The process law of ancestor worship of Zhuang nationality
In order to better organize the ancestor worship activities on the eighth day of the second lunar month, the Zhuang people set up the Chaoshan Zhuang clan association and the Zhuang ancestor worship Committee to take care of the ancestor worship work. The clan association of the Zhuang nationality in Chaoshan usually holds two meetings every year, and the contents of the meeting generally focus on the annual arrangement of ancestor worship activities, reception of foreign ancestor worship groups, raising funds for ancestor worship and improving ancestral graves. The ancestor worship committee of Zhuang nationality is responsible for the daily management of ancestral halls and graves. Every year, on the first day of the second lunar month, the ancestor worship committee of Zhuang nationality will start the preparatory work for ancestor worship. They began to send invitations to bookmakers at home and abroad, determine the number of people worshipping their ancestors around the country, and arrange the reception work and road construction of the foreign ancestor worship team.
Zhuang Muquan, the current chairman of the ancestral worship committee of the Zhuang clan, said: We don't have our own property now, and every year all ancestors have to raise money from the descendants of the Zhuang clan in advance. Thousands of people worship their ancestors every year. Sweeping graves on the mountain is our unified deployment. Of course, individuals also have the freedom to worship. After the ancestral temple sacrifice, we will arrange more than ten special vehicles for ancestor worship to transport the descendants of the Zhuang family into the mountains to worship. Due to the large number of people who worship ancestors, every year, except for more than 20 people who used to maintain order by ourselves, the local police station at Yamashita sends all police forces to help. Set up a reception station on the mountain, build a mountain road outside the isolation fence of Shantou University and a farmer road leading to the mountain. More than twenty years ago, we built a stone road up the mountain. In the past, there was only a narrow path up the mountain. We also built four pavilions on the mountain, and the farmer road cost us more than one million. Every year there are two whole pigs, whole sheep, paper money, cannons, fruit offerings and fireworks. Although the official date is the eighth day of the second lunar month, the sixth and seventh lunar months have already started to stay up all night. We will arrange a puppet show on the mountain and invite the orchestra to sing ancient music when we worship our ancestors. And in the ancestral temple at the foot of the mountain, we will organize movies. It takes about an hour and a half for the clan to worship their ancestors collectively. After the collective sacrifice, each family will worship their ancestors separately. The ancestral grave project is very complicated. For the dealer, there is a set of strict and complete rules for ancestor worship, whether on the mountain or under the mountain. On the eighth day of the second lunar month, men, women and children of all ethnic groups (in the past, only the oldest and adult descendants of the whole ethnic group or representatives of all ethnic groups were allowed to attend) dressed neatly and gathered in front of ancestral temples and graves to pay homage. There are rich gifts for ancestor worship, including whole pigs and whole sheep, five sacrifices and three cakes, and a variety of sweets and cakes. The official worship time is mostly held in the early hours of the morning, but in fact, the worship activities begin after dark. First, a sacrificial ceremony was held, that is, a whole pig and a whole sheep were slaughtered. Then take the first few drops of blood from behind the pig's ear and put them in a glass, then take some wool and pig's blood and mix them together, and then bury them next to the yard of the dealer's ancestral temple. They call this "blood therapy", which means telling ancestors that these sacrifices are clean sacrifices to show their piety to their ancestors. In addition, there should be an incense table next to the patio to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. After nightfall, the ancestral hall was brightly lit, and various sacrifices were arranged neatly on the altar. Movies in front of the ancestral temple have been shown for a long time, and usually some festive and reunion movies are shown. In the past, when there were no movies, some troupes were invited to sing some detailed and auspicious plays (commonly known as Five Blessingg Company in the early 1940s). At noon, the ceremony officially began. Firecrackers sounded, suona sounded, gongs and drums roared, and deacons such as Tong, Yin, Zong Zi took their positions. Children are masters of ceremonies; Leadership is leadership sacrifice; Zongzi is the main sacrifice; Ritual students are those who read eulogies. The master of ceremonies sang the ceremony, and the participants were arranged in place according to their seniority. The host of the ceremony first led the priest to offer wine, holding cups in both hands and moving according to his heart. He ordered three o'clock first, and then drew a half arc to show his sincerity by offering sacrifices to heaven, land and ancestors first. Then, the priest kowtowed three times, and then all the men, women and children who participated in the sacrifice knelt down together and listened to the rites and obituaries. The eulogy tells the name of the priest, the time, object, reason, content and pious words of the sacrifice; An obituary is a text that represents an ancestor and instructs his descendants. After the ceremony, it is meat sharing (sacrificial pork, mutton, etc.). ) and a luncheon (commonly known as the ancestor table). Meat is graded according to fame, education, status, seniority and age. At present, it is often distributed according to university, high school, junior high school, primary school graduation and military and political positions, and the rest without fame and rank are also distributed according to age and seniority, which is commonly known as the meaning of eating goods and getting rich.
Zhuang Zu's grave is on the mountain, and the banker's geomantic omen and its shadow are called the cave where dogs sleep, because its mountain shape is very similar to that of dogs sleeping. Interestingly, Grandma Zhuang's grave is right on the dog's genitals. Old Zhuang Long said: Although our clan is so big, we can only make the grave very narrow because it is located on the dog's genitals. What's more, there can't be any cement, and the stones are all bonded with glutinous rice, so as not to hurt the cave. We built three dog troughs on the upper, middle and lower floors to give dogs water. How many thousands of dollars have been spent on afforestation? What shall we do without trees? Now that calligraphers are so developed, it is generally acknowledged that it is the shade of this geomantic treasure. In the past, some people in our bookmaker secretly transported their ancestors to their ancestral graves for burial after their deaths. After we found out, we held a family meeting to enforce the family law. Some clans can't solve it, so they have to drag it to the official. In order not to harm our geomantic omen, we forbid anyone to be buried in the ancestral graves. Even Mrs. Zhuang's husband will be buried with his second wife in Red Square Town, Chaoyang. If the weather is fine, you can look forward from the cemetery and see the endless. Therefore, the descendants of our banker, as far away from home as possible. Now Zhuangjia Village in Chaoshan area is all ours. Guolongzhuang in Puning has a local population of more than 20,000 and a foreign population of more than 100,000. Zhuang, former secretary of Shantou Municipal Party Committee, is a banker of our bank. Now he has to call me uncle when he sees me. Now Zhuang Shiping from Hong Kong comes to Zhuanglong to worship his ancestors all year. There are also people in our central Committee. It used to be Zhuang Xiquan and Zhuang who worked at the central level, but unfortunately, they are all dead now.