Rural Funeral Paper Pieces Pictures

Paper Tie, originated from the ancient folk religious rituals, and later gradually became a decorative art to celebrate the holidays. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, paper mache was widely used in both urban and rural areas, and during festivals and celebrations, folk artists fully utilized their skills to make the "Mouse Climbing Grape Lights", "Unicorn Lights", "Duck (Pressure) Lights", "Duck (Pressure) Lights", and "Duck (Pressure) Lights" to congratulate the newlyweds. The "unicorn lamp" for a happy son, the "duck (pressure) lamp" for a healthy son, the "mandarin duck lamp" for congratulating a newlywed, the "goldfish lamp" for praying for a good harvest, as well as famous flowers, plants, birds and animals, etc. These brightly colored and stylized lamps are very popular. These colorful, simple and simple modeling, symbolizing the bright and cheerful all kinds of paper products, are taken bamboo, wood, thread, paper as the main material. Bamboo, wood for the skeleton, to the line bound parts, paste colored paper to decorate. For the festive and happy activities frequently add a few colors, but also for the mourning, sacrificial scenes on a layer of mystery veil.

China's paper tie art originally originated in mourning, it is tied, paste paste, paper-cutting, clay sculpture, painting and other techniques into one of the folk art. In folklore, it is also known as paste, paper, paper, paper horse, and paper cover, which is a form of satisfying the psychological and spiritual needs of the people's sacrificial beliefs.

The types of papier-maché are no more than the following four categories: one is the statue of God, such as burial in front of the mausoleum burned in a large piece of za products; two is a portrait, including children, opera characters, attendants, etc.; three is a building, such as the spirit of the room, the gate, the house, the car and sedan chair, etc.; four is the Ming ware, including food and drink, offerings, and auspicious items, as well as beasts and rays of the class. All kinds of papier-maché works are skillfully taken, and the craftsmanship is exquisite.

Why do people in Changzhou used to call the Spring Bridge "Xing (sound navigation) Spring Bridge"? Legend has it that in ancient times, whenever the Spring Festival day, the landlord officials full of top dress ceremonial parade, carrying offerings and beforehand with five-color paper by the blind tie paste into the spring cow (paper red, yellow, green, white, black, by the blind randomly color paper paste, look at the cow on the body of the paper color, predicted that year's annual abundance and lack of, such as red more than the Lord of the fire, yellow more than the sign of a good year, the green Lord of the wind, the white Lord of the water, the black for the epidemic cloud) and the side of the standing paper tie holding the whip Mang (according to the Tokyo Dreaming Records: "Tokyo Dreaming Records": "the"), "the" and "the", "the" and "the", "the", "the" and "the". Tokyo Meng Hua Records": "the day before the spring, Kaifeng into the spring cattle ban whip spring". Lu Zhao: "Banished to Lianzhou book spring bull list of poetry": "not allowed to work because of hunger wants to die, son Nong why use to beat the spring bull." (The custom of spring bulls has a long history, but in our place, we use paper to tie spring bulls.) Together they are included in the procession, sound the gong and pass this bridge to the Confucius Temple to offer sacrifices to heaven and hold the ceremony of welcoming spring. In the Qing Dynasty, when entering the lobby of the county office, the scrolls in the pavilion carried by the procession were opened and quickly wound up in the sound of drums and music, symbolizing in ancient times the meaning of spring has come. As the spring procession through the streets and alleys, all the people to watch, very much like the folk welcome God line (sound navigation) will be, and must pass through the bridge, so the local people are to welcome the spring bridge known as the "line spring bridge".

Paper tie interpretation

For rural people, the word paper tie is not strange, the village old man died, the descendants will buy paper tie, to the deceased burned. However, for the city people, the paper can be a new word, especially the younger generation, few people know what the paper is a thing.

In the superstitious thought, paper is the netherworld with objects, made of paper paste into a variety of appliances, are designed to allow the ghosts of the dead to use in the netherworld. For example, after burning a paper house, the ghost will have a house in the netherworld, after burning a paper carriage, the ghost will have a carriage in the netherworld, after burning a paper sheep, the ghost will have a flock in the netherworld.

In the countryside, basically after the death of all the old people, the children will buy paper and burn paper for the old people. Even the poor families in the village have to raise money to buy some, at least a small farmhouse, or the deceased went to the netherworld, but there is no place to live.

History of papier-maché

In ancient times, everyone attached great importance to the matter of sacrifices, up to the king and nobles, down to the common people. The less serious ones were sacrificed with livestock such as pigs, horses and sheep, and the more serious ones had to be sacrificed with living people. In the slavery society, after the death of the nobles, many times will choose to let the living people martyrdom.

By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, people gradually realized the cruelty of the living martyrdom, so the martyrdom by the original living people into a figurine, according to the terracotta material, terracotta can be divided into wooden terracotta, grass terracotta, terracotta terracotta, jade terracotta, and so on. The Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor of Qin, is a good example.

Probably to the Song Dynasty, people began to use paper to do figurines, paper figurines relative to other materials figurines, more beautiful and realistic, and cheaper, so most people, began to choose to use paper figurines to accompany the burial. People burned paper people, burned paper horses, and later developed a burned paper house, gradually the culture of paper tie popularized in the folk.

Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, paper tie culture gradually popularized, paper tie became a folk funeral, one of the most important supplies. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, the style of paper is more colorful, in quantity is far more than the previous dynasty. The rich families in the Qing Dynasty to do funerals, just the paper to be piled up 10 or so houses.

During the late Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi died, and there were hundreds of people with paper hangings alone. Foreigners have never seen such a large-scale Chinese funeral, and have rushed to record this amazing moment with their cameras.

Paper Tie Types

Paper Tie Types can be first of all, from the big picture, can be divided into the narrow sense of the paper tie and the broad sense of the paper tie two kinds. The narrow sense of the paper tie refers to the funerary paper tie mentioned above, such as the money tree, cranes, carriages, mansions, etc.; the broad sense of the paper tie refers to all the colorful crafts made of paper, such as colored lanterns, colorful doors, door decorations, dance equipment, kites, etc..

The paper can be categorized according to the theme, and can be divided into characters, animals, buildings, gods and Buddhas, and five types of life. Characters such as boys, girls, grooms, servants, etc.; animals such as cranes, sheep, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, pigs, etc.; buildings such as the courtyard submitted in the above article, in addition to pagodas, money vaults, etc.; Gods and Buddhas such as Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, ghosts and gods, etc.; life, there is a money tree, horse-drawn carts, tables, chairs, benches, pots of treasures, flowers, etc.

Paper makers can be divided into five categories according to the subject matter.

From the geographical point of view, the paper can be divided into a variety of basically every place in the country, have their own unique style, which is more famous in Fujian Wutang paper, Jiangxi Tonggu paper, Shandong Caoxian paper, Hebei Qiu County paper, Xiangxi Phoenix paper and so on.

Paper Tie Culture

Filial piety and gratitude are traditional virtues inherited by the Chinese nation for more than 5,000 years, and the paper tie culture is a concrete manifestation of the traditional filial piety culture. It is natural for people to be filial when they are alive, and they still have to be filial when they are dead.

In folklore, it is widely believed that when people die, the ghosts are still there, and the ghosts are in the other world, and they also need to eat, wear, live and travel, so the descendants use the paper tie to replace the physical object, and prepare all the living things for the deceased.

Of course, the reason why people are so superstitious, and not simply believe in ghosts, more is a kind of emotional expression of the deceased. Though all the paper zippers are fake, the sincere feelings for the deceased are real.

On the surface, the paper is prepared for the deceased, is to be completely burned, into another world, but in fact, the role played by the burning of paper, more for those who are alive.

A person's death is always accompanied by guilt and regret, before they did not have time to say the words, did not have time to send gifts, did not have time to realize the `dreams, can be burned in the form of paper to make up for, for the living, the burning of paper is also a kind of emotional support, is a kind of repression of the release.

Paper tie in folklore, also known as paste paper, tie paper, tie paper horse, tie cover, etc., is to meet the people's sacrificial beliefs in a form of psychological and spiritual needs.

Paper people as a burial custom of a funeral, with a strong Chinese characteristics.

Tracing its origin, it is a variation of the ancient custom of martyrdom, "Rituals - Tan Gong": "Chen Zi Che died in Wei, his wife and his family doctor to seek martyrdom."

In the beginning, the system of martyrdom was to martyr the living.

The tomb of the Shang king in Houjiazhuang, Yinxu, contains the skeletons of 164 martyrs, the tomb of the Shang king's consort, Women's Hao, has 16 martyrs, and the tomb of Zeng Houyi has the remains of 21 martyrs, all of whom were young women.

The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue recorded that Helu's daughter committed suicide because she had a grudge against her father, and Helu was so grieved that he built a large tomb for his daughter outside the Gate of Heaven, "chiseling the ground for a pool, accumulating earth for a mountain", and making a beautifully carved stone coffin, and using gold tripods, silver bottles, jewels and jade to be treasures for the burial.

On the day of his daughter's burial, Helu made people dance all the way to the white cranes, attracting thousands of citizens to follow and watch, to the cemetery, Helu "so that the men and women and the cranes are all the door, because of the plug."

Warring States policy - Qin policy two Empress Dowager Qin Xuanzhu love Wei Choufu, said its death to Wei Choufu martyrdom, Wei Choufu was terrified, and begged for Yong Rui to intercede, and ultimately spared a death. This shows the cruelty of this custom of martyring the living.

When Emperor Qin Shi Huang built his tomb, it is said that at first he wanted to martyr the living, and then for some reason he changed it to a terracotta warrior instead of a living person to accompany the burial, which gave rise to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses that we are now marveling at.

Of course, with the power of Qin Shi Huang, thousands of terracotta warriors accompany the burial is still understandable, but its consumption of wealth is also huge.

Ancient people things like life, such as the Qin Emperor, "wearing three springs, under the copper and to the coffin, the palace view of the hundreds of rare and precious migrant Zang full of it. Make craftsmen do machine crossbow vector, some wear close to the person always shoot. To mercury for the hundreds of rivers, rivers and seas, machine phase infusion, on the astronomical, geographic, with mermaid paste for the candle, the degree of non-extinguishable for a long time" is also very human can be prepared to.

So, the later generations after the development, especially civilians to cheap paper people to replace the expensive terracotta figurines, so the "Golden Girls" and other paper people began to serve the deceased as a servant is widely used.

The paper figures are only one type of funeral objects, which were initially daily necessities and became popular from the Song Dynasty onwards.

People with bamboo gabions, reeds, sorghum straw tied into a variety of furniture and utensils figures, paste with color paper, decorated with paper cutouts, for the dead burned.

In the matter of death as in the matter of life point of view, the world can only be compared to Egypt and the Chinese, but compared to Egypt, the Chinese are more romantic.

Wu Zimu, a Song dynasty scholar, mentioned in his book "Dream Liang Records" the "Shu family paper store" in Hangzhou's bustling market, "the Xu family paper store at the mouth of the Lion Alley". At that time, people could privately customize all kinds of "flowers and fruits", "palaces and houses", "servants and attendants", the production of the fine food, called the human feelings.

After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty, there are thousands of paper people, paper horses, paper flowers, paper cars, paper soldiers, paper will be a great momentum, can be described as the closest to the present, the most grand a royal funeral.

According to foreign journalists who watched the funeral ceremony at the time, the real people mixed in between the dummies. Visible paper people vivid, can not tell the real from the fake.

In modern times, many customs change with the times, and the paper tie is also up with the times. Not only the emergence of television, washing machines, bicycles, cars, and even these years, even the iPhone, iPad also have, only can not think of, there is no do not do.

Even with the change of concept, now the paper tie has transcended the original concept of funeral, butterfly into a form of art.

In June 2019, one of the four major national museums in France, the Musée de Kébranly, held an art exhibition called 'Paradise of Bliss', where the protagonists were these traditional paper zhang used for rituals, and the paper zhang appeared at the art exhibition in a brand new look, bringing the Chinese view of death to the foreign public.

For death, we are most afraid of fear, but the art of death-based papier-maché shows another unique perspective of modern people: romance.

The relative dichotomy of fear of death on one side, and the romantic world after death on the other, constitutes a unique Chinese view of life and death. The sadness of the loss of loved ones has been used by the Chinese to create a unique world of the dead.

The paper towels carry our thoughts to the heavens along with the dancing flames, and even the fluttering paper ash is considered to be the whispering of the dead. They collect the gifts of their loved ones from the flames, and at the end of the Naiho Bridge, they can still lead a carefree life.

The Chinese have four major festivals for the dead each year: the first month of the lunar calendar (around the time of the Spring Festival), the Qingming Festival, the Mid-Yuan Festival, and the Winter Solstice. We talk about reunions. Although the dead are gone, they still communicate with each other through these festivals, and we use them to talk about our thoughts, which is a genetic legacy of ancestor worship.

Some people are dead, but they are still alive, and these paper hangings build bridges between the living and the dead as mediums of communication between yin and yang. On days like the Cold Clothes Festival, the Chinese will want to add clothes to the dead; on the Mid-Yuan Festival and the Ching Ming Festival, we will send coins for the dead, so that they will have money in their hands.

The paper is the basis of the paper, the view of its essence, it is a kind of spiritual support, on behalf of the thoughts of the living, but also on behalf of the deceased had left marks in your life and mine.

Dreamcatcher tells the story of a Mexican boy who traveled to the world of the undead in a fantasy adventure, the meaning behind it and the Chinese view of life and death is very similar.

As the old saying goes, "If you have descendants, hang them up at Qingming; if you don't have descendants, make them a light grave", the people who are entrusted with the paper is not just a simple remembrance, but a kind of proof.

"Life between heaven and earth, if a white horse passes through the gap, suddenly only", just a hundred years, to the moment of our separation, there are always some difficult to calm and reluctant. Science told us in a cold tone after death, a shovelful of soil, a cut with rationality to eliminate romance and fantasy; but emotional is the essence of man, there is always blood, love and hate for us to tell the living can die, the dead can be born.

The living are the passers-by, the dead are the returnees, and the world is an inverse traveler with the same sorrow for the dust of the ages.

Li Bai told us in a compassionate tone of life is short, short-lived mayfly helplessness, sent thoughts and romantic paper tie but shaped the poetic fairy can not create naivety. Death is terrible, but after the death of nothing to send is the real barren, if this new crown epidemic tells us that life and death is impermanent, then we hope that, in the life and death of the unknown behind the romantic spring.