The customs of building and moving houses in Songjiang

When building a house, you must rely on Feng Shui. When choosing a homestead, you must first ask a Feng Shui master to survey the terrain and select the "three yuan auspicious land". If the location is good, but there are some "violations", it is necessary to dig a river around the house, build a bridge or build a weir to enter the house, which is called "Qinglongtou", which means "wealth and water come in". At that time, there were many stories and legends in Songjiang about choosing the right homestead to benefit future generations, which fully reflected the psychology of the people.

When breaking the ground, you must choose an "auspicious day", and ask a Taoist priest to do it to worship the earth god. After the roof foundation is tamped, avoid white clothes and white cloth. Afraid of being harmed by others, the boss still has to watch the night. A red flag was hung high on the construction site, and there were two vertical green bamboo poles with sieves and bamboo poles hanging on them.

The owner entertains the craftsmen with great enthusiasm and sincerity. He has to invite the craftsmen to wine at least three times: the first time is to start the work. The master of the craftsman takes a few carpenters to saw a beam and two central columns, which is considered the start of the work. . The second time was the wine ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, the host hosted a grand banquet. The third time is the completion wine, and a banquet is held when the new house is completed to express gratitude. During the entire process of building a house, the owner had to entertain the craftsmen and helpers with good fish, meat, tobacco, and wine. There were about ten tables for dinner alone. Food and drink expenses accounted for a large proportion in the construction of the house.

There are many kinds of wedding rings during the house building process. The carpenter was given the "Saw Eight-shaped Head Dang" (the carpenter sawed off the wooden roots of the beams, which are called Eight-shaped Head), and the plasterer was given the "Ding Bing Xing Dang". When erecting a large column, it is called "upright pillar happy mother-in-law", when erecting the southeast corner beam, "southeast happy mother-in-law", when erecting the beam, "upper beam happy mother-in-law", when nailing the two rafters in the middle of the south side of the beam, "full rafter happy mother-in-law", The "full tile wedding diamond" is given to the coppersmith when the two tiles are laid in the middle of the south side of the beam. The "honeycomb wedding diamond" is given to the coppersmith when the lotus-shaped honeycomb (meaning abundant harvest) is hung in the middle of the beam. A "carved wedding diamond" for the carver, etc.

Every time you go up to the main beam, you must do it at the time of high tide, which is called "rising wealth water". In the middle of the main beam, there are big red papers with auspicious words such as "Ten thousand taels of gold" or "Lucky stars shine brightly", "Purple air comes from the east", "The pillars will last forever". In order to ward off evil spirits, objects such as moxa and garlic are hung on the beams. There are also evergreens, small copper coins, agarwood, and rice bags in purses. The combined meaning of these mascots is: eternal green, money in the house, fragrance overflowing, and good harvests from generation to generation. Red paper couplets are pasted on the big pillars: "The upright pillar coincides with the zodiac day; the upper beam coincides with the purple star." Before going up to the beam, one must also pay homage to the founder of Lu Ban. When loading the beam, the craftsman stands on the beam-throwing platform, holds a square plate in his hand, and throws steamed buns, square cakes, and copper plates downwards. The first handful must be thrown on the red carpet of the host, and then thrown in all directions. At this time, firecrackers burst out. The craftsman sings the "Song of Tou Liang" while throwing:

Stepping up the escalator with your feet,

Putting your hands on the eaves of the corridor, getting higher and higher,

Too Liang steamed buns and Tou Liang cakes .

Throw the steamed bun to the east, and there will be a golden dragon in the east sky;

Throw the steamed bun to the south, and there will be the Antarctic Immortal Wang Laoxing;

Throw the steamed bun to the west, and there will be a golden dragon in the western sky. The golden rooster crows;

Throwing the steamed buns to the north, the owner first buys a field to build a house slowly.

Everyone was playing and grabbing, which was called "throwing steamed buns and cakes, and whoever picked them up wanted them." When the beam-throwing craftsman was going down the stairs and was about to land, he threw a handful of copper coins on the ground and said, "When the gold coins fall to the ground, the number one scholar will come out of this place." After liberation, house-building customs gradually changed, and customs such as observing Feng Shui and sending wedding money disappeared. Customs such as placing red flags, erecting green bamboos, throwing beams of steamed buns, and inviting wine were retained. Since the late 1980s, most construction teams in rural areas have been contracted by construction teams. Banquets are no longer held, and traditional customs have been basically abolished. Only the customs of planting red flags on the construction site and giving gifts to guests are retained.

When a new house is completed, farmers move into the new house, which is called "moving into the house". When urban residents move into new homes, it is called "moving". "Chang" and "长" are homophonic, which is auspicious.

The day before the farmers enter the house, they set up an offering table in the new house, buy offerings, light incense and candles, and offer sacrifices to the earth god. After the sacrifice is completed, they dig a small pit in the mud and sprinkle the sacrificed wine in the small pit. In the pit, it is a tribute to the earth god. Many farmers move to cities to buy houses, and some farmers still have the custom of worshiping the earth god before moving into a new home. The ritual is the same, and wine is poured on the floor. On the day of entering the house, there is a "house drinking party", which is a big event and all relatives and friends who come and go must be invited. Before moving large furniture into a new home, a steelyard and two sugar canes are first brought into the new house, which means satisfaction and sweetness; there are also two green bamboos with branches and leaves, a bamboo sieve, and a fish sieve. Green bamboo means "festival". "High section", the sieve is homophonic with lion, the bamboo sieve represents the lion, and the 簏 represents the sika deer, which means house keeping and auspiciousness. Firecrackers and firecrackers are set off when moving furniture into a new home. In the past, relatives and friends who came to congratulate had to prepare cakes, steamed buns, pork, etc. as gifts, especially for close relatives.

Since the 1990s, in order to save time, fewer and fewer people steam cakes at home to give gifts. Most of them buy cakes on the market as gifts, or simply give money. The host hosts a banquet to entertain guests. The number of banquets is large and the quality is relatively high. In rural areas, drinking at home is second only to wedding banquets. There are basically no private houses built in cities and towns, and housing exchanges are rare. Even if an old house is replaced by an old one, there is no formal ceremony. The walls are lightly painted with lime water and cleaned before moving. Since the mid-1980s, urban residential construction in Songjiang has accelerated, and more and more families have moved into new public housing. First, they set off firecrackers and firecrackers before moving to express their happiness. Later, the old custom of "entering the house" was gradually restored, including taking scales, sugar cane, green bamboo and other activities, but worshiping the earth god was rare. It used to be that most people would move furniture together with relatives and friends, and then treat everyone to a meal at home; now they basically hire a moving company to move, and the "house wine" does not necessarily have to be on the day of the move. Some people wait for the decoration at home. After getting ready, make a date to invite the guests, and go to the hotel to prepare a few tables of food and wine to entertain the guests. Relatives and friends come to congratulate with gifts. In addition to giving money, most of them buy some handicrafts, flowers, bedding, kitchen tableware, and small household appliances as gifts.