Etiquette for birthday greetings to the elderly
Etiquette for wishing birthdays to the elderly
Etiquette for wishing birthdays to the elderly. Many people understand filial piety and know that they need to pay birthday wishes to the elderly, but there are also many rules that need to be paid attention to. The etiquette of birthday greetings includes many taboos. This is not only the inheritance of culture, but also a blessing to the elderly. Now I will share the birthday wishes to the elderly. etiquette. Etiquette of wishing birthdays to the elderly 1
Luoyang people have had the virtue of respecting the elderly since ancient times, and wishing birthdays to the elderly is its main expression. Old age and long life. (Zhuangzi: Robber Zhi) says: "A person's upper life span is a hundred years, his middle life span is eighty years, and his lower life span is sixty years." Folks have a saying about longevity stars: "Sixty is a longevity, seventy is an old man, eighty is an old man, ninety is an old man, and a hundred years is a star". Luoyang folk elders are accustomed to celebrating their birthdays in a false age when they reach advanced age. It is believed that the day a person is born is his first birthday. Therefore, the 59th birthday is the 60th birth month. Birthday greetings usually start at the age of 60, and the parents of the elderly have passed away. Yujin and Yanshi counties are commonly known as "Zuosheng'er". After you start doing longevity rituals, you cannot stop doing them to show your longevity. Folk birthday celebrations attach great importance to whole numbers, such as 60, 70, 80, etc., and celebrate every tenth. Special emphasis is placed on the 80th birthday, which will be celebrated grandly. When celebrating a birthday, "birthday gifts" should be given to the elders being celebrated, and certain birthday greeting rituals must be performed. Due to differences in family economic status, the scale of birthday celebrations also varies. However, no matter whether it is complex or simple, it expresses the filial piety of the children and the good wishes of wishing the elderly good health and longevity.
1. Birthday gifts
Birthday gifts are mostly prepared by children and descendants of the family, and are also given by relatives and friends. There are many kinds of birthday gifts, which vary from person to person. There are both food and clothing, but longevity curtains, longevity couplets and longevity screens are indispensable.
The food should be mainly what the elderly like to eat, but longevity peaches, birthday cakes and noodles are indispensable. Shouting peaches are usually steamed with noodles, but fresh peaches are also used. Birthday cakes refer to birthday cakes, which are mostly steamed with flour, sugar and food colors, and decorated with various patterns. In addition to peach-shaped steamed buns, Yanshi County also sends pomegranate-shaped steamed buns. The longevity noodles are made thin and long, hoping that the old man will be "rich and prosperous".
The birthday curtains are mostly made of red silk and are as big as a nave, and the inscriptions mostly contain four auspicious words. Shou couplets mostly match the nave. On the nave, there is a big character "Shou" written on it, or there are figures, animals and plants that symbolize longevity. There are two types of longevity screens. One is a scroll painting, usually arranged in groups of 4 or 8 banners and hung on the wall; the other is a carved or inlaid standing screen, with small ones displayed on several tables and large ones standing on the ground. . In the Qing Dynasty, it was the 80th birthday of Qiao Luxin's grandmother in Jiagou Village, Zhongshi. Relatives and friends congratulated her on her eight-sandth birthday screen inlaid with jade, which is still well preserved. The wording and usage of birthday banners, birthday couplets and birthday screens should also be different depending on the gender, age and status of the person being congratulated.
2. Birthday customs
There is no set ceremony for celebrating the birthday of the elderly, and it varies from person to person. Wealthy families need to decorate a longevity hall, with a big Chinese character "longevity" hanging in the middle of the main hall, and items such as eight immortals, old longevity stars, longevity peaches, longevity noodles, etc. placed on the table. The longevity hall is decorated with colorful candles and the floor is covered with red carpet. On the birthday, relatives and friends come to congratulate you with gifts. The birthday boy wears new clothes and red shoes if he is over 80. He sits on the longevity hall and accepts congratulations and obeisances from relatives, friends and younger generations. When celebrating birthdays in the old city of Luoyang, those who do not wear "five clothes" must kowtow, while the others salute. When kowtowing, one should bow to each other, that is, a son and his wife, and a daughter and her son-in-law should bow to each other separately. After the birthday greeting ceremony, you should first eat longevity noodles, which means longevity. Then a birthday banquet is held, where the birthday star sits on the banquet and drinks longevity wine with relatives, friends and descendants. When the first three bowls of food are served, the eldest son kneels down and holds them over his head to show his gratitude to the guests. After three bowls, the guests shouted for substitution, and then the helper served the food. After the banquet, guests should take longevity peaches with them when they leave, and those whose parents are alive at home should take two or more. Some even invite music troupes, storytellers, and theater troupes to their homes to celebrate. Etiquette for wishing birthdays to the elderly 2
Birthday wishes are a fine tradition of the Chinese nation and have been highly praised by all dynasties. From emperors and generals to common people, it is not uncommon for people to love (filialize) the elderly and pray for longevity through birthday wishes.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, primitive birthday celebration activities had already appeared among my country’s upper-class ruling groups. Phrases such as "Longevity without borders" and "Longevity in Nanshan" used in the "Book of Songs" are still very common in birthday celebrations today. It should be said that although the activities of offering wine to celebrate birthdays after the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are not necessarily linked to a specific birthday, because the activity itself has the characteristics of "promoting a person's birthday", it can still be said to be the prototype of today's birthday etiquette.
King Yingzheng of Qin wanted to live long and live forever, so he sent the alchemist Xu Fu to lead 3,000 boys and girls each to the east to search for the elixir. Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, served wine to celebrate his birthday. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, emperors have established special festivals to celebrate their birthdays. This custom has been going on for a long time since ancient times.
Folks have had the virtue of respecting the elderly since ancient times, and wishing birthdays to the elderly is its main expression.
Elderly people are called longevity. Zhuangzi said: "The upper life span of a person is a hundred years, the middle life span is eighty years, and the lower life span is sixty years." The ancients said that "sixty is longevity, seventy is old age, eighty is old age, ninety is old age, and a hundred years is a star".
Birthday wishes usually start from the age of 60, and it is customary to calculate the age in imaginary years, and the parents of the elderly have passed away.
After you start praying for longevity, you should not stop doing it to show your longevity; when celebrating birthdays, you should pay attention to whole numbers, such as 60, 70, 80, etc., and celebrate every tenth. Special emphasis is placed on the 80th birthday, and the elderly are celebrated grandly. There is a saying in birthday celebrations: "Celebrate nine but not celebrate ten." For example, if an elderly person celebrates his 60th birthday, he does not celebrate his birthday at the age of 60, but at 59 years old. "Nine" means longevity. Nine is considered to be the most respectable and largest number. He hopes that the elderly will live longer and longer from celebrating his birthday; when celebrating his birthday, , usually on the birthday, a longevity hall will be set up to send "birthday gifts" to the elders being celebrated, and certain birthday worship ceremonies, birthday banquets, etc. will also be held.
Due to differences in family economic status, the scale of birthday celebrations also varies. However, no matter whether it is complex or simple, it expresses the filial piety of the children and the good wishes of blessing the elderly with health and longevity.
Most folk birthday celebrations are held at home, usually with a longevity hall, burning birthday candles and knotting birthday cakes.
The longevity hall is generally located in the main hall and is a place for birthday worship. If the longevity star is an old man, a red satin colorfully embroidered "hundred-year-old picture" (see Figure 6) or a giant "longevity" made up of pictures of the Eight Immortals will be hung high on the front of the hall. On both sides are longevity couplets, mostly with contents such as "Luck comes to the family of the longevity star, and spring comes to the elderly family"; "I come to the imperial palace to wish the longevity star, and the auspicious mist and brocade screen see the longevity star" and so on. In the middle, the "Longevity Star" (Antarctic Old Man Star) is offered, or the three stars of "Fu", "Lu" and "Longevity" are offered. Candles, flower tubes, incense burners and other accessories that emphasize longevity are displayed in front of the case. There are also longevity peaches, longevity noodles, longevity wine, birthday cakes and other items on the table. If it is a birthday celebration for an old woman, a colorful "Five Blessings (bats) Holding a Longevity Picture" (see Figure 7) will be hung on the front of the hall, with a statue of "Magu (the legendary female fairy)" in the middle, and the rest are the same.
During birthday celebrations, guests are invited to a banquet, and those who come to congratulate them often bring birthday gifts, among which longevity peaches, birthday banners and birthday couplets are the most common.
At the beginning of the birthday ceremony, the birthday girl dressed up and sat beside the confession in the hall, receiving congratulations from relatives, friends and younger generations. As usual, birthday greetings include two bows and three bows, with the younger generation kneeling down. If an ordinary person wishes to wish him a birthday, the person receiving the congratulations must stand up and ask the other person to do so without any courtesy. If a minor among the younger generation bows down, he must be given some reward. If the recipient of the congratulations still has elders who are still alive, the elders must be allowed to sit on the congratulatory table. In addition, birthday wishes for immediate family members should be held before the birthday banquet in the morning. Distant relatives or friends come and pay their respects.
The juniors of the recipients must line up on both sides of the birthday hall and return the favor one by one to those who kneel down to celebrate their birthdays. After the obeisance, a banquet is arranged, and the couple drinks longevity wine and eats longevity noodles together. Afterwards, the birthday star will bring his whole family to worship the "birthday star" or "Magu" in the longevity hall.
In addition, some families also "light lanterns" at the end, that is, they use a batch of lamp plates, put a lantern twisted with colored lantern paper on each lamp plate, dip it in sesame oil and light it. The number of lanterns must be the same as the birthday star's age, one for each year, and two more lanterns at the end, which are called one in the "birth year" and one in the "year of longevity". Then the birthday boy will offer incense, and his children, relatives and friends will kneel down and bow in turn. Finally, the people wishing birthdays each hold a lantern tray and line up to "send off lanterns", which is called "sending lanterns and flowers". Outside the gate, the "divine code", "money and food to worship the gods", etc. are burned, and the birthday ceremony is completed.
Although the birthday party held for the elderly by "Kangshou Home" is not as elaborate and grand as in ancient times, it still brings the birthday party together happily, talking and laughing, performing performances and playing games. , cutting cakes, making wishes, and celebrating birthdays together are also very meaningful and are an effective comfort to the lonely souls of the "empty nest" elderly.
An ancient saying goes: "Sixty years old, seventy years old is rare." It is not easy for the elderly to live to this age. "Kangshou Home" hopes that the elderly members will have an evergreen tree of life and a long life and good fortune. I wish all the elderly in the world can be healthy and live long lives!