Habits and rules left by Han ancestors

Han people's Spring Festival customs: Generally speaking, they mainly eat rice cakes, jiaozi, Ciba, glutinous rice balls, poached eggs, big meatballs, whole fish, wine, oranges, apples, peanuts, melon seeds, sweets, fragrant tea and dishes; It is accompanied by many activities, such as dust removal, bedding washing, preparing new year's goods, pasting Spring Festival couplets, pasting New Year pictures, pasting paper-cuts, pasting blessings, lighting candles, lighting fires, setting off firecrackers, observing the New Year, giving lucky money, visiting relatives, visiting ancestral graves, visiting flower markets and creating social fires.

New Year's Eve is particularly important: first, the whole family should get together, and those who have not returned for some reason should leave a seat and a set of tableware to show their reunion; Second, the food is rich, pay attention to "oral color", call the rice cake "step by step", jiaozi "Wanshun", the drink "running water", the egg "big gold ingot" and the goldfish "more than a year"; This kind of fish is not allowed to eat. It is called "Kanyu" and must be eaten until the first day of school. In areas where there are no fish in the north, carved wooden fish are mostly used instead; Third, the seats are orderly, mostly for ancestors. Grandchildren are in the middle, and their parents are in a lower position. Men, women and children should drink. Close the door when eating, and the excitement will be gone.

marry

The marriage customs of the Han nationality have a long history and are full of national colors. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a complete set of etiquette has been formed, namely "drawing lots", "asking names", "accepting oneself", "accepting levies", "inviting guests" and "welcoming relatives", which are called "Six Rites".

"Accepting talents" means that the man's family asks the matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family, which is later called "matchmaking"; "Asking the name" means that the two sides change their ages, which is called "changing the dragon and phoenix hillock" in modern times, and then divining "marriage"; Najib means "engaged"; "Zheng Na" is a betrothal gift from the man's family to the woman's family, commonly known as "bride price"; "Invitation" means choosing a wedding date and asking the woman for advice; "Kissing" means marrying the bride.

From ancient times to the present, although the marriage customs are different because of the changes of the times or the differences between the rich and the poor, the basic ritual procedures are similar. Even in modern times, with the rise of free love and the simplification of etiquette, there are still reservations about the customs of the matchmaker (introducer) such as communication, blind date, engagement and marriage.

Among the "Six Rites", the content of "welcoming the bride" is the most colorful, and the main customs are paving the house, crying for marriage, spreading cereal beans, raising fire, splashing water, covering the face, wearing red clothes, landing the bride's feet on the ground, sitting in a sedan chair, "crossing the saddle", worshiping the church meeting, spreading accounts and making a cup of noise. For more than two thousand years, these "pro-welcoming" customs have been enduring. Although they have been innovating and evolving with the progress of society in modern times, their basic aspects have not changed much.

In the aspect of marriage system, although monogamy was widely practiced in ancient Han nationality, concubinage was more common. In modern times, it is commonly known as "begging for a concubine" or "marrying a concubine", but widows are generally not allowed to remarry, especially in the late feudal society, when Neo-Confucianism rose and the rules were very strict, and some basically wore plain clothes all their lives.

In the form of marriage, in the old society, in addition to being married by the media, there were buying and selling marriage, cousin marriage, exchange marriage, transfer marriage, adoption marriage (commonly known as "adoption"), typical wife marriage, child marriage, finger marriage, filial marriage, ghost marriage and so on.

3 Funeral

The funeral is to dress the body and put it under the coffin. Before a person dies, he should summon the soul and bathe the dead. Funeral is divided into two steps: small funeral and large funeral. A small undertaker is a cloth used to wrap his body, silk is for the rich and jade is for the royal family. Great-coat is to put the body in the coffin. Coffins are called "longevity materials", male coffins are engraved with the word "longevity", female coffins are engraved with the word "blessing", and some coffins are engraved with the combination of the words "Fu Lushou". When he was dying, he put rice in the mouth of the dead man. This rich family owns jade, pearls, etc. , the royal family contains jade, modern silver, are called "rice". When you die, there are often some things buried with you. Generally, people have clothes, quilts and daily necessities, and wealthy families and royalty will have many valuable items buried with them.

A funeral is to stay in the funeral palace after the funeral. The mourning period varies from 3 days to 30 days, mainly depending on the mourners. In ancient times, coffins were buried for three months, up to seven months. According to the traditional customs of the Han nationality, children should mourn when their parents die, otherwise it is unfilial. Relatives and friends will mourn and pay homage to the deceased in the future, which is called "mourning" or "condolence". All mourners should mourn. In ancient times, the mourning clothes of Han nationality were divided into five types: Wei, Cui Zi, Dagong, Hong Xiao and Zhima, which were called "five clothes". They are made of coarse linen and fine linen, and wear different mourning clothes according to the relationship between relatives and friends, which is called "Pima Dai Xiao". In modern times, white cloth is often used for mourning. Modern cities generally wear white flowers on their chests and black gauze on their arms.

Burying is burying the body of the dead, that is, burying the coffin. Before burial, the old custom often depends on geomantic omen and chooses a cemetery, which is called "choosing good luck". Funeral is also called funeral. At the funeral, the ancient Han people were generally "dutiful sons", and undertaker sang an elegy. Elegy has evolved into elegy in modern times. Relatives and friends wrote elegiac couplets or funeral elegiac couplets, which evolved into wreaths of elegiac couplets in modern times.

In ancient times, the custom of offering sacrifices to people (mainly close relatives, near ministers and near servants, which remained until the Qing Dynasty) was gradually replaced by pottery figurines, and in modern times, paper figures were buried with them.

After the funeral, there are memorial ceremonies for the seventh, seventh, centenary and anniversary, and the memorial tablet belongs to the ancestral hall, which has changed from a ceremony for people at the funeral to a ceremony for "ghosts" and "ancestors".

In addition, the Han nationality also has the custom of "returning to burial", that is, transporting the bodies that died in other places back to their original places. During the funeral, the relatives of the deceased should wear mourning clothes and wake in the mourning hall. In the ancient etiquette system of China, filial piety was divided into five grades according to the kinship with the deceased. There is also a word "five clothes" in modern Chinese to express the distance of blood relationship. Filial piety is made of white cloth, which is quite different from the custom of westerners wearing white clothes to make dresses.

cultivate

When a woman is pregnant, the Han people usually call it "Youxi".

The second day after the child was born, it was the "Three Dynasties". After a child is born, most of them close their eyes until three dynasties (that is, three days) or after three dynasties. According to the old custom, children should see their father first, then their mother and other relatives and friends to show their eternal filial piety to their parents. At this time, relatives and friends who come to visit often send gifts such as eggs, brown sugar and children's clothes to congratulate them. Among them, the red egg is called "red egg", which is also called "happy egg" because it is a festive occasion.

The full moon is called "Mi Yue". The old custom is to give children a haircut, commonly known as "shaving their heads", and hold a banquet to celebrate. In some places, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month is designated as the "haircut" day for newborns. Modern Han people regard the child's full moon as a common occurrence, but in some places, rural areas still attach great importance to it, and often invite full moon wine.

One year old is the most solemn day since a child was born. It is an ancient custom to test a child's future when he is one year old. The method is to put a bow and arrow pen for men, a knife, ruler, needle basket for women, all kinds of food and clothes on the table, and let the children do it themselves. The winner is the symbol of their future. Modern Han people generally pay more attention to their children's first birthday. Whether in urban or rural areas, they usually take pictures of their children, make new clothes and eat eggs and noodles to congratulate them. Some families with better economic conditions will also hold birthday parties to entertain relatives and friends. There is also the custom of keeping jiaozi for one year in rural areas in the south of the Yangtze River. This kind of zongzi is wrapped longer than ordinary zongzi, which means that children will grow up soon.

5. Sacrifice custom

The most obvious examples are Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and Cold Clothes Festival. These three festivals were originally called "Ghost Festival" because they are based on ancestor worship and are mainly used to worship ancestors and ghosts. Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping means remembering ancestors and encouraging future generations. The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Orchid Festival, has the custom of setting off river lanterns to save the lonely and taking care of ghosts. On the Cold Clothes Festival, people burn paper clothes in front of their ancestors' graves.

solve problems

In China, the traditional generation concept of the Han nationality has existed for a long time, with four generations of elders and four generations of younger generations as the center, forming a "nine-clan" blood relationship of "great-grandfather, great-grandfather, father, self, son, grandson, great-grandson and great-grandson", which is nine levels. If collateral blood relatives are linked with in-laws, a huge kinship system will be formed. As in Saint Amethyst: "

Great grandfather, father and body.

Body and son, son and grandson.

From descendants to Xuanzang.

It's the theory of Jiuzu people. "

First floor: grandpa, grandma, grandpa and grandma (second generation)

Second floor: father, mother, uncle, aunt, uncle, aunt, uncle, aunt, aunt, father-in-law, mother-in-law (older generation)

The third floor: (itself) elder brother, sister-in-law, elder sister, brother-in-law, cousin, brother-in-law, wife and sister-in-law (peers).

The fourth floor: sons, daughters, nephews, nephews, nephews (after one generation)

Fifth floor: grandson, granddaughter, granddaughter, granddaughter, granddaughter, granddaughter, granddaughter, granddaughter (after the second generation).

Kinship titles are generational, regardless of age. My brother is several years older than my brother, and my brother's children are several years older than my brother's children. After several generations, the descendants of Damen may be several decades younger than those of Xiaomen, which will not affect the generational relationship. Grandson or grandfather who often holds a beard in his arms. Therefore, Han people often say that "the door is suitable for the younger generation."

Kinship appellation is also used between neighbors or strangers in society to show kindness and respect. For example, peers in the neighborhood are usually called brothers, brothers, sisters and younger sisters. Young people call their parents uncles, aunts, aunts and so on. And grandparents are grandfathers and grandmothers are grandfathers. Generally speaking, it is very important to pay attention to the hierarchy and grasp the angle in the use of appellation. Different age groups have different names, especially on envelopes. When a son writes to his parents, the letter should be called "parents" or "parents", but there is something wrong with the address on the envelope. It is appropriate to address Mr. X or his position.

In life, in order to show respect for people, there are also special phenomena that don't pay attention to grades. For example, there is a respected elder in a family, and the younger generation in the family calls him grandpa, grandma, grandpa, grandma and so on. Neighborhood, regardless of men, women and children, may call him grandpa, grandma, grandpa and grandma, but they often start with their names. For example, Granny Liu in A Dream of Red Mansions and Grandpa Si Liu in Camel Xiangzi. Sometimes the word "he (she)" is added before the title, such as: his uncle, her second aunt, his grandmother, her second brother Li and so on. Similar appellations are still widely used today.