Why ritual gifts, no more, no less, must be five? The Chiu Chow people have a sense of sacredness about the word "five". This first comes from the ancient ancestors of the interpretation of the natural world, for "five" is between one - nine of the nine ordinal number in the middle, said the middle number, to deal with the problem is the most appropriate. Therefore, the survival of food "rice, wheat, beans, beams, beans" called "five grains", the ground is "east, west, south, north, center" called The ground inhabited by "east, west, south, north and center" is called "five sides" and "five earths". People often say that the five gods of wealth, but also related to this concept. There are five times: spring, summer, long summer, autumn and winter. There are also five colors: red, yellow, green, white and black. There are five elements: gold, wood, fire, water and earth. There are five tones: Gong, Shang, Horn, Zheng and Yu. There are five tastes: salty, sweet, sour, spicy and sweet. The human body has five senses, five organs and five internal organs. When one admires a person, one says "five bodies". When you praise someone for being learned, you say, "Be rich in learning". There are also five human feelings: joy, anger, sadness, happiness, and resentment. All of these correspond to each other and are born out of each other. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine - Suwen also says: "Five grains are for nourishment, five fruits are for assistance, five animals are for benefit, and five vegetables are for enrichment. This is a basic human need.
The ancients also used "five" to categorize human society. The "Yi" system of rhetoric: "the number of heaven five, the number of earth five". Therefore, the son of Zhou set up five divisions, said "Stuart (tube household)", "Sima (tube troops and horses)", "Sikong (tube engineering)", "Sikou (tube punishment) )," "Sikou (in charge of punishment)," and "Sishi (in charge of officials)". The "Five Lunas" are: ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, brother and friend. Heaven, earth, ruler, relatives and teachers were called the "five services". Titles were categorized into five classes: Duke, Husband, Uncle, Son and Man. Scholarships are only passed on for five generations, and "the ruler's zeal is cut off in five generations". The "five rites" refer to the ancient rites of auspiciousness, foulness, military rites, guest rites, and jia rites. The five moral virtues of human beings, "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith", are called the "Five Constants". In addition, there are five levels of punishment: ink (tattooing the face), wakes (cutting the nose), amputation of the feet (amputation of the feet), Gong (cutting the man's strength), and Da Pai (killing the head), which are called the "Five Punishments". The Book of Rites also has "five sacrifices", namely, the Risen, the Gate, the Well, the Stove, and the Middle Spirit. The middle spirit is the center of the house. People aspire to the "five blessings," said life, wealth, health and peace, to repair the virtue, the end of the life of the test. There is also the history of the "five emperors", "five hegemony" and "five insects" said.
With the development of human society, many things follow the deepening. For example, officials, from the ancients, "five divisions", into "six departments", "nine ministers" ...... knowledge of the natural world The understanding of the natural world is also deepening, the five colors have become "seven colors". Only the Chaoshan people, always stick to the "five" method. The society of colorful, complex personnel, often in a nutshell: "five colors, five numbers".