What are the activities of Hakkas in Tomb-Sweeping Day?
The concept of ancestor worship originated from the ancient concept of ghosts, which regarded ancestors as gods, and took the ancestor who created surnames, the ancestor who had a meritorious family name or the founder of immigrants as the object of worship for a long time. Like other areas, Hakka ancestor worship mainly includes two forms: ancestor memorial tablet worship (shrine sacrifice) and ancestor grave worship (tomb sacrifice).
Ancestral sacrifice refers to the ancestor, closest ancestor, parents, etc. who worship the family name in the ancestral hall and ancestral hall. Hakka ancestral halls are mostly hall-style structures, which are divided into single hall, two halls and three halls according to their size. The main gate leads directly to the lobby, and the upper hall is dedicated to the memorial tablets of ancestors and picture couplets. Whenever ancestor worship is held, a hall number is affixed above the gate of the ancestral hall, or on the lantern at the door of the ancestral hall indoors, and hall couplets are affixed on both sides of the door to indicate the ancestral home or place of prosperity. Generally, a surname has a hall number, but there are also minority surnames who have different legends about their ancestors and have multiple hall numbers. Tanglian reflects the highest official title or achievement obtained by the ancestors of this clan. Hakka's hall number and hall couplet are actually abbreviations of the family name genealogy. When it's time to worship ancestors, all ages change clothes and bathe, and rush to the ancestral temple to grab the first incense. After all the clansmen arrived, the clansmen gathered together to pay homage to their ancestors under the singing ceremony hosted by special ceremony students. Ancestor offerings include pig's head, fish, chicken, tea, wine, rice fruit, etc. There are dozens or even hundreds of "Zheng Ge" offerings. After the sacrifice, please ask the famous patriarch to speak, tell the genealogy, and tell the origin, lineage and ancestral training of his family name. The time of ancestor worship varies from place to place, usually after lunch on New Year's Eve, or in the morning of New Year's Eve. In some places, it is held every season, some at regular intervals, and some worship ancestors on holidays or on the first and fifteenth days of the first lunar month. In other places, ancestors should be sacrificed every time they get married. The day before the bride gets married, parents should worship their ancestors and bless their daughters. On the day of the bride's wedding, the father and his daughter went to the ancestral hall to salute their ancestors, and only after the ceremony could they get on the sedan chair. When the children who are away from home return to their hometown, they will hold ancestor worship within three days to show their filial piety.
From the ancestor worship activities of Hakkas, it can be known that the worship of ancestors by Hakkas is to regard ancestors as protectors, pray for ancestors' protection, and bless their descendants, so as to use the worship activities to praise and pray for their protection. Therefore, every big festival, everyone will gather together to remember their ancestors and encourage future generations.
Tomb sacrifice refers to the sacrificial activities held by a family and a surname on the graves of their ancestors. Most of the tombs in Hakka areas are held in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day of Hakkas is different in size, and the Qingming Festival in March is called "Little Qingming Festival". "Records of Jiaying Prefecture" says: "The first day of August is called great Qingming. Or if you don't sacrifice in Qingming, you must sacrifice Yu Daqing Ming. " In addition to Tomb-Sweeping Day's tomb sacrifice, Hakkas have a tomb sacrifice called "Great Qingming Festival". Zhou Lianggong's "Min Xiao Ji" in the Qing Dynasty recorded: "Min Jiangle will be naturalized, with March as a small Qingming and August as a big Qingming. There is little waste in the exhibition tomb, and no one dares to waste it greatly. To Geng Yin, in the middle of autumn, he crossed his land, and under the mountain of flame, the soil was red, paper money was everywhere, and snow was like Xia Ru. Write "Da Qing Ming Qu": Lonely graves also know when they are old, and short bamboos win in August. Red soil, pine and snow-colored paper, Yong Zhou made a great Qingming. Under the Yinping Mountain, a new curtain is displayed, and the oak chestnuts will flourish. Dare to admit that the spring breeze is small, and those who sleep in peace are also afraid of the autumn sound. The skeleton wants to fight for the gold and the yi, and the ghosts are not blind after reading the Spring and Autumn Period. Don't sigh that the clouds are still forgotten, and the old graves are better than the small ones. "
Hakka people attach great importance to the tomb sacrifice, even more grand than the temple sacrifice. Many clans have explicit provisions on tomb sacrifice, and write it into the genealogy for the clansmen to follow. For example, the ninth of the Huang clan in Jiaocheng Town, Jiaoling County is "Building a Tomb", saying: "The tomb hides the soul of the ancestors, so it is advisable to pay a grave sacrifice every year, sweep and cut its hazelnuts and get rid of its mud. Don't dig and expose, causing the complaints of your ancestors to spread. " Xu in Jiaoling also attached great importance to the tomb sacrifice. As early as the 3rd generation, his ancestor Xu Zhuzhai was worried that future generations would forget the merits and demerits of their ancestors, so he wrote the rules and regulations on the tomb sacrifice of their ancestors into the genealogy. The article said, "Stealing a person's body must depend on his father's ancestors, so the father's ancestors must choose the beauty of the land for burial, and then the gods will be safe and the children will flourish. ..... Both buried in the ground, when offering to the tomb. I am afraid that in the future, my descendants will be numerous, pushing each other's stories, and there will be a lack of tomb sacrifices. Today, I will take turns to offer sacrifices according to the room times. Every year, since the Qingming Festival, the ancestors who started their business and held on to it are sacrificed in inferior quality, so that they will not lose order, and the gods will enjoy themselves. If God is safe, then people are also safe; If people are safe, then all the blessings will be achieved, and the letter will be carried out. If anyone dares to disobey, he will not offer sacrifices at the right time. Xu Hezu will punish him for offering sacrifices to the public, and he will still make compensation for the sacrifices to warn him in the future. Or there may be a sacrifice for the descendants of Kegong officials to pursue the distance, regardless of this limit. If an official returns home without offering sacrifices to his ancestors first, he has no heart to repay his books and is considered unfilial. "
The activities of the tomb sacrifice are well organized, and the special person is in charge, commonly known as the first thing. In the old days, all the funds were spent by the clan's public taste. Now people donate money to raise funds. Its sacrifices include pigs, sheep, wine, olives, rice and rice, etc., which are carried by Zheng Ge. Every year, before and after the Spring Festival, not only the people at home and in the countryside will take part, but also the people who have moved to other places, other counties and even overseas will come back to pay homage. There are dozens or hundreds of "Zheng Ge" sacrifices for ancestors, and there are hundreds of ethnic people. For example, the tomb-sweeping day of the Xu clan in Jiaocheng offered sacrifices to the ancestor Xuanxuan Cemetery, which was very grand. When traveling, the front is Xu's big lantern, carrying colorful lanterns, golden drums, gongs and drums, and flute players, followed by the three-room people. There are four bowls of sea cucumber, shark's fin, bird's nest, roast pig, double chicken, double goose, double duck and sheep, and nearly a hundred loads of flowers, ginseng tea, cakes and fruits, which are very rich. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, there are special etiquette and greetings, and after the ceremony, they have dinner at the grave. Then line up and go home.
Some clans have restored so-called feng shui treasures such as ancestors' graves to be tall and dignified, so that future generations can admire and worship them. For example, the tomb of Xuangong, the ancestor of Xu in Jiaocheng, is located at the foot of Yanqi Mountain, a ravine in Xingfu Township, facing east and west, and is called "swallow and beam". The tomb head is 1.7 meters high and 1.73 meters wide, and the tomb hall is 6.4 meters wide and 9.3 meters long. Side by side with it is the tomb of his wife Tian, the head of which is 1.85 meters high and 1.75 meters wide, and the grave hall is 7 meters wide and 9.4 meters long, made of granite. The tomb of Wende, the 6th ancestor of lai xing in Jiaocheng, and his wife, is located in Shatianling, Changtan Township. It was called "Wind Blowing Luodai" in ancient times, and it was a tomb in the early Ming Dynasty. The local people all thought it was a good place for geomantic omen. In 32 years of the Republic of China (1943), it was rebuilt, with a large tomb hall and a high tomb head, making it the tallest ancient tomb in zhenping county. The head of the tomb is 1.75 meters high, and the incense table is 1.4 meters high. The whole tomb covers an area of about 2 square meters, and the tomb hall and the tomb table can hold more than ten or twenty tables. It is a rare ancient tomb.
In addition to worshipping ancestral tablets and ancestral graves, Hakka people worship ancestral idols or portraits.