul as a mysterious object to be worshiped.

In the old days, people treated the dead on the way back to heaven in a variety of complex rituals are based on the premise of the virtual existence of the soul, the deceased still seems to be a life need to people to care. The Hakka custom of shouting alarm is the embodiment of this idea, when a child is sick, it is necessary to burn incense and candles by the child's mother and other middle-aged and elderly women shouting alarm, that the child is sick because the soul left the child's body, and in time to call back the soul of the child will be safe and sound, the ancient people believe that the soul of the human being in the pre-life and after death is one and the same lineage of life, life has a life with the next life, and from this it is inferred that there is a world of the world of the yang sector and the world of the yin sector,

According to the concept of immortality of the soul, after death, a person has to enter the other world, which is the place that people call the netherworld.

The Hakka people believe in karma, that good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and that doing good deeds will bring good rewards to their children and grandchildren, and that they will be rewarded for their bad deeds after death, which is one of the reasons why the Hakka people attach importance to funeral rituals. The Hakka people's funeral way follows the tradition of the ancient Central Plains, with earth burials, mostly in coffins, and then cremation after liberation as advocated by the government.

In addition, there are also joint burials, picking up gold, business, wild burials and other customs. Because of the belief in the concept of immortality of the soul, the old Hakka people have always attached special importance to the grave, such as the living room, called the "mansion", as well as feng shui, where the construction of graves and burials must be invited to Feng Shui Mr. selection of the day, the hour, the selection of cemeteries, look at the direction, etc.

Funeral and burials are also very important.

Funeral rites can be said to be the most complicated and complex of the Hakka rituals, it is more ceremonies, is less than many other rituals. At the same time, this ceremony is also the most solemn and grand.

The funeral customs of the Hakka people have inherited many prominent aspects of the Han cultural tradition, such as filial piety, patriarchy, etc., are reflected in this ritual. At the same time, due to the long-term migration and exchange and integration with the local indigenous people, so that the Hakka funeral rites formed their own folk unique new features, these features are reflected in the Hakka funeral rituals appear to be both warm, rich in human feelings, but also a few points of harsh and cold, Hakka funeral customs are roughly divided into the following steps:

1, to send the end of the Hakka traditional custom that all people aged sixty years old and above Hakka traditional customs believe that all people who die of old age or illness are considered to have reached the end of their lives, and this is called "happy life", which is also commonly referred to as "white wedding".

This kind of normal death, the family in the psychological and material preparation, children and grandchildren should be in the deceased dying day and night vigil, kneeling in front of listening to the will, weeping and mourning and burning paper prayers to worship the deceased "ascension to heaven", is called "send the end".

In Jiangxi Province, Gan County, such as the rural area around the lake township, people to the age of 60 years old, they have to prepare their own coffins, the completion of a large banquet held a grand ceremony, the coffin will be placed in the hall on the floor beams, the local rural area is commonly known as the "longevity of the wood on the seat". Hakka people attach great importance to the matter of sending the end, and to not be able to talk to the old man as a lifelong regret, so heard the news of parents or other relatives in critical condition generally have to rush back immediately, even if the relatives out of the country far away from thousands of miles have to travel day and night to come back to do their best to see on the last side of the last time to see the last time before the end of the last time to see the last side of the last time to appear filial piety, it is the "end of sending"; the old man is dying, the coffin will be placed on the beam of the hall, commonly known as "life wood on the seat". "; the old man dying, will be made in advance of the "life jacket" to the old man to wear, said "with the life jacket".

In the past, there are "six under the four" said, that is, the upper wearing six pieces of clothing, the lower wearing four pieces of pants, people a gas, the children immediately burn paper money, burning paper sedan chair, crying, is called "send the end", but also to rush to the home of friends and relatives to report the funeral.

2, mourning: mourning refers to the mourners to relatives and neighbors to report the death, funeral period, burial period. Generally small coffin, the mourners will report the death of friends and relatives, so that they come to the coffin in time to offer condolences.

The form of the funeral report has oral, there are also held Buwen, later developed in the newspaper on the divination report of the funeral. Folk in general to oral, that is, filial son or eldest grandson to report the funeral, to those close friends and relatives, especially so, otherwise the rites are not, to those more distant, then take a message can be.

3, coffining: coffining refers to the dead wrapped, into the coffin. Ancient rituals of the coffin is divided into a large coffin (coffin), a small coffin. Three days of small coffins, five days of large coffins, or the next day of small coffins, three days of large coffins. This is also the so-called March burial of the old custom accordingly.

When the coffin, there is the custom of falling pillows: that is, moving the body, in the hall on the ground to spread a white cloth, the body on it, head resting on the new tile, tile pads to cloth triangular pillows, day and night to send people to wait; choose a day and time will be the body into the coffin, called "into the material". Later generations of general family mourning time is shorter, into the coffin is also more timely, most of the dying wear a good life jacket, the next day will be loaded into the coffin.

4, set up a filial piety hall: in front of the body hanging white cloth, set up incense table, put the spirit card or statue. Wailing in the morning and evening, registered friends and relatives to send gifts or "on behalf of the candle", the tent cloth in order to hang on both sides of the Hall of Filial Piety. Every morning and evening, and when friends and relatives come to offer condolences, the female members of the bereaved family hold their condolences next to the coffin in the tent. At night, friends and relatives to participate in the mourning hall wake, commonly known as "with the night".

5, mourning: mourning to choose the time, often in the morning. In the old days on the first day of "mourning", all night long to invite the master chanting, drums and music; mourning first held a memorial service, and then bier funeral, pay attention to the scene, often the whole clan to participate in the burial of friends and relatives all the way to the gongs and cannons, release the sad cry.

6, burial: the coffin into the cemetery. The graveyard is chosen for its "feng shui". The appearance of the grave is very similar to the Hakka's dragon house, which is a manifestation of the Hakka's worship of their ancestors. On the third day after the burial, relatives wearing mourning clothes go to the grave to cry and burn paper money, which is called "Jiao San Chao".

7, do seven: after the death of a person, every "seven" days, to hold a memorial service, commonly known as "do seven". Generally only do "five seven". At the end of the festival, a memorial service is held and the house of the spirit (paper house) is incinerated, which is called "the end of the seven" to indicate the end of the funeral. After that, the festival is held on the anniversary of the funeral, called the "Koho" (small mourning), and on the third year, called the "Daehwa" (large mourning). When the opening of the big filial piety, the door, the hall to change the red couplets, everything back to normal.

8, pick up the gold: Hakka custom, after a number of years of burial (often ten years), digging open the grave, the remains baked on charcoal, according to the structure of the human body limbs into the special pottery urns, so-called "pick up the gold", and then re-burial or pottery urns centrally located in the field, which is the permanent grave of the deceased. Longgang Hakka funeral customs called "second burial", in the deceased into the ground seven or eight years later, asked to dig up the ground to open the coffin, when the body's flesh and soft tissues such as internal organs have decayed, pallbearers will be skeletons picked up, mounted in a special pottery urns (commonly known as "gold urns" or "gold tower"), and then re-interment or pottery urns placed centrally in the field, which is the deceased permanent grave. "Golden Tower"), choose an auspicious day, the "Golden Tower" placed in the feng shui treasure. Some places also specialize in the construction of a large cemetery, the "golden pagoda" will be buried in it, set up a tombstone, commonly known as "ground". Cemetery done, choose a day to hold a "round ground" ceremony, sacrifices and banquets, known as the "second burial", "pick up the gold" is the last link of the funeral rites.

The Hakka people emphasize the importance of feng shui treasure land has three:

One is to have the dragon potential. That is, the rolling hills, the mountains, the order of the columns, the momentum; the size of the dragon's potential dominates the level of wealth and prosperity of the people.

The second is to have a bureau. That is, the scene lists the peaks, the bay ring back to the support, or flag or drum, or seal or case, should be used for the base; bureau dominated the fame and fortune.

Third, there should be water. That is, the base in front of the reverse of the river, but the river is not straight to the base,

but the mouth of the water back to the ring with the water; water is the main road to wealth.

Therefore, in order to find the feng shui land, they would rather wait for a few years, ten years or even decades. If you can not find a time to find auspicious places, they will put the gold ounces in the mountain caves or fields, to be buried later.

This temporary deposit "gold ounce", commonly known as "send rock". According to the Ming Dynasty Jiajing years, "Huizhou Prefecture" records: "Changle, peace Zi can not bear to abandon their relatives in the soil, there are stopping the bier period of years, three years and then buried, or buried not a few years, confused by the feng shui, open the ground easy coffin, cremation and reburial. Another example is Xingning, "bone in the tile bottle, called the golden bottle, move the burial and it ...... also confused by the geomancer, a number of move. ......" By the Qing Dynasty, this trend is even more prevalent. Jiaying State Records" records: "buried a few years will be opened to see, wash the bones, stored in a tile jar. To hundreds of years of distant ancestors, but also for the wash, or repeatedly up and move, the remains of the remains, the debris stops in a few pieces, but still migrate. They even believed in geomancy and planned auspicious holes." The Qing Zhang Xintai "Guangdong travel small Zhi": Jiayingzhou area: "Cantonese custom confused by feng shui ...... are buried, or ten years or more than ten years out of the soil, broken coffins to pick up the bones, called the gold wash." Feng Shui is the main reason for the Hakka second burial, Taiwan Hakka second burial is called "pick up Feng Shui", in Meixian C village second burial is called "do Feng Shui". In Hakka funerals, a funeral, people help each other, completely obligatory, do not receive any remuneration.

If the deceased is a woman, her mother's family enjoys special rights, and the mother's family has the final say on everything. During the mourning period, the children and grandchildren have to wear mourning mourning, can't comb and wash and can't eat, can't make dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival of that year and the following year, can't put up spring scrolls on the Spring Festival, and can't steam rice cakes.

The Hakka graves are feng shui, chosen by professional feng shui masters and mourners, and the appearance of Hakka graves is very much like the shape of the five phoenix buildings. Funeral artifacts, it is worth mentioning is the coffin, the coffin two words and official wealth resonance, meaning promotion and wealth, the Hakka people from ancient times have a tradition of government officials, the idea of learning and excellence is very strong, in the countryside, almost every farmer will use the coffin after the death of the corpse, but also some people due to other reasons after the death of the cremation of the, but also in the death of the descendants of the order will be in the coffin of their own ashes, they like the way this burial! They all like this way of burial to preserve the integrity of the corpse, far-reaching meaning, therefore, in the manufacture of coffins, the Hakka people also quite a lot of effort; Hakka coffins are also known as longevity wood, the old house, the longevity of beds, etc., used to encase the dead people.

The Hakka people on the selection of coffins are more elaborate, generally use cedar manufacturing, the production of life wood, the family rich, most of the old oil fir selection of the most root of a section, as large as possible, with four whole wood square material to do life, called "four corners", that is, the cover, the bottom and the side of the board with a whole piece of wood made of large, up and down, left and right **** four pieces, each of the two ends of the coffin. Four, one at each end, *** six, each piece is complete without merging, there is a coffin by seven stars connected to the corpse lifting board, called the "seven stars board", in addition, there are "hexagonal", "octagonal "Shoumu, that is, made of six or eight pieces of wood, moderately wealthy families generally make "ten corner" Shoumu, the choice of wood than "eight corner" slightly smaller; general family to do "twelve corner "Shoumu, that is, the coffin by 12 small wood made of wood, than the" ten horns "wood and a little smaller, cheaper, made of ten wood, of which the top cover for three wood, the bottom of three wood, two wood on each side, before and after the five to eleven other pieces of wood. In the countryside, due to economic conditions, the use of ten wood manufactured coffins more, so the coffin is also known as "ten pages of tile", "ten big blocks", but also twelve made of wood, commonly known as "twelve yuan!

The Nongnong village is also known as the "ten pages of tile", "ten blocks", also made of twelve pieces of wood, commonly known as "twelve yuan.

Farmers make coffins, usually around the age of 30 to select wood production, ready to use after death. Slang: "30 not pay board (refers to the coffin), see how bold you are", the implication is that people in their middle age, we have to prepare for the life of the wood, not ready, for fear that in case of a long or short will be caught unawares.

Therefore, the Hakka people generally have to do a good job of the coffin when they are alive, called "life wood" or "life ware", said to add life and happiness. Many people prepare their coffins before they are born, either by their children or grandchildren, or by themselves, some for decades.

After the coffin board put together, with tung oil lime paste to fill all the gaps, inside and outside with paint and cotton cloth layer by layer, so that it is watertight, in the old days, there are coffins more than three years do not see leakage leakage juice. Paint color is generally two kinds, one is black, one is red, depending on the customs of different places and different. After the longevity wood is done, the lacquerer brushes the oil on the knees in time, draws a pattern on both ends, writes the word "Fu" on the top of the big head, writes the word "Shou" on the small head in front of it and writes "Fu Ru Dong Hai", "Shou Shou" on the lid of the coffin on the red paper. On the lid of the coffin, the words "Blessed as the East Sea" and "Longevity as the South Mountain" are written on red paper. People who died young, the use of coffins generally do not paint colors.

Hakka custom, the bottom of the coffin on the first put grass ash and scented leaves, paving the brown piece of 12 pieces, leap year more than one (Guangdong Hakka people love to pave an inch thick yellow mud), and then put the "seven miles board" (through seven holes in the thin board), the board on the straw paper and cloth. The dead body also covered seven mattresses, called "on seven under eight".

The bottom of the coffin should be put on the things put on, by the relatives of the two (some places by the earthworker) with two white cloth will be lifted into the coffin, the head wrapped in silk, the head of the two bricks, called "Brick", written on the deceased's name and lineage of birth and death, month, day and hour. Ninghua and other places to make a monument, write the deceased's birth and death year

month and day time and the names of children and grandchildren, for future reference, the male put under the feet, the female put on the head.

After the body is placed, to pull the center line, the body is placed in the center, the gap in the coffin, some filled with charcoal, some with the remains of the deceased clothes stuffed tightly, and then covered with mattresses on top of it, that is, with white cloth and canvas made of cup style. Ninghua Hakka people give the dead mattress is on the seven under eight, that is, in the body on the pad eight, the body on the cover eight.

The Hakka people in western Fujian put a white cloth on the dead body which was sent by their married daughter, put a lamp on the side of the head, a bowl of rice, an egg, and a pair of chopsticks inserted on the rice. Take turns to keep watch day and night, and do not allow dogs and cats to approach. Lime is sprinkled around the body to prevent insects and ants. Hakka custom, not over the age of death is called "short life", generally can not enjoy the coffin burial, can only use a few boards nailed into a coffin, commonly known as "fire board", will be buried.

Hakka funeral culture, fully embodies the Hakka people's respect for the deceased, the worship of ancestors, is to pray for the blessing of the ancestors to shade future generations of important rituals, is an embodiment of ancient Hakka civilization rituals.