Ancient etiquette and customs

Various ancient etiquette and customs

1, Sacrifice and fasting

Sacrificial activities mainly worship ancestors and gods (qi).

In ancient times, people from the emperor to the common people worshipped their ancestors. The emperor and the princes first offered sacrifices to their ancestors in the ancestral temple. Ancestral hall is also called ancestral hall and ancestral hall. The ancients believed that the divine right of monarchy originated from ancestors, so ancient emperors and princes established ancestral temples for sacrifice and protection. When there is a major event in the country, everyone should go to the ancestral temple to pay homage to their ancestors. The ancestral temple is a symbol of the country. There are strict regulations on its number and establishment, including seven temples for emperors (dedicated to seven generations of ancestors), five temples for princes, three temples for doctors and one temple for scholars. Many important national events will be held in the ancestral hall. When the ancient emperor ascended the throne, he worshipped his ancestors, met with ministers and received seals at the ancestral temple, which was called "temple fair", indicating that he had formally mastered the state power. If the ancestral temple is destroyed, it means that the country is doomed. For example, Jia Yi's On Qin: "It is difficult for one person, but it is difficult for seven halls." The ancestral tablet in the ancestral hall is not named directly, but given another title to show respect. Words such as "Zu" and "Zong" are usually used, such as Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Taizong and Qing Taizong. There are many kinds of sacrifices, such as meat, gold, jade, pearls and silks. "On Cao Gui" said: "If you sacrifice jade and silk, you must believe it." Among them, offering jade is a sacrifice. Livestock slaughtered for sacrifice is called "sacrifice", and later it is extended to give up one's own interests and even life for justice. The three animals sacrificed are called "Tai Prison" or "Da Prison", and only sheep and pigs are called "Shao Prison". The common people mainly worship their ancestors in temples, and they also do so in Tomb-Sweeping Day and during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth is called "mountain", the ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven is called "wind", and the ritual of offering sacrifices to land is called "Zen". Generally, the emperor personally held a ceremony in Mount Tai, Dongyue. Qin Shihuang, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty and Tang Gaozong all held such ceremonies, and later generations established the Temple of Heaven and Ditan in Beijing to worship heaven and earth instead of meditating.

Sacrifice to the country is also an important ceremony. In Wang Zizhong, the most important things are the gods and the gods of the earth. The gods are called gods, emperors, emperors and land gods, and the idiom "Yellow Heaven and Earth" refers to the gods of heaven and earth. The god in charge of the grain is called "Su". Sacrificing the country is to worship the god of the earth and the god of the valley, and "country" is synonymous with the country. In Mao Sui's recommendation, the King of Chu said, "If your words are sincere, I would like to follow your country." Among them, "country" refers to the state of Chu. Mencius said, "The people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light." Among them, "country" also refers to the country. The purpose of offering sacrifices to the country (Kyoto is the altar of the country) is to "seek happiness" for the world. In ancient China, the festival dedicated to the country was called "Social Day". God divides the sun into spring meeting and autumn meeting. Social days are usually around the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox.

In ancient times, China was polytheistic. There are sun gods, cloud gods, water gods, river gods and mountain gods. Mountain temple, river temple, etc. Are all dedicated and sacrificed. The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is a festival to worship the kitchen god. "Zuzi" is a ceremony to hold a banquet and drink alcohol to bid farewell to the road gods in ancient times. "Soup" means that relatives and friends set up a booth at a fork in the road in the suburbs to feed the pedestrians and wish them a safe journey. This situation is reflected in Liu Yong's Lin Yuling. The most famous farewell poem is Wang Wei's "Send Yuan Twenty Shores Xi": "Weicheng is rainy and dusty, and the guest house is green and willow-colored. I advise you to drink more wine. It makes no sense to go to Yangguan in the west. " Sacrificing the Road God is called "Zu", also known as "Zu Dao" and "Zu Xing". It is relatives and friends who offer sacrifices to the Road God for pedestrians and pray for the safety of pedestrians. You can also pray for yourself. Generally, accounts are set up on suburban roads to prepare wine and food. After the worshippers salute, they offer wine prayers and then sprinkle wine on the ground. The "ancestor" in Jing Ke's Stabbing the King of Qin means that he went through the ritual of offering sacrifices to the Road God. "Farewell" and "ancestor worship" were both ceremonies held on the Taoist road, and later they were combined into one.

When offering sacrifices, it is called "Zhu" by sprinkling wine on the ground, such as Nian Nujiao's "Red Cliff Nostalgia": "One statue belongs to Jiang Yue."

The ancients bathed and changed clothes, did not drink or eat meat, and expressed sincere respect before offering sacrifices or gifts, which was called "fasting" or "fasting" for short. For example, in Biography of Lian Po and Biography of Lin Xiangru, "So the prince of Zhao stopped fighting for five days" and "Although the king of Qin stopped fighting". "Meat" in the modern sense mainly refers to fish and meat food, and is usually used with the word "fishy". In ancient times, it was not like this. People who don't eat meat during fasting don't eat vegetarian or meat. On the contrary, we must eat meat in different ways. Because the "meat" here refers to vegetables with pungent smell, such as onions, garlic, leeks, ginger, etc., the purpose of not eating them is to prevent the mouth from emitting an unpleasant smell when offering sacrifices or receiving guests, which will lead to disrespect for gods, ancestors or guests.

Step 2 get married

Marriage, today's meaning is that men and women are formally combined as husband and wife. In ancient Chinese, it often refers to the formation of in-laws, such as Hanshu. Biography of Huo Guang: "General Huo Guang married General Zuo Jie on blind date." When a man and a woman get married, it is also called knot hair. For example, a peacock flies southeast: "knot hair is like a pillow mat, and the grave is a friend." When a woman marries, she is called "Yugui" or "Guigui". After marriage, the woman goes back to her parents' home to visit her parents, which is called "mothering". In Ji Xiang Xuanzhi, the return of "My wife will come back" is to get married, and the return of "My wife will visit her parents" is to go home. A woman's remarriage is called "remarriage".

Author: Lin Yan, replied to this speech on June 9, 2005 19: 29.

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2 ancient customs and habits

Ancient marriage pays attention to "the life of parents, the words of matchmakers." "Matchmaker" is a marriage introducer, also known as "Moon Elder", "Iceman" and "body double". Also pay attention to the Liuhe correspondence and choose a good date. Liuhe corresponds to the overlapping of branches in 2008, and the branches of the same day are connected, such as Jiazi Year, Ugly Moon and Bingyin Day. For example, Peacock flies southeast: "This book will be reopened according to the calendar, which is convenient for Liuhe to communicate within this month."

There is a saying of "six rites" in ancient marriage. Six gifts include accepting gifts (talking about marriage), asking the name (asking the woman's name), Naji (getting engaged), accepting gifts (giving bride price), inviting guests (announcing the wedding ceremony) and welcoming (getting married). Six rites include the whole process from marriage negotiation to marriage completion.

There are two very important ceremonies in the wedding process: meeting the bride and getting married (jǐn). There are three kinds of worship, one is heaven and earth, the other is Gaotang (parents), and the third is husband and wife. Once you go to church, you are officially married. Marriage refers to the newlyweds drinking acacia wine in the bridal chamber. This is a ladle broken in half. There is wine in it, and the bride and groom each have a drink to show that they want to share joys and sorrows and love each other harmoniously.

In ancient China, it was common to "get married in Qin Jin", that is, to get married. During the Spring and Autumn Period, two generations of Qin Jin married, and later people called the marriage of two surnames "the goodness of Qin and Jin". Such as "The West Chamber": "Better marry a hero than be a gold." In ancient books, "Qin Shan" refers to the conjugal love and emotional harmony between husband and wife.

There are seven rules in ancient times, that is, a man can drive his wife out of the house according to these seven rules, that is, divorce her. Among them, seven conditions are: disobedience to parents, childlessness, lewdness (indulgence), jealousy, poor health, talkativeness and theft. In Peacock Flying Southeast, Jiao Mu's excuse to drive Liu Lanzhi is the first one. A woman can't go back until she gets married. Once she went back without being asked, it meant something was wrong, so Liu Lanzhi's mother said, "What crime have you committed now?" In ancient times, monogamy was practiced, and concubines had unequal status. Zou Ji satirized Chabr, the king of Qi: "My wife is a private minister, and my concubine is afraid of me." A "private" and a "fear" illustrate the difference in identity. Wife and children are the eldest son, and my son is a concubine. The first-born concubines are unbalanced in the inheritance of family status, property and rights.

3. Funeral

Funeral is divided into five stages: rehabilitation period, burial period, funeral period, burial period and service period. After death, the living climbed onto the roof, calling the dead to the north and evoking souls. This is called "recovery". Dress the dead and put the body in the coffin, which is called "burial". The coffin with the body is called "coffin", the coffin is called "coffin" and the coffin is called "burial", which means burying the coffin underground. For example, "Honor to Sister": "I'm going to bury you now." The tomb is called "Ruo (zhūn) Ren (xρ)", and the buried soil uplift is called "grave". In ancient times, human martyrdom meant taking the living as funerary objects, and later using "figurines"-human idols. Funerary objects are called funerary objects (funerary objects). Mourning for the dead is called "taking". During the funeral service, a straw shed is built next to the tomb to live in, and guarding the tomb is called "land tomb" or "land tomb". For example, "A Journey to the Mountain of Baochan" says: "Today, the so-called Huikong Temple is also." In ancient funerals, relatives should wear certain mourning clothes according to their distance from the deceased, such as Guan Fei (serving for three years), Cui Zi (serving for one year), Dagong (serving for nine months), Xiao Gong (serving for five months) and Ma Xu (serving for three months; ) Fifth class. Cui is mourning. "The Battle of Dishes" said: "Mozi is dying", which is a band in mourning.

In ancient times, there was also the custom of singing elegies at funerals. In memory of Liu Hezhen, an elegy by Tao Yuanming was quoted.

4. Li Bin

Courtesy refers to the etiquette when the princes appear before the emperor and associate with the vassal States. "Chao" refers to the princes' visit to the son of heaven at a specified time. "Hire" is a special envoy visit between countries. Ambassadors are ordered to send envoys with special tokens, so they are also called envoys. Later generations used "festival" to describe people's sentiment and morality, such as "festival" and "moral integrity". Change the moral integrity to "dishonor". "Alliance" means that several countries swear to sign a contract before God for a common interest or purpose and for a common action. As an ally, you can command princes. Therefore, the alliance has become a way to compete for hegemony. When signing the alliance, a ceremony of "blood in the sand" should be held. Sand blood is to rub the blood of livestock on the lips to show sincerity. For example, in Mao Sui's self-recommendation, Mao Sui ordered "taking the blood of chickens, dogs and horses" and then said to the king of Chu: "Make the king by blood."

The ceremony of nine guests, often mentioned in ancient Chinese, is the most solemn ceremony in diplomacy, which was extended to temples by nine officials who greeted guests and praised them.

5. coronation ceremony and gifts

The ancient man tied his hair and wore a crown at the age of 20, indicating adulthood, which was called "crown ceremony". At the age of 20, it is also called "weak crown", such as "Salute to Sisters": "Give Guangdong a weak crown." When a woman is fifteen years old, she combs her hair into a bun and adds a hairpin to show her adulthood. You can get married as an adult.

6. Bowing ceremony and others

Author: Lin Yan, replied to this speech on June 9, 2005 19: 29.

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3 Ancient customs and habits

The ancients were very polite, demanding a clean crown and polite manners. Politeness means being polite. It is impolite not to wear a crown or to wear a crown. Taking off your hat in public is an act of admitting your mistake and apologizing.

Salute when you salute. "Worship" means to salute people. Due to different status, kinship and occasions, the actions and severity of salute are also different, but they are collectively called "worship". The so-called "farewell" is to worship twice. Kneel down, bow down to the ground with both hands and hold your head with both hands. This is called "hand worship"; Bending down on the ground is called "prone"; Bowing respectfully is called "bowing down". Kneel down and kowtow with both hands and call it "bow down"; Kowtowing is the most solemn ceremony. Kneel down, put your hands on the ground, touch your head, and stay for a long time before getting up. "Nodding" means kneeling down and kowtowing, but the time is short and the head can land; Bowing is the lightest ceremony, that is, the bow ceremony. When saluting, stand at attention, bend slightly, fold your hands high, and lead them to your chest from top to bottom.

There are often gifts when visiting, such as a pair of white walls presented to Wang Xiang by Liu Bang when he went to the Hongmen Banquet and a pair of jade buckets presented to Fan Zeng. The gift when meeting is called "basket". For example, Ma Sheng "wrote a long book as a guide" in the preface to seeing Ma Sheng off to Yang. The exchange of visits between officials should be "stabbed", and "stabbed" is a business card.

When seated, the venerable one sits first, occupying the upper position, while others sit behind and occupy the lower position. In ancient times, "sitting" was the most basic way to express rest, as opposed to "walking": knees touching the ground, hips pressing on heels. In ancient times, there were no chairs and stools at first, and they sat on mats (straw mats and bamboo mats), so they were called "sitting on the floor". This idiom refers to sitting on the floor in modern times. When feasting, please try to sit upright; To avoid food contamination of the seat. When not feasting, please sit back as far as possible to distance yourself from others and show humility. When sitting, you should keep a modest attitude and always stand up straight and sit up straight. This is called "sitting in danger". If the sitting posture is changed to two knees on the ground and the waist is straight, it is "kneeling". This sitting posture often expresses apologies or respect for the elderly. The meaning of "long kneeling" and "kneeling" is similar, but the difference is that the action of standing up straight is more obvious when kneeling. Squatting, also known as "squatting", generally means that you are frightened and hunched, such as "The Hongmen Banquet": "Wang Xiang squats by the sword." "Sitting on a dustpan", also known as "sitting on a dustpan", means that your hips are on the ground and your legs are spread out in a dustpan shape. This is a rude behavior. For example, "Jing Ke Stabbed the King of Qin": "I know I didn't do it, but I smiled on the post and stood on my back and scolded ..."

Ancient people sat in banquets, seats, beds, couches and so on. The banquet is generally made of coarse materials such as Pu Wei, which is relatively long. Seats are generally made of fine materials such as bamboo strips, surrounded by silks on all sides, and the workmanship is more exquisite. Banquets and banquets are often used together. The banquet is placed on the ground first, and the banquet is placed on the banquet. At first, banquets were just for sitting, just a way for the ancients to eat. Chairs and stools appeared in Sui and Tang Dynasties. People no longer sit on the floor when eating, but sit on chairs and stools to eat. So the meaning of "banquet" changed, no longer referring to the cushion, but to the banquet. Beds and sofas are seats above the ground, and there are enough seats to sit and lie down.

7. Military rank

In ancient China, official positions were based on rights. (Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru), Lin Xiangru was promoted for his merits, which was "Lian Po's Right Deviation" and caused dissatisfaction in Lian Po. The position in the imperial court is respected by the East and humble by the West. In feudal society, literature is more important than martial arts, with civil servants in the east and military attache in the west.

In ancient times, the north of the house was revered, with the north house as the main house, followed by the east house and the Westinghouse. For example, the emperor lives in the north room (the main palace), the queen and the prince live in the East Palace, and the concubine lives in the West Palace.

The seats in the hall face south, followed by west (facing west), east and north. Indoor seats face the east, followed by south, north and west. For example, at the Hongmen Banquet, Wang Xianghe and Xiang Bo sat in the east, Yapu sat in the south, Liu Bang sat in the north, and Sean sat in the west. Xiang Yu and Liu Bangdang are both generals of Chu, each leading an army and not subordinate to each other. Xiang Yu asked Liu Bang to drink, so Liu Bang was a guest and should be in a privileged position. Xiang Yu, on the other hand, is self-reliant and arrogant, showing his pride and shallowness. Liu Bang was demoted to the position of Xiang Bo and Fan Zeng, but he remained quietly, which fully showed his extraordinary bearing of being good at sizing up the situation and being small and broad.

In ancient times, parking spaces were generally left-facing, with guards in the middle and guards on the right. For example, "The new thief saves Zhao": "The son rides from the car, and the fake left meets the righteous door." The chariot centered on the imperial army, with Zuo Jun holding a bow and the right army holding a spear. Handsome Che Jinghua, with the commander in the middle, the charioteer on the left and the soldier (bodyguard) on the right.

8. Taboo

In the feudal era, the names of monarchs and elders could not be directly spoken or written, and certain methods were needed to avoid them. The common method is to change words. For example, January in the lunar calendar is called the first month, which is called the end of the month because it avoids the taboo of Qin Shihuang's victory in politics. In the Han Dynasty, in order to avoid Liu Heng, the place name "Hengshan" was changed to "Changshan" and "Da 'e" was changed to "Chang 'e". In order to avoid Liu Xun, Xuan Di, Emperor Gaozu, called Xun Kuang, a Warring States thinker who was honored as Xun Qing, Sun Qing. In order to avoid taboos, Jin called Wang Zhaojun "Ming Jun" and "Fei Ming". In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Zhong, the father of Emperor Wen, changed the official name "Zhongshu" to "Internal History", but in the Tang Dynasty, in order to avoid Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, the word "people" was changed to "people". For example, the snake catcher said, "If you take your husband as your guide, you will get what you want." In order to avoid the taboo of Li Zhi, the word "governance" was changed to "reason", and in the Qing Dynasty, the word "Xuan" was rewritten to "Yuan" to avoid the taboo of Emperor Kangxi, such as Xuansun.

We should avoid both emperors and officials. Tiandeng was a state official in the Song Dynasty, and people were not allowed to call him by his first name. Because "light" and "Deng" are homophonic, Quanzhou people must call light "fire". When the Lantern Festival lights up, the notice reads: "There will be three days of fire in the state as usual." Therefore, the idiom "only state officials can set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps" was left.

And avoid the venerable one. In clans and families, ancestors and elders are respected and their names can no longer be used by parents. It's called family taboo. Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, whose father's name is Jin Su, is homophonic with Jin and Jin. Even Li He was criticized for taking the Jinshi exam, so that Li He failed to take the Jinshi exam all his life. Su Xun's father's surname is Xu, so Su Xun changed the pose from Xu to Yin. In A Dream of Red Mansions, every time Lin Daiyu pronounced the word "min", she changed it to "mi" because her mother's name was "min".

The ancients also had many nicknames for "death".

There are autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn, autumn and autumn.

Nirvana, death, meditation, emergence, wandering, death and so on are the names of Buddhism and Taoism for death. Death is now also used to refer to the death of a respected person.

Parents have some names when they die, such as seeing the back, being lonely, and abandoning their parents.

Unless otherwise specified, there are death, death, long sleep, speaking frankly, misfortune, death, death, trust, death, death, death, life donation, building donation, back donation, death, death. ......

9, a few typical words

① Six relatives (six relatives): father and son, brother, aunt, nephew, in-laws (husband and wife) and in-laws (in-laws, brother-in-law). ② Three cardinal guides: the monarch is the minister's cardinal guide, the father is the son's cardinal guide, and the husband is the wife's cardinal guide. (3) The five permanent members: the relationship between husband, wife, father, son, brother, husband and friend stipulated by feudal ethics. ④ Three Obediences and Four Virtues: the spiritual lock of enslaving women in ancient times. "Three obedience" refers to following the father when young, marrying the husband, and following the son when the husband dies. "Four virtues" refer to women's virtue, women's words, women's appearance and women's merits.