On the seventh day after death, people's souls will go home to remember them for the last time, and their families will prepare their favorite food and articles for the dead as their last greetings. China called this day the first seven. The first seven, China people's funeral custom, is based on the time of the deceased's death, plus the date and hour calculated by heavenly stems and earthly branches, but everyone used to think that "the first seven" refers to the seventh day after the death. It is generally believed that the soul of the deceased will go home in the first seven days. Families should prepare a meal for the dead before their souls come back, and then they must avoid it. The best way is to sleep. If you can't sleep, you should hide under the bed. If the soul of the deceased sees his family, it will make him miss his family and affect his reincarnation. It is also said that when you go home in the first seven days, your family should burn a ladder-shaped thing at home and let your soul fly to the sky along this "ladder".

How does the first seven pay homage to their loved ones?

The first seven is dealt with by the son, the second seven is the seventh, the third seven is the responsibility of marrying a daughter, the fourth seven is also the seventh, the fifth seven is the sacrifice of a married granddaughter, the sixth seven is also the seventh, and the seventh seven is also called a full seven or a round seven. It is handled by the son from beginning to end, and its merits are complete. Due to the busy industrial and commercial work, modern people sometimes shorten 7749 days to 24 days. For example, the methods are "the first seven days" and "the seventh seven days", and every other day is "seven days", that is, 24 days. During mourning, they don't celebrate festivals before funerals, and they don't worship when they meet the anniversary of their ancestors' death. Except for those who regard July 49 as the last seven days, those who are not alive on July 49 are called "the deceased", and there are usually only six days from July 27, so in fact, the last seven days are the 43rd day.

The procedure to be done after death.

Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), people attached great importance to funeral etiquette, which was cumbersome and extravagant and had a strong feudal superstition. Customs go hand in hand, and whether the funeral is grand or not is regarded as the standard to measure whether the next generation is filial. The burial custom is wooden coffin burial, and all the children and grandnephews are Dai Xiao. The mourning period for children is 3 years, and that for grandnephew is 1 year. Children are not allowed to shave their heads, cut their hair and make up within 1 year, which is called "mourning and disfigurement". Don't post Spring Festival couplets at home for three years. The main procedures of funeral ceremony include funeral ceremony, mourning, funeral service, funeral ceremony, ceremony, start-up, sacrifice, burial, memorial service after burial, seven-day memorial service and so on. The funeral schedule ranges from five to seven days to half a month, which is very expensive. Generally speaking, when a person is over 50 years old, the younger generation begins to make shroud, coffin (called "longevity coffin" and "happiness coffin"), repair the grave and prepare for the funeral, which is regarded as filial piety.

The first is Mix.

When the deceased was about to die, his family quickly cleaned themselves and put on a shroud, commonly known as a "small funeral". Shrouds are cotton or silk cotton-padded clothes and undershirts. Satin and fur are forbidden. Black is a forbidden color. The number of clothes to wear is not double. The best is to have seven collars, some only wear three or two, and more collars need to be sewn. Nail strips of cloth on the shroud instead of buttons. After putting on the shroud, give the deceased 1 copper coins or 1 pearls, and then let the deceased hold coins in one hand and millet cakes in the other. This is the so-called "beating dog cakes". Legend has it that it was used by the deceased to deal with hungry ghosts and evil dogs in the underworld. Cover the deceased with a quilt and cover his face with yellow paper or white cloth. Then, move the coffin bed to the middle of the hall, put a table in front of the coffin bed and hold a bowl of uncooked millet dry rice, which is called "pouring rice". After the family burned incense, paper and mourned, the children knelt beside the coffin bed to accompany the coffin. At this time, it is "obedience ceremony."

Second, the funeral home

After death, people were immediately sent to relatives, friends and neighbors for condolences. The upper-class families in most cities first sent out invitations and asked their relatives and friends to help with the funeral. The funeral is handled by the Prime Minister in charge of funeral affairs, as well as the cabinet, foreign cabinet, chef and guests. The Prime Minister sent people to send "long class notes" and obituaries to relatives and friends. The format of the obituary needs a proper title. All names are male, the death of father is called "orphan", the death of mother is called "sad son", and both parents are called "orphan sad son". Some family members of officials and businessmen also expressed "mourning" and "behavior" in the obituaries. Mourning is a notice named after the dutiful son, which records the life of the deceased in detail and praises his words and deeds; A statement is a biography written by a famous person for the deceased, which is used to solicit obituaries, tributes and inscriptions. A white note is obliquely pasted on the door and the house door of the funeral parlour, which is called "closing the door". Then use a 2-foot-long straw to hold some fire paper and insert it on the big door frame. The male funeral is inserted on the left and the female funeral is inserted on the right, which is called "funeral", indicating that there is a funeral at home.

Third, wear mourning clothes.

Commonly known as "Dai Xiao". The family members of the deceased wore white robes and sewed white cloth on the shoes to cover the uppers, which were called "mourning" and "wearing shoes" respectively, collectively called "breaking filial piety". The son, daughter-in-law and unmarried daughter of the deceased should put linen towels and tie hemp ropes over the mourning clothes. The dutiful son wore a white cloth towel, put a linen crown on it, and dropped two cotton balls beside the towel. If the father is still alive, he will nail it to the right, while the mother is still alive, which shows extreme grief and turns a deaf ear to foreign affairs. Filial daughters wear white cloth (called white hair) and white hair ropes. In the old mourning system, intimacy was regarded as an equal difference, and there were five kinds of mourning, namely, cutting down, Cui Zi, great contribution, small contribution and getting rid of hemp, which were collectively called "five clothes". Broken decline is the most serious loss, and the service period is 3 years; Cui Zi ranks second, with a service period of 1 year; The service period is 9 months, 5 months and 3 months.

Fourth, guide the direction.

On the night of death, my family bought all kinds of paper sticks (commonly known as colored sticks) and burned them outside the gate. If the deceased is male, the paper-wrapped horse and groom should be burned. If the deceased is female, the paper-wrapped sedan chair and sedan chair should be burned. When burning, the children turned around the fire three times and then reversed three times, shouting the title of the deceased and shouting: "Go southwest!" " It guides the dead and is also called "burning the head of the son of man."

Five, report to the temple

Also known as "sending slurry water". On the day of death, the dutiful son led his children and grandchildren to carry a wooden tray with incense burners, incense sticks and fire paper on it, and carry a bucket of pulp to the earth temple or crossroads to burn incense and paper and pour water. Legend has it that after death, people must go to the earth temple first and then to the underworld. The move is to bribe the land Lord to take care of the dead who go to the underworld and give water as a gift to the wild ghosts to prevent the dead from being bullied. The pulp needs to be delivered for three days, and for the last time, the son-in-law and nephew will also go together. After delivering the water, I went home crying, and then burned incense and paper to mourn.

Six, send travelling expenses

After the water is delivered, it will send travelling expenses, that is, it will send travelling expenses to the dead in the west. In the city, most people are on the street corner not far from the gate. In rural areas, at the crossroads outside the village, people will burn some gold and silver paper-wrapped ingots, kerbs and paper with stamps, and also burn some paper-tied colors, including cows, horses, sedan chairs, Jinshan, Yinshan and cornucopia. When burning, the family sacrificed to show off the dead and went to the western paradise.

Seven, get three, get three.

On the third night after death, the family put a wooden tray with incense burners, incense sticks and burning paper inside, walked outside the gate, faced southwest, lit incense sticks and stood on the wall, and the family knelt down to the ground. A man unplugged the bamboo slips inserted in the door frame, took the incense and bamboo slips together, put them in a tray and took them back to Zhong Ling's home. At this time, the whole family should be quiet, offer food in front of the coffin, bow down in turn, retreat outside, close the door, wait for about an hour before opening the door, burn incense and paper again, bow down, put the incense burner on the wooden pallet, take it outside the gate, bow down to the southwest, indicating that the deceased will be sent away, and then go home to mourn. This move is considered to take the dead home, preserve their eyesight and then send them back to the underworld, commonly known as "receiving three" and "sending three". The ancient ceremony is called "evoking souls".

Eight, great condolences

Commonly known as "death." After death, family members paint the prepared coffin. Most coffins bought by rich people are cypress, followed by Chinese fir, which needs to be painted three or four times. Most of the coffins of poor families are willow thin-plate coffins with only one layer of black outside, commonly known as "big-headed boxes". When buried, the coffin was carried to the coffin bed, and several people lifted the dead. First, the mattress and pillow were moved into the coffin, and then the body was slowly put into the coffin. At this time, the family once again soaked the wine in the face of the deceased with a cotton ball, so that the deceased closed his eyes and shut his mouth. Family members should endure grief and not shed tears on the face of the deceased. Then put the sacrifice in the coffin. Before the Republic of China, wealthy families used gold, silver and jewels as sacrifices; In the future, the use of valuables as sacrificial supplies will become less and less. When the sacrifice is completed, the coffin will be covered and sold. At this time, the children will kneel beside them and say, "Dad (Mom)"! Close the nail! "Otherwise there is a saying that nails are hard to get in. On the coffin head, white lead oil is used to write "a coffin with a few lines", while in rural areas, only the word "Fu" painted in white or red is written on the coffin head. In the late Qing dynasty, if the deceased had an official position before his death, he would use a whole piece of red silk with the highest official title of the deceased written in white lead powder and cover it on the coffin.

Nine, the main point of view

After the funeral, the family set up a wooden memorial tablet for the deceased, which was called "God Lord". It is also the ancestral tablet of future generations. In a wealthy family of officials and businessmen, during the funeral, a grand ceremony of book owners and point owners should be held. Before you lose your family, ask someone to write a card from God. God's main card is about 2 inches wide and 6 inches high. The middle line reads "God of a certain house", and the date of birth and death is written next to it, and it reads "A filial piety". The word "Lord" is written on it without pointing, leaving it to the "Lord" to point with a ballpoint pen. The owner should be a prestigious person, but he can't be a law enforcement officer who has served as a magistrate, sheriff and other positions. Because he was afraid that he had put beads on the names of death row inmates. When you order a master, you will be guided by an Acura accompanied by two distinguished guests, and you will order a master with a brush dipped in pearl sand. At the end of the dinner, the dutiful son will take off his robe, put on his plain clothes, put on the red carpet, bow down and thank him, and hold a banquet in honor of the book owner, the point owner and the distinguished guests.

X.promotion

Opening a crane is the biggest funeral. On the opening day, relatives and friends came to pay homage to the spirit, which was called "mourning" and "mourning". The eldest son of the deceased knelt on the left before the spirit to answer, and his sons and nephews knelt on the right. "The staff was born in the mourning period" (the staff is the staff taken in the mourning period; Period, is a year's funeral. "pole period" refers to the pole holding period; Those who don't use sticks are called "no stick period", such as the funeral held by the first son for his mother. "A husband's wife's clothes, if his parents are absent, are also" born with a staff ") or" brothers in service "stand on the left side of the altar, and" brothers in service without a staff "or" brothers in service "stand on the lower right of the altar to thank the clothes rack. The harem knelt on both sides of the coffin, and when the mourners mourned, they cried together. There is a mat in front of the coffin, and there is a custom in Jinan. The female clothes hanger cries first and then salutes, and the male clothes hanger kowtows or bows three times. The hoisting day takes one to three days. In the meantime, the treasurer is responsible for accepting the "wine offering", and undertaker will send more burnt paper, tin foil, sacrifice accounts, etc. Some also sent elegiac couplets, money and the like. After the 1940s, it was mainly cash. During the opening ceremony, mourners hired music classes to play funeral music, and some people also invited monks and Taoist priests to recite scriptures to cross over the dead.

Eleven, warm pot

Before liberation, in rural areas, usually the night before the deceased was buried, family members would take pots, firewood, cooking oil and good cake dough to the dug cemetery to fry cakes, commonly known as "warming pots" for the deceased. After the cake is fried, take it home for the whole family to eat. This is called having the last meal with the deceased. This custom gradually disappeared after liberation.

Twelve. introduce

Commonly known as "mourning", "mourning" and "mourning", it is the last funeral before burying the dead. There are big funerals and small funerals. In the past, there were specialized funeral shops. Generally speaking, only eight people attend the funeral, and several drummers play funeral music. There are 16 wranglers, many trumpeters, and several pairs of rituals. The largest funeral involves 24 or 32 people, the most is 48 or 64 people, but it is rare. There are painted melons, axes, cymbals, snow willows and plain flags in Shuang Mu. Some honor guards can stand one kilometer away.

On the morning of the funeral, the families and relatives of the deceased paid tribute. At noon, Li Xiang smashed the bowl of upside-down rice, which was called "Ci Ling". After that, 1 a powerful porter carried the coffin forward, eight people were around the coffin, 1 people were at the end of the coffin, all holding the bottom of the coffin with their hands, taking the bowl as the number, 10 people lifted the coffin, and the men and women who lost their homes fell to the ground crying. With the bang of the bar owner, the coffin carrier carried the coffin to the gate in unison, put it on the big bar frame and covered it. The dutiful son and others knelt in front of the railing, while the eldest son played a "spirit-drawing banner" and broke a clay basin (commonly known as "hair lead"), and the porter began to carry the coffin forward. The order of the great mourning guard of honor is: the first place is the paper pathfinder and the Lord God; Followed by elegiac couplet, Liu Xue team, trivia team, Mingjing pavilion and video pavilion; Then there are trumpeters and monks who have been buried; Then there are male relatives and friends in front of the coffin. Among them, the son-in-law of the deceased should stick a small bat cut with red paper on the arm sleeves of the mourning clothes, and be responsible for spreading "travel expenses" along the road. Behind the male relatives and friends, the dutiful son Sun Xiao, wearing heavy mourning clothes and holding a mourning stick, led the coffin forward. Behind the coffin are the eldest son and daughter-in-law in mourning and cake, and the daughter-in-law in mourning. There are road sacrifices arranged by relatives and friends along the way, and the dutiful son should kneel and kowtow. In the funeral procession, when you leave home, you should first carry the coffin to the west, cross the street and cross the city, then go out of the city and carry it to the cemetery for burial.

XIII. Burying

In the past, most upper-middle-class families had their own family cemeteries, also known as woodlands and ancestral graves. Most people in Jinan ask professionals to handle burial matters; Rural families are handled by mature men in the village. Most of the tombs in Jinan area are "cave-jumping", that is, a vertical pit is laid first, and then a horizontal hole is dug along the bottom of the pit. When burying, hang the coffin into the vertical pit, then push the coffin into the horizontal cave, seal the hole with slate, and pile the grave on the vertical pit in the form of a horse. The rich use masonry as the arch crown, which is called "Dafa self-arch" Generally speaking, people use bricks and stones to build a stone box from a straight pit. After the coffin was lowered, a stone was placed on the top of the coffin, and the grave soil was piled on the stone box, commonly known as "Jinjingzi". The simplest thing is to dig a straight pit that can hold the coffin and pile the grave soil on the coffin, commonly known as the "straight pit". When covering the soil, the first shovel should be shoveled by the family, and then everyone should raise the soil, pile up the grave and erect a monument in front of it.

Fourteen Sacrifice after burial

Three days after the burial, the family went to the grave with sacrifices, commonly known as the "round grave." From the day of death, every seven days, we will go to the grave to offer sacrifices until May 7, with May 7 as the most grand day. When you go to the grave on May 7th, the daughter of the deceased will cry. Legend has it that a daughter's crying can move Yamaraja in the Fifth Hall and let the dead pass. After that, on the centennial anniversary, anniversary and every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, on the 15th of July and on the 1st of October of the lunar calendar, family members will go to the grave to pay homage.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the funeral custom of wooden coffin burial was still followed, and the complicated and superstitious funeral ceremony was gradually simplified. In 1960s, crematoriums were built in Jinan, and cremation was gradually popularized. General funeral, after death, family members send obituaries to relatives and friends, family members wear black gauze, mourners wear small white paper flowers on their chests, present wreaths and hang elegiac couplets. Generally, the corpse lasts for 3 days, that is, the deceased is transported to the crematorium and a memorial service or farewell ceremony is held. The time of the farewell ceremony depends on the family situation of the deceased. If there are still elderly people in the family of the deceased, the farewell ceremony will be held in the morning, otherwise it will be held in the afternoon. After cremation, some people put the urn in the crematorium, others take it home or bury it in the ground. In recent years, more and more people have bought coffins and buried them in cemeteries. When dealing with funerals, some families still follow ancient funeral customs, such as kowtowing and burning paper to pay homage to the dead.