Does anyone know what the funeral customs of Hakkas are?
In the past, people's complicated rituals on their way to death were all based on the virtual existence of the soul. It seems that the deceased is still a life that needs care. The Hakka custom of screaming is the embodiment of this idea. When the child is sick, the mother of the child and other middle-aged and elderly women will light incense sticks and scream, thinking that the child is sick because the soul has left the child's body, and it is safe to call the child back in time. The ancients believed that people's souls were in the same strain before death, and there was an afterlife and an afterlife in life. From this, it can be inferred that there are yin and yang in the world.
According to the idea that the soul is immortal, people will enter another world after death, which is what people call the underworld.
Hakkas believe in karma, and think that good and evil will eventually be rewarded. Doing more good deeds can leave a shadow on future generations and get good returns after death, which is one of the reasons why Hakkas attach importance to funeral etiquette. Most of the funeral methods of Hakkas follow the tradition of the ancient Central Plains, with soil burial as the main method and coffin burial as the supplement. After liberation, cremation was gradually carried out under the initiative of the government.
There are also customs such as joint burial, gold mining, business, and wild burial. Because of their belief in the concept of immortality of the soul, Hakkas in the old days always attached great importance to tombs, just as strangers called them "yin houses" when they opened houses, they still attached importance to Feng Shui. When building a tomb, they must ask Mr. Feng Shui to choose the date, time, cemetery and location.
Funeral can be said to be the most complicated of Hakka etiquette, and there are more ceremonies than many other etiquette. At the same time, this kind of etiquette is also the most solemn and grand.
The funeral customs of Hakka people have inherited many excellent aspects of China cultural tradition, such as filial piety and patriarchal clan system, which are all reflected in this etiquette. At the same time, due to long-term migration and communication and integration with local aborigines, the funeral of Hakka has also formed a unique new feature of this nation. These characteristics are reflected in Hakka funeral etiquette, which is both warm and affectionate, and somewhat harsh and cold. Hakka funeral customs are roughly divided into the following steps:
1. passed away. According to Hakka tradition, anyone over 60 who died of old age or illness is considered dead, which is called "Happy Birthday", which is what people usually call "white marriage". about
This kind of normal death, family members are psychologically and materially prepared. Children and grandchildren should wait day and night before the death of the deceased, kneel before them to listen to the will, cry and burn paper to worship the "ascension" of the deceased. This is called "ascension".
For example, in the rural areas around Hubian Township, Ganxian County, Jiangxi Province, when people reach the age of 60, they have to prepare coffins for their own affairs. After that, they have to hold a grand banquet and put the coffins on the beams of the hall. The local countryside is commonly known as "the first work on the wood". Hakkas attach great importance to death, and it is a lifelong regret that they can't talk to the elderly. Therefore, when they hear that their parents or other close relatives are dying, they usually have to go back immediately. Even if you are thousands of miles away from home, you should travel day and night and go back to see the last side as much as possible so that you can see the last side before you die. This is filial piety. When the old man is dying, he will put on the "shroud" made in advance, which is called "wearing shroud".
There used to be a saying of "going up and down six times", that is, wearing six clothes on the top and four pairs of pants on the bottom. When a person dies, children immediately burn paper money and paper sedan chairs, which is called "death", and at the same time, they have to rush to relatives and friends' homes to express their condolences.
2. Mourning: Mourning refers to reporting death, mourning period and burial period to relatives and neighbors. Generally, after the funeral, the bereaved family will report the death to their relatives and friends so that they can come to mourn in time at the funeral.
There are oral forms of funeral service and divination, and later generations developed to publish divination in newspapers. Generally speaking, the people are mainly oral, that is, the dutiful son or grandson sends a letter of mourning, especially to those close relatives and friends, otherwise the courtesy is not enough, and you can send a letter to someone farther away.
3. Packaging: Packaging refers to wrapping the deceased and putting it in a coffin. Ancient ceremonies were divided into big funerals and small funerals. Three days of funeral, five days of funeral, or the next day of funeral, three days of funeral. This also corresponds to the old custom of burial in March.
There is a custom of stiff neck when burying: that is, move the body, spread a white cloth on the floor of the hall, put the body on it, put a new tile on the headrest, put a cloth triangle pillow on the tile, and send people to wait day and night; Putting the body in the coffin at a fixed time is called "feeding". In the later generations, the general family stopped mourning for a short time, and the funeral was more timely. Most of them put on the shroud before dying and put it in the coffin the next day.
4. Pendulum Hall: white cloth is hung in front of the remains, incense tables are placed, memorial tablets or portraits are placed. Cry in the morning and evening, register gifts or "substitute candles" from relatives and friends, and hang curtains on both sides of the mourning hall in order. Every morning and evening, when relatives and friends come to pay their respects, widows will observe a moment of silence beside the coffin in the tent. In the evening, relatives and friends attend the mourning hall, commonly known as "accompanying the night".
5, mourning: mourning should choose the right time, often in the morning. In the old days, there was a "mourning" on the first day, and the master was asked to chant the scriptures all night, and the music was deafening; After the funeral, hold a memorial service first, and then hold a funeral, paying attention to ostentation and extravagance. Often, the whole family will attend the funeral and set off firecrackers all the way, which makes people cry.
6. Bury: Put the coffin in the cemetery. The choice of cemetery pays attention to "Feng Shui". The appearance of the tomb is very similar to the dragon circle of Hakka people, which is a manifestation of Hakka people's worship of their ancestors. On the third day after burial, relatives put on mourning clothes, went to the grave to cry and worship, and burned paper money, which was called "Three Dynasties".
7, do seven: after death, every "seven" day, to hold a memorial service, commonly known as "do seven." Generally only do "five seven". Finally, a memorial service was held and the spirit room (paper room) was burned, which was called "Wanqi" to show the end of the funeral. Later, an anniversary ceremony was held, called opening filial piety; Once every three years, a sacrificial ceremony is held, which is called Kai Daxiao. When the big filial piety was held, the doors and halls were changed into red couplets, and everything returned to normal.
8. Picking up gold: This is the custom of Hakkas. Dig out graves that have been buried for several years (usually ten years), bake the remains with charcoal fire, and put them in a special pottery urn according to the human body structure, which is called "picking up gold", and then rebury or put the pottery urn in the ground. This is the permanent grave of the dead. The funeral custom of Hakkas in Longgang is called "Second Burial". Seven or eight years after the deceased was buried, people were asked to dig the ground and open the coffin. At that time, the body's flesh, viscera and other soft tissues had rotted, so masons picked up the bones and put them in a special pottery urn (commonly known as "golden urn" or "golden pagoda"), and placed the "golden pagoda" in the treasure house of Feng Shui some day. In some places, a large cemetery has been specially built, in which a "golden pagoda" is buried and a tombstone stands, commonly known as "ground". After the completion of the cemetery, a ceremony of "circling the ground" will be held on the other day to offer sacrifices to the banquet guests, which is called "second burial", and "collecting gold" is the last link of the whole funeral.
There are three main points in the geomantic treasure land emphasized by Hakkas:
One is the dragon potential. That is, the mountains are undulating, overlapping, orderly and powerful; The size of the situation determines people's wealth level and affluence.
The second is to have games. In other words, the peaks of Luo Jing, the loops of the bay, flags or drums, seals or cases should all be used by the base; Bureau dominates the reputation and official position.
The third is to have water. There is a river in front of the base, but the river is not straight to the base.
But the nozzle is circulated with water; Water is the main source of wealth.
Therefore, in order to find the land of geomantic omen, they would rather wait for years, decades or even decades. If you can't find an auspicious place for a while, put the golden angel in a cave in the mountain or in a ridge in the field and bury it later.
The temporary storage of this kind of "golden angel" is commonly known as "sending stones". According to the records of Huizhou government records during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, "Changle and Heping could not bear to abandon their relatives in the soil. Some people were buried after three years, or those who were buried for several years were confused by geomantic omen and cremated and reburied". Another example is Xingning. "Bones in clay pots are called golden pots. It's been removed and buried ... and it's also divided by places, so it's easy to count them in. ..... "In the Qing Dynasty, this trend was even more prosperous. "Jiaying County Records" records: "After several years of burial, you must wash your bones with your eyes open and store them in a crock. Hundreds of years ago, the distant ancestors were still being washed away, or moved repeatedly, and the relics and remnants stopped in a few pieces, and they were still moving. What's more, listen to Kan Yu's words and camp for good luck. " Zhang Xintai, a Qing Dynasty man, wrote in A Travels in Guangdong: Jiaying County: "Cantonese customs are confused by geomantic omen ... but after being buried, ten years or more, you have to return to all kinds of land, and your bones will be broken. This is called washing gold." The reason of geomantic omen is the main reason of Hakka's second burial. The second burial of Hakka in Taiwan Province Province is called "Feng Shui", and the second burial of Bingcun in Meixian County is called "Feng Shui". In Hakka funeral, when a family is in mourning, everyone helps each other, which is completely voluntary and does not charge any reward.
If the deceased is a woman, her family enjoys special rights and everything is decided by her family. During the mourning period, the children and grandchildren should wear linen for Dai Xiao's wake. They can't wash and dress, and they can't eat at the table. They can't make zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival that year and the following year, stick Spring Festival couplets or steam rice cakes during the Spring Festival.
Hakka tombs pay attention to geomantic omen and are selected by professional geomantic omen and bereaved families. The appearance of Hakka tombs is very similar to the shape of Wufeng Pagoda. Among the funerary objects, it is worth mentioning that the word coffin is homophonic with official wealth, which means promotion and wealth. Hakka people have a tradition of being an official since ancient times, and the idea of being an official is very strong. In rural areas, almost every farmer will bury his body in a coffin after his death. Some people will be cremated for other reasons, but they will also order their descendants to put their ashes in a coffin before they die. They all like this way of burying the body. Hakka coffins, also known as Shoumu, Laowu and Shouchuang, are used to bury the dead.
Hakka people pay more attention to the choice of coffin materials. Generally, they use Chinese fir as long-lived wood. When making long-lived trees, wealthy people choose the root section of the old Metasequoia glyptostroboides, and the bigger the better. They use four square pieces of whole wood as longevity devices, which are called "four corners", that is, the cover plate, bottom plate and side plate are all made of a whole piece of wood, with four pieces of * * * up and down, one at each end and six pieces of * * *. In addition, there are "hexagonal" and "octagonal" longevity trees, which are made up of six or eight pieces of wood. Moderately wealthy families generally make "ten-corner" longevity trees, and the wood used is slightly smaller than "octagonal"; Most people make twelve-horned long-lived wood, that is, small wooden blocks of 12 for coffins, which are a little smaller than ten-horned wood and cheaper in cost. It is made of ten pieces of wood, of which the top cover is three pieces of wood, the bottom is three pieces of wood, two pieces of wood on each side, and there are five to eleven other pieces of wood in front and back. In rural areas, due to limited economic conditions, coffins are often made of ten pieces of wood, so coffins are also called "ten-page tiles" and "ten pieces", which are also made of twelve pieces of wood, commonly known as "twelve yuan".
When farmers make coffins, they usually choose wood at the age of 30 and prepare to use them after death. As the saying goes, "thirty dollars for a coffin, you are so bold", implying that people will prepare longevity wood when they reach middle age. If they are not ready, they are afraid of what will happen.
Therefore, Hakkas usually make coffins when they are alive, which are called "Shoumu" or "Shouqi" to increase longevity and happiness. Many people prepare coffins before they die, some are descendants, some are themselves, and some are decades.
After the coffin plate is assembled, all gaps are filled with tung oil lime paste, and the inner and outer layers are pasted with paint and cotton cloth to make it watertight. In the old society, some coffins were left standing for more than three years without any leakage. There are two colors of paint, one is black and the other is red, which varies according to local customs. After the longevity wood is painted, the painter brushes his knees in time, draws patterns at both ends, writes the word "Fu" at the top of the big head, and writes the word "Shou" at the small head at the front end. On the lid of the coffin, the words "Happiness is like the East China Sea" and "Longevity is better than the South Mountain" are written in red paper. The coffins used by people who die young are generally unpainted.
Hakka custom is to put plant ash and fragrant leaves on the bottom of the coffin, lay 12 piece of brown, and lay another piece in leap year (Guangdong Hakkas love to lay an inch thick yellow mud), and then put a "seven-Li board" (seven-hole thin wooden board), and lay grass paper and cloth on the board. There are seven mattresses on the deceased, which are called "seven ups and eight downs".
After putting what should be put at the bottom of the coffin, two relatives (made of earth in some places) lifted the body, put it in the coffin with two pieces of white cloth, wrapped the head with silk wool, and put two bricks on it. These two bricks are called "bricks" and wrote down the lineage, date of birth and date of death of the deceased. Ninghua and other places made internal tablets and recorded the year of birth and death of the deceased.
The date of the month and the names of children and grandchildren, for future investigation, put them at the feet of men and on the heads of women.
After putting your body in place, pull the center line and straighten your body. Some gaps in the coffin are filled with charcoal, and some are stuffed with the clothes of the deceased, and then covered with mattresses, that is, cups made of white cloth and canvas. The mattresses given to the deceased by the Hakka people in Ninghua are seven times and eight times, that is, eight mattresses are placed on the body and eight mattresses are covered on the body.
Hakka people in western Fujian covered the dead with white cloth with their married daughters, put a ever-burning lamp on their heads, and put a bowl of rice, an egg and a pair of chopsticks on the rice. Take turns waiting day and night to avoid cats and dogs approaching. Sprinkle some lime around the body to prevent insects and ants. According to Hakka customs, people who die before the flower is called "short-lived". Generally speaking, they can't enjoy coffin burial, so they can only use a few boards to nail into coffins, commonly known as "fire boards" to bury them.
Hakka's funeral culture fully embodies Hakka's respect for the dead and worship for their ancestors. It is an important ceremony to pray for ancestors to protect Yin Fu's children and grandchildren, and it is the embodiment of ancient Hakka civilization and etiquette.