What is the meaning of mourning clothes

Filial dress means white or linen mourning clothes (Chinese) or black clothes (Western) worn during the period of mourning; it also refers to the period of mourning for one's elders.

Ancient China was concerned with mourning attire, and when a loved one died, he or she had to wear mourning clothes. When elders died, children and grandchildren had to wear mourning clothes. That is to say, they were to be clad in sackcloth clothes and wear white cloth on their heads to show their sorrow and mourning.

This category of mourning clothes involves the system of mourning clothes in traditional Chinese culture. This system has a distinctive feature, which is hierarchy. There are different costumes according to affinity. In the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty began to establish a five-suit system, according to the different blood relatives close to the different provisions of the five different kinds of mourning clothes, clothing system is divided into chopping bad, Qi bad, big work, small work and fine linen, the length of the mourning period, the thickness of the texture of the mourning clothes and their production are different.

According to the regulations, the closer the blood relationship, the heavier the service system; the more distant the blood relationship, the lighter the service system. At funerals, Chinese people avoid wearing fancy clothes, and family members will wear mourning clothes, called "on mourning". The colors of the mourning clothes are white, black, blue and green. Sons, daughters-in-law and daughters are the closest and wear white cotton clothing. The mourning cloth is worn on the top of the sleeve, on the left sleeve if the deceased is a man, and on the right sleeve if the deceased is a woman.

The origin of filial piety dress

During the Zhou Dynasty in China, the system of etiquette and culture was formally established, resulting in a book called the "Records of Rites", in which the records of funerals, burials, and sacrifices occupy a large part of the record, and these etiquette systems attach great importance to the formality of the rituals, which basically cover all the aspects of the process of life to death, and have been the model of the ritual systems of the various dynasties of the later generations. It has been the model for the ceremonial systems of all subsequent dynasties.

The records of burials in the Book of Rites mostly focus on the specifications of burials and the form of sacrifices, and there are also certain requirements for clothing. During the Han Dynasty, when the Han dynasty deposed the hundred schools and revered only the Confucians, the court began to emphasize the spiritual control of the people, and was more strict about morality, of which filial piety was an important part.

During the Zhou Dynasty, China formally established a system of etiquette and culture, forming a book called the Book of Rites, in which the funeral and sacrificial records occupy a large space, these etiquette system attaches great importance to the formalization of the system, which basically covers all aspects from life to death, and has always been the model for the etiquette system of the subsequent dynasties.

Most of the funeral records in the Book of Rites focus on the specifications of the tomb and the form of the sacrifice, and there are also certain requirements for dress. In the Han Dynasty, when the hundred schools were dismissed and Confucianism was revered, the court began to emphasize the spiritual control of the people, and the moral requirements were more stringent, of which filial piety was an important part.