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Qin Xiuqiang

<positive> Mourning is the end of the journey of life. As a folkloric phenomenon, funeral rites are the last rites of life, which marks that a family member, i.e., a member of the society, has been separated from his family and society since then. Mr. Tao Lieven, a famous scholar, likened it to the last "rite of passage" and "rite of separation" in life. Through the funeral customs, we can see one side of the unique life rituals, concepts of life and death, ethics and morals, religious thoughts, values, philosophy of life, as well as the family structure, kinship system and social relations of a certain ethnic group.

Author's affiliation: Cultural Center of Tianzhu County, Guizhou Province

DOI: cnki:ISSN:1002-6959.0.1993-01-028

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Mourning is the end of the journey of life. As a kind of folkloric phenomenon, funeral ceremony is the last rite of life, which signifies that a family member or a member of the society has been separated from his family and the society from now on. Mr. Tao Liyao, a famous scholar, likened it to the last "rite of passage" and "rite of separation" in life. (D) Through the funeral customs, we can have a glimpse of the unique life rituals, concepts of life and death, ethics and morals, religious thoughts, values, philosophy of life, as well as the family structure, kinship system, and one aspect of social relations of a certain ethnic group. The Dong people refer to funerals as "white happiness" and compare them with marriage ceremonies, which are called "red and white happiness". From this point of view, people are extremely concerned about life and death. The author does not pretend to be shallow, in the static grasp of the Dong funeral customs at the same time, the intention of its dynamic ...

Introduction: Qin Xiuqiang, Dong, born in 1966, Tianzhu, Guizhou, graduated from the Central Institute for Nationalities of the Southern Minority Languages and Literature Department in 1987 (the third department of the Minzu language). He has worked in the county cultural center, the propaganda department, the political consultative conference and other units, and is now working in Tianzhu Literature Union. He has published more than 30 papers in academic journals such as Ethnic Studies, Academic Forum and Ethnic Forum. He published his Chinese novel Death of the Snake King (co-authored with Long Xinlin) in Imago Legends, and his Chinese novel Yilan in Songs was published by Tomorrow Publishing House in 2002. He is now a member of the Chinese Folklore Society and Guizhou Writing Society.

The Dong ethnic group practises earth burial, with cremation for unnatural deaths and hanging or water burials for infants who die young.? Once a person dies, the first thing to do is to notify the uncle's family. Lai, Yung, from the custom of the area, the deceased all the aftermath of the uncle's relatives are handled by the family, their own family can not intervene, and even avoided. Funeral ceremonies vary slightly from place to place.? The treatment of the remains are purified by bathing. Sanjiang and other places to bring paper money to the river to "buy water" to wash. It is believed that by buying water to wash the body, the soul can return to the place where the ancestors live.

After the purification, put on the life jacket. Life clothes should be singular, generally three or five pieces of clothing, pants two to four. Men are required to shave off a small amount of hair, while women are required to wear a bun. If the deceased is an adult, to place some broken silver in the mouth, said the mouth silver, into the coffin when taken out, individual places can also be into the coffin. Some people in the hands of the dead put a ball of glutinous rice and a few paper money. Passage area to use the Dong cloth wrapped tightly the body, even the head is also wrapped, and tied with a special life belt, and then parked in the hall or the fire by the side of the body. An oil lamp is lit at the head and foot of the body to show the way to the dead. Xuanen Dong in Hubei Province in the elderly dying, will be lifted to the fire on the bunk, by the eldest son holding the back half lying, other relatives around, listening to the old man's last words. After the fall of the gas, the whole family to raise mourning, chemical paper money, and symbolic purification for the deceased.? Wake before the coffin. Wake night singing funeral songs to express their grief for the deceased. Stop the body for three or five days or one or two days after the coffin. Coffins are fastened with mortise and tenon groove, avoid using nails. And to use the same cedar wood synthesis is good. Cedar requires uniform branches to symbolize the children and grandchildren of all rooms are rich and equal, no uneven differences.

When the funeral, to give the dead soul to open the road, so as not to lose their way, into the wandering ghosts. The first son of the family to set up the spirit of the family, holding the incense and candles placed in the spirit of the rice liter walked in front, other relatives followed by candle. The house family and relatives are also sent to the funeral, and the women only cry and send the coffin to the outskirts of the village, not to the cemetery. The casket should be drawn by a white cloth, called a drag cloth, which is mostly donated by the daughter. On the way to the coffin, the coffin must not be allowed to touch the ground, otherwise the soul will stay at the place and become a ghost. Every time you cross a bridge, you have to insert three pillars of incense at the end of the bridge. Some places, the casket out of the house, the family to stay a relative to sit and guard the fire, known as "guarding the family business". Into the coffin and burial should ask the sorcerer (sanhg xeip) to choose an auspicious time. In some places, there are also chicken divination and step on the coffin ceremony.

On the night of the burial, the family entertains guests and helpers with wine and meat. After the relatives have left, the family will leave one of the closest relatives to build a small stove next to the fire, and offer the spirit cards to the stove on the rice liter. In January, one of the relatives will pick three roots of thatched grass and go to the grave in the middle of the night to "call out to the soul" and bring the grass back to place it on the spirit plate, indicating that the soul has been brought back to the home, and ask the sorcerer to come to offer some blessings. Then remove the spirit board, the rice will be boiled in the liter, the family to eat together. This is the end of the funeral service.

Unusual deaths (such as self-strangulation, drowning, childbirth and death, including leprosy and other stubborn diseases) to be cremated first, or direct fire, or into the coffin after the coffin fire. Then the ashes will be put into the coffin and then buried. After the death of the baby, or put in a dustpan, covered with cloth, hanging on a tree branch; can be put into the river, let it wash away with the water. The Dong people have the ancient custom of stopping coffins for burial. Nowadays, many villages in Liping, Congjiang, Xinhuang, and Dongguan still retain this custom.

Each house clan has its own ancestral graveyard, the adult have after all can be buried in the ancestral graveyard. The deceased is less than 18 years old or less than 36 years old without children and unnatural deaths can not be buried in the ancestral tombs, can only choose another place of burial. With the development of the times Dong funeral from the simple, some of the feudal superstitions are dying out, so that the funeral more in line with the requirements of the times.