What are the steps in the beam ceremony?

The whole process can be divided into several procedures, such as sacrificing the beam, mounting the beam, receiving the bag, throwing the beam, and waiting for the craftsman.

Selecting the beam is not to take the "only wood"

It can be said that the whole ceremony is centered around the "beam". Before the beam, the first step is to carefully select and make the beam. In accordance with the customs of Taishun area, to select a good beam is not easy, first of all, the master should personally go to the South Mountain to identify the beam, choose the conditions of the beam can be described as harsh, one is the beam must be cedar; the second is to be straight to the sky, branching and leafy; the third is the age of the tree is not too long and not too short, the tree should be the same size as much as possible from the bottom to the top; the fourth tree should be surrounded by a lot of small cedar, the more the better, meaning that many more children and grandchildren. If it is a single tree, it can not be selected.

When cutting down the beams, the surrounding small cedar trees should not be damaged, and the direction of the beams should be facing south when they are cut down, not in any other direction. On the day the beam is started, an auspicious day is chosen, and the master carpenter must light three sticks of incense and set off two firecrackers before starting to make the beam.

After the beams are made, the owner chooses an auspicious day and hour to put them up. According to traditional custom, the day of the beam should not clash with any member of the homeowner's family, or it will have an unfavorable effect. In addition, other people's zodiac signs should also be avoided if they clash or clash with the hour of the beam.

Shouting "Great Luck"

An essential part of the process is to offer sacrifices to the beams before they go up. People carry the beam, which is labeled with red paper or red silk, into the front of the new house, and put offerings such as pigs, fish, chickens, geese, eggs, tofu, joss sticks and candles on the offering table, and then the masons and carpenters make a toast while saying good words. Once the beam offering is over, the craftsmen carry the beam up to the roof or pull it up with a rope.

When lifting or pulling up the beam, firecrackers are fired, and the beam master sings the beam song and shouts, "On ah, great luck!" In the process of the beam, some places require that the beam will be lifted up smoothly and steadily, avoiding a front and back, high and low tilt. But some other places on the beam on the east end of the beam is often higher than the west end and on, because the east end of the representative of the "Green Dragon", the west end of the representative of the "White Tiger", according to the requirements of geomancy, "White Tiger" to be lower than the "Green Dragon". The "White Tiger" should be lower than the "Green Dragon" according to the requirement of geomancy.

The beam will be placed on the smooth, the master will be sent by friends and relatives "grain color bag" to the roof, placed in the middle of the beam, meaning that the five grains, and will be draped in red cloth on the beam, some places in the bottom of the red cloth sewn on a pair of cloth shoe mats, meaning that the master of the new house pads home base.

Some places hang red cloth bags containing jujubes, peanuts, rice, wheat, and wan nianqing in the middle of the beam, signifying "good fortune, fortune, longevity, happiness, and everlasting happiness". Thereafter, the craftsman will be fruit, food, etc. with red cloth, while saying good words will be thrown into the cloth bag by the master hands held up in the basket, this program is called "receiving package", meaning to catch the treasure.

The most lively program of the beam ceremony is the "throw beam". When the master "to receive the package", the craftsman will be candy, peanuts, steamed bread, copper coins, "Golden Treasure" and so on from the beam thrown all around, so that come to watch the men, women and children scrambling, the more the proprietor of the more happy, the move is called "throwing the beam! "This is known as" throw beam ", meaning" source of wealth rolled in ".

In the "throw beam", craftsmen also want to say auspicious words, they often say: "throw beam throw to the east, the east sunrise full of red; throw beam throw to the west, the unicorn sends a son to hang double happiness; throw beam throw to the south, children and grandchildren generations to do the scholar; throw beam throw to the north, the hoard of white rice year after year full! "

After the end of the beam tossing, the people exit the new house and let the sun shine on the roof beams, which is called "sun beam". Finally, the host hosted a banquet to entertain the craftsmen, helpers and friends and relatives, and distributed red packets, the entire beam ceremony is over.

Expanded Information

The Tujia people often start the beams at dawn. Before that, the "ink master" will burn incense and wine, offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth, and invite the ancestor Lu Ban to come down to support the columns and beams, so that the columns and beams will be upright and will last for ages to come. Sacrifice, to catch a large red rooster, a bite of the chicken head off, drip blood on the beam to avoid the evil spirits, and must read the incantation, perform the ritual. Bi, that is, the order to ascend the beam.

At this time, the firecrackers, two people lifting the beam, in the sound of firecrackers, chanting auspicious words, step by step up to the ridge, the beam will be placed in the top of the post in the mouth of the armature, placed in the beam at the ends of the food and wine to reward those who lifted the beam. The owner of the house at this time, with a red cloth draped over the beam, called "Phi Hong", and a red envelope to thank the master carpenter (i.e., ink master).

Then, there are people on the roof, hand-carried basket of glutinous rice poi, thrown to the crowd, so-called "dump beam poi". Afterwards, the host accepts congratulatory gifts from friends and relatives and hangs them in front of the hall to show that the hall is full of joy. The Miao, Yao, Dong, and Bai people have similar ceremonies.

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