In rural funeral customs, a "golden rooster" is placed on the coffin during the funeral. What's the point?

Funeral customs in rural areas are different from other wedding etiquette. When an elderly person dies in rural areas of southwestern Shandong, we call it "old" or "passed away", and the word "death" is rarely mentioned. The funeral procedures also vary from region to region.

It can be roughly divided into inviting guests, announcing funerals, paying homage, going out for funerals, roadside sacrifices, burial, etc. In these complicated procedures, we can often see that before the burial, the host family will use a rooster. Put it on the coffin,

As we all know, in the past, many old people would return to the countryside in advance to make arrangements for their posthumous affairs in order to "return to their roots". Some people died in a foreign country due to emergencies in that feudal and closed society. They always have to be transported back to their hometown in the countryside in coffins for burial! In rural areas, people used to call it superstitious, but in fact it can also be called "belief".

In the eyes of farmers, the rooster is the incarnation of the "Sun God". It has magical power and can guide the soul of a person to heaven after death. Especially in rural areas, there is a saying that the soul cannot survive after death. Cross the river, so put a rooster on the coffin, so that the person's soul will have sustenance and a carrier.

In fact, in rural areas, we can often see that whenever there is a funeral ceremony, the eldest son usually holds a mourning stick in his left hand and a "soul-inducing flag" in his right hand. In the eyes of old farmers, the place where a person lived before death The place is called the "yang house", and the tomb after death is called the "yin house". In order for the deceased to enter the "yin house" smoothly, "soul-guiding flags" are usually used to guide the "soul" of the deceased to avoid causing the "soul" to be lost. Without burial, he became a lonely ghost.

The "soul-attracting flag" here has the same meaning as the "rooster" or "golden rooster", both of which guide the soul so that the soul can rest. This "rooster" also has the "soul-attracting chicken" " title. Our country has a vast territory, and rural customs are also different. In some places, "soul-guiding flags" are used to guide the placement of souls, while in other places, "golden roosters" or other techniques similar to rural paper-cutting are used to cut into "golden roosters" and affix them to the coffin. This is also the meaning of what is often said in rural areas: "The boy lights up the lamp and the golden rooster leads the way."