A speech on customs

1. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of China people, and people take various celebrations on this day. Collecting herbs during the Dragon Boat Festival is one of the oldest customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. "Xia Zhengxiao" contains: "Store medicine this day to remove toxic gas." Volume 22 of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection quotes the lost article of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection at the Age of Jingchu: "On May 5, competing for miscellaneous medicine can cure all diseases." In the miscellaneous notes of Qi Yaomin's Book at the end of Wei Dynasty, there is a record of catching toads in May, which is also used in pharmacy. Later, many areas have the custom of catching toads on the Dragon Boat Festival. For example, in Jiangsu, toads are harvested at noon and their foam is punctured to make traditional Chinese medicine toad venom. People in Hangzhou also give their children toads, saying that summer can reduce fire and prevent sores. On the 5th, Mo Ding was put into the toad's mouth, hung and dried, and became a toad ingot, which could be dissipated by applying it to the abscess. This custom of catching toad medicine originated from the legend of "toad fighting for soldiers" in Han Dynasty. Another example is the custom of "collecting herbs" on the Dragon Boat Festival in Jianli, Hubei Province, which is also collecting herbs. Herb picking is because the stems and leaves of herbs are mature and have good medicinal properties around the Dragon Boat Festival, and this custom was formed on this day. Taking a bath with orchid soup at noon is an ancient custom recorded in Da Dai Li. At that time, orchids were not orchids today, but flying grasses of Compositae, which were fragrant and could be decocted and bathed. "Nine Songs in the Cloud" also has the sentence "Bathing orchid soup will make you fragrant". "The Chronicle of Jingchu": "May 5th is called the Blue Bath Festival." "Five Miscellanies" records that people in the Ming Dynasty took a bath with five-colored grass at noon because "there was no orchid soup". Later, herbs such as cattail and wormwood were usually fried for bathing. In Guangdong, use wormwood, cattail, impatiens, magnolia and other flowers and plants; In Hunan, Guangxi and other places, cypress leaves, anemone roots, wormwood, cattail and peach leaves are used for bathing. Regardless of men, women and children, the whole family washes. This custom still exists today. It is said that it can cure skin diseases and ward off evil spirits. Drink Pu wine, realgar cinnabar wine and spray wine. Jingchu Chronicle: "Acorus calamus (a perennial herb, born by the water, has reddish roots underground and leaves shaped like swords and spikes." . The rhizome can be used as medicine or medicine) or carved or shredded to cool the wine. "Pu wine is fragrant and refreshing. Later, realgar and vermilion were added to the wine. Xie Ming Zhao Zhe's "Five Miscellaneous Drunks": "Drinking calamus wine is also ... drinking with realgar. "Feng Ming Yingjing's Generalized Moon Order": "On the fifth day, cinnabar wine was used to ward off evil spirits and detoxify, and the forehead, chest, hands and feet were dyed with wine, so there was no danger of poisonous snakes (poisonous snakes mentioned in ancient books). Sprinkle water on walls, doors and windows to avoid poisonous insects. "This custom is very widespread. Up to now, in Binyang, Guangxi, there are packages of medicinal materials for sale during the Dragon Boat Festival, including realgar, Zhu Lei, Platycladus orientalis, peach kernel, Folium Typhae and Folium Artemisiae Argyi. People soak in wine, and then dip it in corners, doors and windows, under beds and so on. Then put wine on the child's ears, nose and navel to drive away poisonous insects and ensure the safety of the child. In addition, in some areas, realgar wine powder is used to draw the word "Wang" on children's foreheads, so that children have the mark of tigers to ward off evil spirits. From a health point of view, these activities are still scientific and reasonable. Realgar mixed with water and wine can be disinfected indoors, and drinking general sprinkling is also quite beneficial. Picking tea and making herbal tea. In some areas in the north, people like to pick tender leaves and steam wild vegetable leaves to make tea during the Dragon Boat Festival. In Chaozhou, Guangdong, people go to the suburbs of Shan Ye to collect herbs and cook herbal tea. This is also good for health.

There are all kinds of flowers and plants that can exorcise evil spirits in the Dragon Boat Festival, and the source is also long. The earliest example is hanging wormwood on the door. The Chronicle of Jingchu: "Ai Ai is a human being, hanging it on the door with poison gas." This is because mugwort is an important medicinal plant, and it can also be used for treating diseases, moxibustion at acupoints and expelling insects. The temperature in May contains the most oil of mugwort leaves (which is at the peak of temperature growth), so the effect is the best, and people are scrambling to pick mugwort leaves. Besides turning Aiza into a human being, he was also made into the shape of a tiger, which is the so-called Ai Hu. The note in the Chronicle of Jingchu says: "Take Ai as a tiger shape, or cut the ribbon as a tiger shape, and mail it to my wife to try it on." At the same time, there are also Pu bundles, cut Pu Jian and Pu Long tied with Pu on the door. "Jing Di Ji Sheng at the age of four": "(Dragon Boat Festival) insert Pulong Ai Hu." Jia Qinglu Volume 5: "Depp is a sword, cutting the canopy as a whip, and garlic with peach handles are hung in the bed to exorcise ghosts." Peach stalks are auspicious things to ward off evil spirits, and garlic is considered as a bronze hammer symbolizing weapons, which is matched with Pu Jian and Peng Bian to drive away furtiveness. In addition, mugwort was burned to drive away mosquitoes and flies. In Hunan, Zhejiang and other places, kudzu vine is used to hang on doors. It is said that kudzu vine is a chain that locks ghosts and can exorcise evil spirits.

There are games such as playing herbs, playing herbs, etc., which are related to picking herbs and picking Aipu, and are the heritage of ancient people's wild entertainment. Later, it developed into decorative arts such as flower arrangement.

People think that May is the time when the five poisons (scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad) appear, and people should use various methods to prevent the harm of the five poisons. Generally, a map of five poisons is posted in the house, five poisons are printed on red paper, and then five needles are stuck on the five poisons, that is, the poisons are stabbed to death, and they can no longer be rampant. This is a witchcraft legacy to ward off evil spirits. Folk people also embroider five poisons on clothes and decorate five poisons on cakes, all of which mean expulsion.

The Dragon Boat Festival is also decorated with peach blossom seals. Peach is an exorcism in folk customs, which originated from the myth of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. It is engraved with peach characters, which also means to disperse noise. "History of Continuing Han Rites": "Zhu Suo and Five-color Peach Seal are the door ornaments to block evil spirits." This is the origin of ambiguous symbols and auspicious gourds in later generations. "Dream of Liang Lu" Volume III: "It is the custom of the Song Dynasty for the sergeant and other scholars to write the sentence" Mid-Autumn Festival on May 5, red mouth and white tongue all disappear. " "Yanjing Year" also records: "Duanyang cut all kinds of gourds with colored paper for daily use, stuck it upside down on the threshold and released poisonous gas. "This is the custom of the Qing dynasty. Some still hang silk tassels and ribbons on paper gourds to look better, or cut the shape of the five poisons in the gourd and stick it on the door, which also means that the five poisons will be exhausted. You are a "troubled gourd".

There are reasons for hanging wormwood, calamus (Pujian), pomegranate and garlic at the entrance of Dragon Boat Festival. Usually mugwort leaves, banyan trees and calamus are tied into a bundle with red paper and then inserted or hung on the door. Because Acorus calamus is the first of the five auspicious symbols in the sky, it symbolizes the ominous sword, because the growing season and shape are regarded as "the breath of a hundred yin", and the leaves are sword-shaped and can be inserted at the door to ward off evil spirits. Therefore, the alchemist called it "water sword", and later the custom extended to "general sword", which can cut off all evil. In the Qing Dynasty, Gu Tieqing recorded in Jia Qinglu that "chopping Pu as a sword, chopping Peng as a whip, and hanging peach stalks and garlic on the bed are all used to exorcise ghosts". However, in the local chronicles of the Jin Dynasty, there is "mourning for the tiger, or cutting the ribbon for the tiger, with mourning attached to the leaves, and the wife fighting to cut it." In the future, it will be calamus, or human form, or Xiao Jian shape, called Pujian, to drive away evil spirits and ghosts. "

Wormwood represents a hundred blessings and is a kind of herbal medicine that can cure diseases. Inserting it at the door can make you healthy. In ancient China, it has always been a medicinal plant. Moxibustion in acupuncture uses wormwood as the main component and burns it at acupoints to treat diseases. The legend that wormwood can exorcise evil spirits has been circulating for a long time.

Mainly because it has the function of medicine, as recorded in Zonggu's Chronicles of Jingchu, "Before the cock crows, it is very effective to take moxa like a human, take it with moxibustion and collect it." It is the day when Ai Cai became a man and hung on the door, which can poison gas. " Most people also have the custom of planting wormwood in front of and behind their houses for good luck. People in Taiwan Province Province also put up "afternoon couplets" on the Dragon Boat Festival, which have the same function as amulets. There is a saying in some afternoon couplets: "Holding a strange love will attract a hundred blessings, and hanging a sword to close the door will kill a thousand evils". The folk significance of banyan branches can make the body strong. "It is braver to insert banyan trees, and it is braver to insert mugwort leaves". There is also the local custom of hanging pomegranate, garlic or Shandan, and garlic is used to eliminate disasters and treat pests and poisons; Shandan can cure madness, pomegranate can avoid Huang Chao. Pomegranate flower is the flower of this season, and it also has the function of treating diseases. Pomegranate peel is a common Chinese medicine. There is also a story about the relationship between pomegranate flower and Huang Chao. During the rebellion in Huang Chao, Huang Chao once approached a village and happened to see a woman with a big child on her back and a child in her hand. Huang Chao was curious and asked why. Women don't know Huang Chao, just say that because Huang Chao came and killed her uncle's family, this is the only remaining lifeline, so if she can't attend to both, she will sacrifice her own flesh and blood to save her uncle's flesh and blood. Huang Chao was deeply moved and told the woman that as long as pomegranate flowers were hung on the door, the disaster in Huang Chao could be avoided.

It rains on the Dragon Boat Festival, and it is a custom for people to check when they are old. It is unlucky to think that it rains during the Dragon Boat Festival. On the contrary, it is good. This folk belief existed in the Song Dynasty. Chen's Chronicle of Years Old quoted the Summary as saying: "On May 5th, people were poisoned, and at the age of eighteen, there was no disaster. When it rains, ghosts expose drugs and many people get sick. This proverb in Fujian. " Xu Yueqing's "Li Shizhou Dragon Boat Festival" also notes: "Linchuan people say that when it rains, ghosts will cause man-made disasters. The self-annotation of Zhao Huaiyu's poems in Qing Dynasty also quoted the proverb "No rain in Duanyang is a good year". Second, the speech about Yin marriage customs.

Yin marriage, also called ghost marriage, is to find a spouse for the dead. Some boys and girls died for some reason after they got engaged, but they didn't wait until they got married. At that time, the old people thought that if they didn't get married for them, their ghosts would do mischief and make the family uneasy. So we must hold a wedding for them, and finally bury them together, become husband and wife, and be buried with their bones. In case there are solitary graves in the fields of men and women. There are also boys and girls who are not engaged. Out of love and yearning for their children, the old people think that they failed to choose a spouse for them before their death and should marry them after their death to fulfill their responsibilities as parents. In fact, this is where people feel. In addition, in the old society, people generally believed in the so-called "geomantic omen" in cemeteries, believing that the appearance of orphan graves would affect the prosperity of future generations of family houses. At that time, some "Mr. Feng Shui" (called "Feng Shui" in ancient times) strongly encouraged this kind of yin marriage in order to earn more money. Vaginal marriage mostly occurs in aristocratic or rich families, and poor families will never engage in such activities.

There was marriage before the Han Dynasty. Yin marriage is forbidden because it consumes social manpower and material resources and is meaningless. "Zhou Li" said: "It is forbidden to move and bury, and it is forbidden to marry and mourn." However, this trend has not been eliminated, and even some of it is directly manifested in the rulers. For example, when Cao Chong, Cao Cao's favorite son, died at the age of thirteen, Cao Cao hired the dead Miss Zhen as Cao Chong's wife and buried her with him.

The song dynasty was the most popular period of yin marriage. According to Kang's Dream of Yesterday, whenever an unmarried man or woman dies, his parents will invite a "ghost matchmaker" to act as a matchmaker and then perform divination. When divination is approved, they will each make a shroud for the ghost, hold a wedding and bury the man and the woman together.

"Biography of Yuan Nv" says: "If a son dies without a wife, he may be buried with the bones of his dead wife." "Biography of Ming Women" also contains: Yang died and his fiancee was martyred; Liu Bochun died, so did his hired daughter, and they were all buried together.

In the Qing Dynasty, with the strengthening of chastity, this custom of female martyrdom was still very popular. It was not until the impact of western spiritual civilization that feudal ethics gradually disappeared in the late Qing Dynasty.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there were still remnants of the custom of yin marriage in Beijing, and some families held "happy events" for the dead to marry the dead, which were called "bones", and the two in-laws of men and women were called "bones". In earlier years, this kind of "wedding" ceremony was mostly held at night. Sometimes, when people are sleeping peacefully, they are suddenly awakened by the drums in the street. It turns out to be a "skeleton". Carrying a paper sedan chair, the leader is a single drum, a single number and a single suona. Others don't need this form, but still use eight sedan chairs and all the golden lamps as deacons. It turned out that they only married a photo of a woman. After 1930s, there was a ceremony of "civilized marriage", in which a western band led the dance, and four people in the back carried a movie studio for the funeral, with photos of the "bride" hanging inside.

Wedding custom ceremony

Yin's wedding ceremony has never formed a written law. Although yin marriage is a happy event, it is inevitable that red and white ceremonies are mixed. Much depends on the opinions of the parties. Therefore, the form of yin wedding ceremony is very different.

Generally speaking, the yin marriage also needs the introduction of the matchmaker, and the two sides can get the dragon and phoenix post by sending the door post and getting married in Shoutang.

The setting is one-off, so there is no difference in size. Half of the gifts given by the man to the woman are real silks and satins, gold and silver treasures; Half of them are paper, cotton, clips and singlets, and there are two pairs of brocade boxes with earrings, bracelets, rings and hairpins. On the night of release, it will be incinerated in front of the woman's house or grave.

In the communication, the "goose cage", "wine sea", dragon and phoenix wedding cakes, elbows and happy fruits that the man gave the woman were all real, but clothes and jewelry were all buried with paper.

The dowry of a woman's dowry is usually paper. After it is delivered to the man, it is only displayed in front of the "groom" photo or memorial tablet for half a day, and some just walk around the man's yard, that is, under the guidance of drum music, it is sent to a nearby square for burning.

The above ceremony is not necessarily held in all women's marriages, but the wedding ceremony is essential. Today is a sunny day. Set up a shed to entertain relatives and friends and light a sedan chair in front of the door. In the happy room, "100%" God gives. There is a low table on the opposite side of the kang for the "groom" to take photos or set up a memorial tablet, with several plates of apples and dragon and phoenix cakes in front. There is also a big red flower with the words "groom" written on it with a ribbon.

The photo or memorial tablet of the bride in the woman's boudoir is the same as before, and there is a big red flower with the word "bride" written on it.

After the sedan chair arrives at the woman, the bride's photo or memorial tablet will be taken down by the bride-to-be's wife, and the sedan chair will be released by the married wife. At this time, the parents of the "bride" could not help crying loudly and chasing out of the house. This is not a happy occasion at all.

After the wedding car returns to the man, the married wife will still take out the photo or memorial tablet of the "bride" and put it on the altar on the kang in the wedding room, side by side with the "groom". Tie the two photos together with a red head rope (meaning the old man holding the red line) and attach red and yellow silk.

Only by marrying a wife and kowtowing to God "100%", even if the husband and wife worship heaven and earth. Then the waiter brought a glass of wine, descendants jiaozi and longevity noodles for the newlyweds to take photos or erect a monument.

If the "newlyweds" have younger brothers and sisters, brothers-in-law, etc. Call them out and kowtow to photos or memorial tablets. The two in-laws congratulated each other.

After the ceremony, choose a good day to be buried, and the woman can wake up. According to the time specified by the Yin and Yang Master, after the coffin is pivoted out, immediately pour a bucket of water into the pit and drop two apples. At the same time, raise the bonus notes. (The same is true of the awakening ceremony of non-yin marriage).

The man dug a hole by the grave to expose the groove of the coffin of the groom, buried the bride in the hole and buried the husband and wife together.

Buried, that is, in front of the grave, display wine and fruit, burn bonus paper money, and hold a wedding sacrifice. The father, mother and other family members (that is, the two in-laws) of both men and women cried and said "great joy".

From then on, it is convenient for men and women to communicate as in-laws.