Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional stories - What are the etiquette after death?

What are the etiquette after death?

In short, people should do seven things after death.

It seems unnecessary to know this custom or to operate it completely according to the ancient system, but it is necessary to learn and understand this knowledge.

1. Funeral culture: July 7th.

also known as "fasting seven", "burning seven" and "doing seven". In the old days, the funeral custom of the Han nationality was popular all over the country, that is, after the death (or after the funeral), a coffin was set up from the "first seven days" for the wood owner to cry and worship every day, and to offer sacrifices in the morning and evening. Every seven days, a Buddhist ceremony was held, and a fast was held to pay homage, which ended in the 49th day of "July 7".

This custom, which has not been recorded in the Han Dynasty, should be related to the introduction of Buddhism into China. It began to be popular in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and has been spread to this day. The Buddhist Yoga Theory says: After death, in order to seek fate, we should take seven days as a period. If we cannot have fate at the end of the seventh day, we will continue for seven days, and at the end of the seventh day, we will have a place, so there will be a "July 7th".

the seventh seven days are also called "breaking seven", "doing seven" and "full seven" by the people. More attention is paid to the five-seven and the seven-seven.

second, there are many specific etiquette during the July 7th period, and different places have their own practices.

The first seven days, the third seven days and the seventh seven days after death are called "Big Seven". At present, Dojo and ritual are generally not practiced in Qizuo, but some special customs and attentions are still preserved, such as setting up a spiritual pedestal, settling grievances and giving alms. In addition, in addition to paying homage at home, many people gradually choose to go to the resting place of their loved ones, carry out the ceremony of doing seven rites, and make close-up sacrifices and exchanges in order to better express their thoughts about their old friends.

Third, do the specific ceremony of July 7th

1. Set up a spiritual pedestal

The first seven should set up a spiritual pedestal for the portrait. Decorate the portrait before noon, and put an incense burner and two candlesticks in front of it.

2. Set three sides

Prepare all the articles before noon, and offer the fruits first, and set three sides (square, left and right).

3. Light a candle

Before noon, a child (regardless of sex) lights a candle. If there are no children, the youngest nephew (female) can replace them; If there is no nephew (female), and the kinship is close, the person who is the smallest with his children will light candles.

4. Write wine

The boss pours the first glass of wine, and the second one every minute. If there is a third one, the third one will fill the glass every minute. Every three minutes, under the banquet, the cup above for the old man was poured around the tombstone and dedicated to the deceased. There were two cups left and right, one for the sky and one for the ground. If there are no children, the nephew (female) can replace them; If there is no nephew (female), the relatives are close, and those who are equal to their children pour wine according to the size.

5. Adding rice (offering cakes)

It comes from the original etiquette of "offering soup rice". From the beginning of setting up a spiritual seat, three meals a day are offered to the dead, usually vegetarian dishes, until the end of July 7th. If it is held in front of the tomb, a meal is offered on the spot. Change the sacrifice of cakes to distinguish it from the simple sacrifice of fruits. You can't serve tofu pudding (folks say that it's not harmonious for brothers and sisters to make tofu pudding for seven times), but always serve three bowls.

6. Burn tin foil ingots

Paste several large envelopes with tin foil ingots in them, with the name of the deceased written in the middle. The previous paragraph says that the deceased was born on a certain day of a certain year and died on a certain day of a certain year, and the next paragraph writes the address and name of the person who burned the ingots, which will be burned when offering.

7. Proclamation of memorial service

Personalized memorial service (this is not necessary, and the memorial service can also be written by someone else)

8. Relatives pay homage to

the eldest son (regardless of sex) and light candles; The second son (male or female) lights incense (when holding incense, the left hand is outward and the right hand is inward, and the incense is slightly higher than the head to show respect; When you order, you should be flat, which means burning safe incense; When inserting incense, you usually insert it with your hands to show respect) and bow to the deceased; At first, light candles and incense. If there are no children, the nephew (female) can replace them. If there is no nephew (female), and the kinship is close, those who are equal to their children will light candles and incense according to their size, and other relatives and friends will light incense in turn and bow to the deceased; All relatives stand in a row and bow three times to the deceased (the younger generation will bow down); After the worship, fruit is given to the children to add happiness and longevity.

fourth, what should I do if the others encounter seven issues?

1, 27 to 77, compared with the first seven, the link of setting up a spiritual seat is missing.

2. After the meal, Sanqi added the contents of "receiving the dead" and "giving alms": when receiving the dead, the dutiful son (female) cried out the title of the dead with incense. In modern etiquette, family members call out the names of the deceased and say a heartfelt memory. Yankou is a Sanskrit transliteration, also known as "Mianran", which is the name of the hungry ghost king. As the saying goes, in order to prevent the dead from being hungry ghosts, we should give alms to ghosts and gods. Now it is simplified as relatives put several plates of cakes around the tomb as alms to pray for the safety of the deceased.

3. Compared with the first seven, the May 7th has more content of "settling grievances". That is, the copper coin string is untied, and a number of knots are tied on the copper coin string, and the knots are untied in turn according to the seniority. After untied, each relative will distribute one. The sky is round and the place is prosperous for generations.

4, 4, 7 and 6, 7 are arranged by the daughter and son-in-law, and the son (or nephew) of the deceased family does not come forward to do this etiquette. Candles are lit by married girls, while wine is poured by son-in-law. Other contents are the same as Erqi.