Hakka custom is a popular and repeated behavior of a nation in production, clothing, diet, residence, marriage, funeral, festivals, entertainment, etiquette, beliefs and other material and cultural life. This kind of behavior is people's conscious preferences, ethos, habits and taboos, etc. It is popular among the people and is consciously passed down by the public. Han culture has a long history, with a long history of customs, which has been continuous for 5,000 years. This historical advantage, unmatched by any nation in the world, makes the customs of the Han nationality, no matter what kind or type, extraordinarily rich and charming.
Hakka Shuilong-Ancient Town of Hakka Luodai in the West
Hakka customs are cohesive. As a branch of the Han nationality, how did Hakka come together? There are many reasons, but the cohesion of Hakka customs is undoubtedly an important reason. Although Hakka customs are colorful, ever-changing and obviously regional, the basic connotation of Hakka customs is consistent or identical. For example, we eat zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival and glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival. No matter which province or region, Hakka people in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, or even descendants of Hakka people who have gone abroad and are surrounded by western nations, there is no exception.
Production custom
Hakka people in Liangjiang, Laibin, hold a grand family banquet every year after people visit their relatives and friends on the fifteenth day of the first month, and the family members, old and young, and separated brothers get together. The older and experienced family members make an analysis and estimate according to the situation of the past years and the coming year, and make a production arrangement for one year, with younger family members as supplements. Then concentrate on digging, raking and planting corn. After finishing these tasks, we have a busy spring ploughing. On the day of "February Kitchen" (the second day of the second lunar month), it was white at first, and people (mainly women) rushed to worship the "Kitchen King" with candles, incense, meat dishes and glutinous rice, praying for the gods to bless the good weather and good harvest in the coming year. Later, sugarcane was planted and rice seeds were sown. When the seedlings grow evenly, hurry up and do spring ploughing. Because the spring ploughing work is heavy and tense, people mostly help each other to complete the transplanting. Management is everyone's business. When the crops are about to mature, the old people usually decide when to harvest, and the children are not allowed to say anything. During the summer harvest, all kinds of livestock and poultry industries have grown up, and fishing can also be done in the pond. Hakka people are happy to put on the most abundant meal on a table and have to "wash their eyes once". After the Mid-Yuan Dynasty, people were busy planting autumn crops and harvesting autumn crops. Later, they concentrated on selling some of the crops they planted and listing the pigs, ducks, geese and fish they raised.
Living customs
Hakka people in Guangxi have maintained the characteristics of thrift and living in groups. The Hakkas of the guests are still poor, eating porridge in the morning and noon, and eating at night. The staple food, rice and rice porridge, is cooked by women in the morning, cooled and put in the cupboard. The porridge is eaten during the day and at night. Rice is made by pouring out rice soup and braising it. They don't like rotten rice, so they cook in this way. When eating porridge, I like to mix porridge with cooked salt. Its non-staple food is pork and all kinds of vegetables, and it eats beef and other meat from time to time. Generally, pork is sliced, boiled in water, fried, and served with seasoning. Vegetables are fried in oil, then put in the ingredients and put into a bowl. Hakka seasoning is nothing more than ginger, garlic, onion, sauce, five-spice powder and monosodium glutamate. Their traditional dishes are braised pork, boiled chicken, vinegar ribs, vinegar large intestine and fried duck in vinegar sauce. Flavor foods are winter rice sugar, sour bean and pepper. When dried to a semi-dry degree, they can be opened and eaten in an acid jar when they are bright yellow. On the second, fifteenth and Dragon Boat Festival of the first month, Hakka people always make zongzi, including meat zongzi and mung bean powder zongzi. The stuffing used for zongzi is prepared with star anise powder, pepper, sauce and salt in advance. Dumpling leaves for wrapping rice dumplings. On the second day of the second lunar month, Qingming Festival, glutinous rice is cooked, sugar is added, and leaves are dyed in different colors, which is sweet and delicious. Winter solstice. Everyone should eat boiled buns made of glutinous rice flour and meat stuffing. They don't have the habit of drinking boiled water. When they are thirsty, they use porridge water and rice soup instead. They rarely drink tea, and most of them drink rice wine brewed by themselves.
Hakkas' houses are big tile houses. Traditional houses are bungalows. The hall is divided into upper hall and lower hall, with patio in the middle, storage room behind the upper hall. The upper hall is authentic with square tables and mirror screens with ancestral tablets on it. Eating is in the lower hall, and the fire in winter is also in the lower hall. On both sides of the upper hall are large bedrooms for the elderly and married couples, while on one side of the lower hall is a small bedroom for unmarried young people, on the other side is a kitchen, and pigsty is on the left and right sides of the house. According to traditional customs, old houses are mostly reserved for the eldest son.
Family customs
Because the Hakkas live in many ethnic groups, they often have several clans under the same surname. The whole family name, the tradition has unwritten clan rules. Any major event that damages the reputation of the surname shall be resolved through consultation by the whole surname. If there is a fight with a foreign surname, each household will go out to solve it, in order to prevent losses. Generally, Hakkas don't do it without authorization. If they are reasonable, they will argue with each other. If they are unreasonable, they will solve it amicably. If anyone dares to offend the clan rules, they will be isolated by their clansmen. Whenever pigs are slaughtered, Hakka people hold a banquet to entertain their clansmen. In small villages, one person is invited to each household, while in big villages, prestigious old people and brothers who live in the house are invited. Once someone in the family is admitted to a technical secondary school or university, or joins the army or goes out to work, Hakkas will hold a banquet for the brothers who come to congratulate them. In order to maintain the unity of the patriarchal clan, after the woman has passed the house, it is generally that three generations and four generations live together, if there are siblings below the man. The bride and groom must live together with the elderly for a period of time before they can divide the kitchen. Even if you don't live in the same kitchen with the elderly, you must bear the obligation to support the elderly and raise your siblings. Otherwise, it is regarded as the inverse son. After the kitchen is divided, whenever there is good wine and good food, we should call the old people to eat together or give them a dish.
Because the family is valued, the elderly are highly respected. It is the custom of Hakka guests that when eating, the seat of the elderly faces the gate to show respect. Adults sit on both sides, and children can only sit on the side facing the elderly. If there are too many people in the family, men sit at a table and women sit at a table. When eating, children should take the initiative to help the elderly carry vegetables. When children help the elderly to add rice, they must serve the bowls with both hands. When the old man is talking, children can't interrupt or make noise. After the meal, the child has to say "eat slowly".
In family customs, the birth of a child is highly valued. The children of Hakka guests were born in three dynasties. Grandma, sister-in-law, brother-in-law (sister-in-law) and married women packed eggs with bamboo radish and came to the new maternity home to do the "three dynasties". Half a month later, grandma invited more women to take sweet wine, eggs, rice, hens and carry them to her nephew for "half a month", commonly known as "eating ginger wine". This banquet was the most lively. After the child's full moon, grandma invited women to make a "full moon" for her nephew (or niece). Hakkas generally don't live for one year.
Marriage custom
Most of the guests and Hakkas choose their spouses for their parents, and the matchmaker pulls the strings. Their weddings generally include matchmaking, sitting and talking, horoscope matching, betrothal, wedding and three dynasties.
When the matchmaker sees that two young men and women of the same age and matching talents are not yet married, he will take the initiative to go to the door to match, or the parents of the young people who are waiting to be married or married at home will also ask the matchmaker to do good deeds. After meeting, men and women pour out their worries to each other. When the old man agrees and thinks it is appropriate, they will write a "eight-character", which will be handed over by the man to the fortune teller according to heavenly stems and earthly branches's calculations. If the man's life is gold or water and the woman is water or gold, it is considered more appropriate to get married. Once the "eight characters" are suitable, the old people on both sides agree, and both men and women agree, there is hope for marriage. Then the man pays the bride price, commonly known as "foreign money", which is determined by both parties. If you pay the engagement fee, you will be engaged, and then you will go to the government to get a marriage certificate. When the man is ready and tells the woman the wedding time, the woman has to start preparing the dowry. The night before the wedding, the groom, accompanied by Lang, sent the woman some meat, wine, water and sugar, and the groom returned to his home. The next day, the groom, accompanied by Lang, married the bride and brought various packages, which were given to the bride's parents, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and even those who cooked and chopped meat in the kitchen. The bride's brother-in-law also has to give the groom a package and new shoes. Two girls were selected from the men's house to take rice ears, scissors, mirrors and roosters to the women's house, where they were entertained. Like the local Zhuang people, women's families have to honor the girls who accompany Lang and men's families and carry out dowry. On the morning of the wedding day, the bride stood under the rice basket and said goodbye to her ancestors. Then, she wore black clothes, black pants, black shoes, tied a red rope, held a black umbrella and covered a white towel, and her sister-in-law carried her out of the doorway and walked or rode to the groom's house. After going to the man's house to pay homage, the bride will go back to her mother's house that night, and on the third day, accompanied by her mother, aunt, sister-in-law and others, she will carry the pigs and chickens to the man's house to show the capital for the newlyweds to prepare for life.
Festival custom
The traditional festivals of Hakkas are Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, June 6th, Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice, and Seeing the Kitchen King off. Spring Festival is a big festival, with rich new year's goods, mostly bacon, dumplings, fried peanuts and so on. On the first day of the first month, you can't kill anything, and you should light a lamp and say auspicious words. Generally, you should go back to your home for dinner. It is also the day to go back to your mother's house during the Spring Festival. The most important entertainment in the Spring Festival is the lion dance to visit the New Year. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, Hakkas like to make zongzi and have a big meal again. "February stove", cooking glutinous rice, killing chickens and worshiping the kitchen king, and achieving a bumper harvest and success in one year. Qingming Festival in March is a traditional grave-sweeping festival. Cooking sweet glutinous rice, preparing tables and wine, touring to pay homage to ancestral graves, and Hakka people adding dishes at random can also be regarded as a festival. Dragon Boat Festival, dumplings. On June 6th, prepare the dining tables. The Mid-Autumn Festival, the second festival in a year, kills chickens, ducks and fish. Daughters, sons-in-law and relatives will all return to visit the elderly and have a good time. Mid-Autumn Festival, prepare fruits and moon cakes to enjoy the moon. Double Ninth Festival, go out and climb high. On the winter solstice, eat a boiled bun bigger than dumplings, wrapped in glutinous rice flour and stuffed with fish, pork and diced radish. The day when the Kitchen King was sent, that is, December 23rd (the lunar calendar), was also a festival. On New Year's Eve, the Hakkas' whole family stopped working, gathered all the harvest of the year, and had a grand reunion dinner. All the family members who worked outside had to come back for reunion.
Belief custom
The patron saint of Hakkas is the "kitchen king"-the land god. The shrine of the land god is located at the entrance of the village, and a big banyan tree is planted next to it. On the first day of the first lunar month, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the second of February, the eighth of April, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hakkas will go to offer sacrifices to the land god, put pig heads, chickens and fish (all cooked), light incense sticks, kneel on the floor and pray that the land god will protect the whole family. The location of the offerings is: incense is closest to the gods, followed by wine and rice, meat and vegetables are farthest, and candles are on both sides. In addition, whoever adds more food and money and goes out to study and work should also sacrifice to the land god.
The Fubo Temple, the Adult Temple and the Female Temple are visited by Hakkas every year. Even during the "Cultural Revolution", even though superstitious activities were forbidden repeatedly, Hakkas still secretly visited them. Fubo Temple, a temple built to commemorate Ma Yuan, a general of the Han Dynasty, was held on the sixth day of the first month. The Temple of Adults was built in memory of Chen Hongmou, the prime minister (university student) of the Qing Dynasty, who pleaded for the people of Guangxi to avoid paying food. The temple fair was held on the 19th day of the first month. The Women's Temple was built in memory of Sanjie Liu. The temple site was in a cave, and a temple fair was held on the 29th of the first month.
Hakka ancestor worship is a great event. During the Qingming Festival in March, the whole family name became lively, and they jointly went to the ancestral graves to make ancestor worship activities. Every year during the Qingming Festival, Hakka surnames in Liangjiang Township were concentrated in Binyang for ancestor worship, and generally one person from each family was sent to attend. During the solar term or the end of the year, Hakkas always worship their ancestors with meat dishes before eating. In the first month, the offerings must be placed on the fifteenth day before they can be removed. Most of the offerings in the first month are zongzi, pig's head meat (whole piece) and popcorn.
Hakka people used to concentrate on ancestral halls before spring ploughing, after summer harvest and after autumn harvest. First, they listened to people with higher education to explain their genealogy and continued to write it. Second, discuss the major issues that need to be resolved within the surname, such as disputes with foreign surnames, construction, production, etc.
Marriage custom
Huizhou folk traditional wedding etiquette and customs, based on feudal ethics and customs, mostly appear red tape, which wastes people and money, and can be said to be quite crude.
Hakka huo Bei Niang JIU
Vulgar. Confucian classic Book of Rites? Faint instrument "said:" The husband's power begins with the crown, which is based on fainting (marriage), more important than funeral sacrifice, specializing in the recruitment of the DPRK and shooting the hometown. This gift is also general. ..... Those who are stunned (married) are also the foundation of the ceremony. " It can be seen that Confucianism attaches great importance to marriage customs. China's traditional culture has always attached importance to Confucianism, and under the influence of this thought, it has formed a colorful wedding custom culture with many rituals. Huizhou's traditional marriage customs are generally the concrete expression of China's traditional culture in one place.
Several forms of marriage in feudal society, such as arranged marriage, buying and selling marriage, hiring marriage, referring marriage, child bride marriage, famine marriage, noble marriage and power marriage, existed in Huizhou. Among them, engagement marriage is particularly popular, and betrothal gifts and money are indispensable, and its legacy can still be seen in Huizhou today.
Engagement marriage has a long history in Huizhou. Guangxu's "Huizhou Fuzhi" recorded: "In marriage, betel nut is commonly used as the employment, and more is more expensive ... Its engagement ceremony and dowry are called the richness of the family." In the old days, betel nut was sold in Chinese medicine shops. In the betrothal ceremony, it was symbolic, while the real betrothal ceremony tradition was mainly about money and food. "Official Records" said that the betrothal gifts were "about the abundance of the family", but in fact, the number of betrothal gifts was also considerable.
Huizhou's traditional wedding etiquette is very complicated, from the beginning of the matchmaker's proposal to the final custom of returning to the door in the three dynasties, during which it experienced various pre-marital ceremonies such as buji, settling the ceremony, reporting to Japan, giving a big gift, and grand wedding ceremonies such as paving the house, welcoming the bride, visiting the bride and delaying the bride.
The complicated folk wedding customs in Huizhou evolved from the "six rites" of feudal wedding etiquette. "Six Rites" originated in the Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Rites records that the marriage procedures that should be followed at that time were "accepting the bride" (the matchmaker proposed the marriage), "asking the name", "Naji" (the man buji, the woman formally acknowledged the marriage), "accepting the certificate" (the ceremony was concluded), "inviting the wedding date" and "welcoming the bride" (welcoming the bride). These six links are the so-called "Six Rites" and the earliest marriage etiquette in feudal ethics. After more than two thousand years, although there were variations in the Six Rites, they remained the same, and their shadows can still be seen in wedding ceremonies all over the world today.
The traditional wedding customs in Huizhou are generally carried out according to the following procedures.
propose a marriage alliance
At the beginning of Huizhou's traditional marriage, the first thing is to propose marriage. Generally, the man invites the matchmaker to the woman's house to make peace. Proposing marriage is a variation of "accepting gifts" in the Six Rites. "Yili? In the book "Shi Hunli", it is said: "The wedding ceremony is issued, and the geese are adopted." That is to say, before Qin and Han dynasties, the proposal of marriage was generally to raise live geese as gifts. This is to take the meaning that it is suitable for yin and yang exchanges. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, cake sheep, acacia, golden harvest, glue paint and other things were used as gifts. Later, there were more than 30 kinds of gifts, which generally symbolized the firmness and harmony of the couple. In Huizhou traditional wedding ceremony, most of the wedding gifts are made of live chickens or cloth. This kind of chicken is called "leading the way chicken" by the people, which means auspiciousness.
In proposing marriage, the matchmaker is entrusted by the male family and communicates with the female family with a golden tongue. Because most of Huizhou's former matchmakers were women, Huizhou used to call them matchmakers.
Matchmakers have existed in China since ancient times, and there is a poem in The Book of Songs that "I was robbed of my time, but my son had no good matchmaker". The matchmakers in Huizhou traditional wedding ceremonies are generally divided into two types: professional and non-professional. Professional matchmakers make a living as matchmakers and are mercenary, so they don't hesitate to talk, tell lies and lie, exaggerate the superior conditions of the other family to the individual, and conceal the shortcomings of the other family, which often leads to some abnormal marriages. Because of this, in people's minds, matchmakers often give people an ugly image of "deceiving gods and ghosts and seeking money for others."
Have a big gift
The most grand and important ceremony before marriage is the "big gift" on the eve of the wedding. In the traditional engagement marriage, the bride price, dowry and dowry mutually agreed by the two families are to be fulfilled on this day. On this day, the man's family filled all kinds of betrothal gifts prepared in advance with food boxes, boxes and reeds, stuck red cypresses, or picked or carried them, and the man's aunt and sisters sent them to the woman's family in a mighty way. It is common for a man to send a whole pig and whole sheep in a "gift", so there is a lyric of "giving a gift to a pig" in folk songs. Cake food is also a must-have. It is the custom in Huizhou to prepare "big cakes". There are more than a dozen kinds of big cakes, ranging from one to several kinds according to the conditions of each family and the degree of extravagance. However, it is not uncommon to prepare all ten kinds of cakes. In addition, there are necessary roast pork, chicken, goose, duck, fish, steamed cakes and so on.
When the woman receives the gift from the man, she immediately sends the original dowry to the man. The dowry standing in Huizhou traditional wedding customs is mainly daily necessities, such as clothes, quilts, pillows, mats, curtains and other furniture, such as wardrobes, dressing tables, suitcases and Eight Immortals tables. Nowadays, besides the main bedding, sewing machines, refrigerators, televisions and rice cookers are often found in dowry.
Generally, on the day before the wedding ceremony, the festive atmosphere is very strong. Those aunts and sisters who send gifts are usually dressed up, dressed up and down, smeared with powder and oil, and paraded through the city. Huizhou customs, gift-giving teams choose crowded roads to tell each other happy events along the way.
Pick up the bride
Receiving the bride is the "pro-welcoming" in the traditional "Six Rites". Kissing is the end of "Six Rites" and the conclusion of "Six Rites". What modern people call a wedding or what ancient people call a wedding ceremony is marked by the ceremony of receiving the bride.
In ancient times, the wedding ceremony generally included three links: paving the room or warming the room, welcoming and returning the door, which lasted for three days. Shop or warm house on the first day, welcome the guests on the second day, and return to the door on the third day. The customs in Huizhou are different. The wedding basically refers to welcoming the bride and delaying the bride. As for welcoming the bride (that is, receiving the bride), it mainly includes several main customs such as paving the house, welcoming the bride in a sedan chair, sprinkling salt rice, crossing the fire and stepping on the concave column.
Shop room
Paving houses is an old custom that has continued to this day. It is a custom for a woman's sister-in-law to help decorate her new house when she sends her dowry to her husband. According to Huizhou's custom, there are two points to pay attention to when laying a room. First, pay attention to the orientation and geomantic omen of the beds, cabinets and dressing tables. The most important thing is that the wardrobe mirror cannot face the bed. In Huizhou custom, mirror is synonymous with shining a demon, but it is obviously unlucky to shine a demon mirror on the bed. Second, people who shop houses should have a "good life". People believe that the standard of a good life is mainly "many children and many blessings". Therefore, widows, infertile or infertile women are not allowed to participate in the shop, and those who have many children and many blessings are naturally the main participants in the shop.
Shanghuaye
The day before the bride's wedding, the sisters-in-law (who must choose the so-called lucky ones) of the clan should dress up and dress for the bride. This is what the folks call "flower arranging". This night, the folk custom is also called "flower night", which is a very solemn ceremony before the bride's wedding. When performing this ceremony, the bride is often accompanied by crying and singing. At that time, the bride is facing a major turning point in her life and is generally very emotional. However, according to the old custom, after arranging flowers, the bride should sit in the pavilion and cry and sing until dawn, which is called "vigil at five o'clock". On the night of flowers, the bride cries sadly and stays up all night, which shows a traditional wedding atmosphere of "happiness and sadness".
Welcome in sedan chair
Huizhou traditionally uses sedan chairs to celebrate the wedding. In the 1950s, there was a sedan chair shop that rented sedan chairs. Most of them carry big sedan chairs with two, four or eight handles, embroidered with "phoenix peony" and "mandarin ducks with rich flowers", decorated with "four-colored lanterns" and covered with "big red silk", so they are called "sedan chairs". When picking up the bride, the matchmaker leads the way, and the bride leads the sedan chair, drumming all the way. After arriving at the girl's home, the girl's sisters refused to leave the door, and the groom quickly sent "Li Li". After passing through the sisters, the bride could be taken out. The bride cried and refused to leave, and the men used both hard and soft methods to coax her out of the boudoir and get on the sedan chair. The groom had to give the sedan chair bearer a "profit" before getting on the sedan chair. After several "struggles", the groom is often exhausted.
Salted rice
When picking up the bride, there was a habit of sprinkling salt and rice in some places in Huizhou in the old days. Some salt, rice, black sesame seeds and other things were put in containers in advance, that is, they were scattered along the road on the way to pick up the bride, which was called offering sacrifices to the bridge god; What is sown along the road is to worship the road gods, which is the custom of sprinkling salt and rice in Huizhou traditional marriage customs. In fact, the custom of spreading salt and rice is a variation of "spreading corn beans" in China's traditional marriage customs. "Spreading corn beans" appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and prevailed in the North during the Song Dynasty. Its traditional saying is to "rid the three evil spirits", that is, to drive away ghosts and evil spirits, which is not much different from Huizhou folk "spreading salt rice". It's just that "Sagu bean" is mostly a relic in the north, not common in the south, but in Huizhou, which shows that the origin of Huizhou custom is very long.
Cover your head
Stepping on the concave column and crossing the flourishing fire: when the bride gets home, many relatives help her to get off the sedan chair with the sound of drums and music. This is the groom holding a fan and fanning each other. If the elder sister-in-law of the man's family is in a figure of eight, they must use a cover (bamboo container), a sieve and other things to shield them from meeting the bride directly. Folks believe that the bride's good fortune is the head, and her murderous look is very strong. The groom uses a fan to fan it, which means "weakening her murderous look", and people avoid seeing it, which means "avoiding her murderous look". In some places, when the bride gets off the sedan chair, the groom blocks the back of the bride's head with a concave column (a container edited by the editor). This custom is also reflected in the weeping wedding songs circulating in Huizhou: "I (the bride) step on the door of the sedan chair to cover my head, and I thank you for what contribution." It seems that the bride is quite afraid of this "cover". According to the folk saying, every married woman should be filial, even if she gets on the sedan chair and goes to the man's house, she should look back step by step, and the concave column of the groom is famous for covering the bride's line of sight of looking back constantly. This practice is to make the bride concentrate on marrying the man's house and not always think about her family. In addition to the custom of covering her head, there is also the habit of stepping on the column. When the bride gets off the sedan chair, the man's house quickly lays a concave column at the bride's feet. When stepping over the concave column to enter the house, it is customary to let the bride cross the fire. Even if there is no special brazier, some old people will grab a handful of grass and burn it at the door for the bride to cross. This custom is called "cross-fire" in the north. In some places, it is a trans-carbon fire, which is a relatively long folk custom. He has two intentions. One is to take the word "Wang". After the bride crosses the handle of Wang Huo, she will bring "Wang Huo" to her husband's family in the future. The other is to use the word "avoid", mainly to avoid evil worship. Folk people think there are two sources of "evil". One is that when they get married, the audience is like a cloud, among which there are inevitably some people who have funeral and illness at home. Folk people think that they have evil worship, while Huizhou calls these people "jealous"; Another evil source comes from the bride herself, and a woman's body is "dirty", which is an old traditional concept in China. Therefore, the custom of crossing fire in Huizhou, although it takes the meaning of "flourishing fire", is mainly to ward off evil spirits. The flourishing grass, silk grass, picking cards and other things burned in the brazier are all traditional things in China to ward off evil spirits. In particular, "Wangcao" is called "plastering medicine" by Huizhou folks, which is a special medicine for Huizhou's traditional "removing heat". It is a protective medicine used by people to ward off evil spirits in birth and marriage rituals and worship of mountains.
Hold a candle
"Holding candles" is an inevitable custom in Huizhou's traditional wedding ceremony. After picking up the bride, before the bride enters the bridal chamber, the boy first holds the candle and puts it in the bridal chamber. This custom is the most exquisite in Huizhou, and the folk song also sings: "Hold a candle and hold it to the bride's room (meaning at the end, or the innermost meaning)." According to the customary practice, a boy should be the first choice (generally, there are many brothers in the family), and the bride will be picked up with the wedding procession (the candle has been held at this time), and the candle will be returned or directly held in the bridal chamber for placement. This is to serve the child, which is vulgar. Taking boys with many brothers as the introduction, lighting incense for the bride and beautiful woman will attract children and grandchildren.
Wedding drum music
In the old customs of Huizhou, the whole process of "receiving the bride" is generally full of drum music, and the "drum music to welcome the bride" recorded in Guangxu's Huizhou Fuzhi is. Su Dongpo once said: Huizhou "bells and drums do not distinguish between sorrow and joy". It seems that the traditional wedding ceremony in Huizhou existed before the Song Dynasty. The wedding drum music in Huizhou is called "Gong and Drum Cabinet", which is mainly composed of gongs, cymbals and cymbals, with suona. The drum band played back and forth with the wedding procession, which rendered the festive atmosphere. The Records of Huizhou in Guangxu said that the folk wedding in Huizhou was "beating the sun with drum music", which was also called "one-day drum" by the people. However, some rich people actually beat the music in their wedding, which was actually "two-day drum" and "three-day drum". In the old days, Huizhou had a special drum music shop with professional drum musicians. When a man got married, he could hire a special drum music team only by spending money, so it was common to invite the drum music team to join in the old wedding.
Stagnant bride
When the bride arrives home, she first visits the church, worships the ancestors of heaven and earth, worships the parents' high hall, and offers tea to the elders of the male family in turn. This is called "drinking bride tea"; And the elders have to write back the "Li" package to wish the newlyweds good luck. After the ceremony, it will be a big banquet "and the bride's wine". The bride doesn't show up at the old-fashioned wedding reception in Huizhou. Generally, she sits alone in the boudoir with an empty stomach, can't look up, can't laugh, can't walk easily, and listen to the sound of hilarious carnival coming from the main hall alone. At this time, the bride is generally worried, because she knows that those crazy drunks will rush into the new house to "make trouble" her after the banquet. This is one of the most carnival scenes in Huizhou wedding-the delayed bride.
Three Dynasties Huimen
On the day after the wedding, the bride gets up early to serve her family, and welcomes relatives and neighbors who visit her during the day. On the third day, she will arrange some gifts and go back to her parents' home with the groom early in the morning, which is what Huizhou is used to calling "three dynasties returning home". It is a very particular etiquette in Huizhou traditional wedding customs. If it is said that proposing a bride, giving a blessing, settling a deal, reporting to the Japanese newspaper and giving a big gift are pre-wedding ceremonies, and welcoming a bride and delaying the bride are wedding ceremonies, then the return of the three dynasties is a wedding ceremony.
Huimen in the Three Dynasties was closely related to the custom of "beating a husband" in ancient times. When describing the custom of "beating a husband" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the book "Miscellaneous Women in Xiyang" said: "On the day when a husband worships the pavilion (the house where women live), the women in the husband's family gather together, and each takes pleasure in beating a husband with a stick, to the greatest extent."
There is also a description of "playing husband-in-law" in modern Guangdong literature. According to the old custom in Guangdong, when the husband returns home, the Yue family treats him as "waiting for the new son-in-law", but when he is seated, the sisters of the Yue family get together and play with him, or embarrass the groom with problems, or force him to bow down to everything at home.
Huimen in Huizhou, also known as the "delayed groom", is similar to the habits of "beating a husband" and "playing a husband" in form and content. According to Huizhou's custom, the first thing a couple does when they arrive at the Yue family is to meet their parents-in-law, and then meet all the relatives in the family one by one. When visiting the sisters in the clan, they often start to "lag the groom". According to the traditional customs, the groom goes to the ancestors of the Yue family and the four gods of the Yue family house. At this time, it is convenient for the sisters to boo at one side, or let the groom worship several times to prevent him from getting up; Or let Xinlang kneel down frequently and not let it be intermittent; Some good people will drag the groom to the henhouse or pigsty, saying that they want the groom to worship the god of henhouse or pigsty, but in fact they are teasing the groom. If the groom does not obey, the sisters will forcibly "enforce the law", making the groom have to obey.
After worship, the Yue family hosted a banquet for her husband. During the dinner, Yue Zhang and the elders in the clan asked the groom to solve some pairs and problems, saying that it was a test of the groom's talent, but it was actually a dilemma for the groom; And those good sisters, at this time, copied the practice of "delaying the bride" to tease the groom, making the groom flustered.
Although the "delayed groom" is not as good as the "delayed bride" in degree, the spearhead of the Yue sisters is always directed at the groom, which is roughly a kind of "revenge" for the bride being teased in the men's house. It is a custom of Huizhou traditional marriage to go back to the door in the three dynasties, so the etiquette is quite particular. When returning to the door, the first gift is chicken, which is called "leading the way chicken" by the people. This is a necessary auspicious thing. The rest of the gifts, such as fish, meat, goose, seafood, delicacies, cakes, etc., are all yours. For these gifts, the male family usually prepares one more, such as two pieces of meat and two pieces. After the female family receives the gift, it is customary to go back to the male family for one piece. Others, such as big oranges, are also indispensable. If there is no big orange, it must be replaced by oranges. The big orange means "good luck", and after the bride's family receives the gift. And give it back to the man's orange (Ji).
In addition to those who are married from afar, marriages are held in the city and suburbs. In the Three Dynasties, the Yues usually invite their husbands, brides and sisters-in-law to have a meal, and then return home on the same day.
During the trip back to the concierge, there were red hair cakes and red gathered cakes steamed by my mother-in-law, and "leading the way" was indispensable. Huizhou also has the custom of returning home in January after marriage. In return, my mother-in-law steamed a big cage cake (a glutinous rice sweet cake) and my mother-in-law steamed the cake.
Funeral customs
Compared with other customs, the custom of funeral is more solemn. Hakkas have done a lot of thoughtful things about this, even too much red tape. The funeral service is generous, the ritual service is extravagant, the banquet is rich, the spirit side is drunk, and the drum music is farewell. Some places still have old customs.
When the patient is dying, he will put on the "shroud" made in advance, which is called "wearing the shroud". In the past, there was a saying of "six ups and four downs", that is, wearing six heavy clothes on the top and four heavy pants on the bottom.
Hakka customs attach importance to death. Those who are away from home do everything possible to get home in order to see one last time before dying, which is filial. When people die, they immediately burn the sedan chair and paper, and their families and children cry bitterly. It's for "death."
announce sb's death
The patient reported his funeral immediately after he died. The dutiful son went out to his grandmother's uncle's house and his relatives' uncle's house, and also gave an obituary at the door or near the intersection.
Baixiao Hall: white cloth is hung in front of the remains, incense tables are set, and memorial tablets or portraits are placed. Cry in the morning and evening, register gifts or "substitute candles" sent by relatives and friends, and hang curtains on both sides of the mourning hall in order.
have a stiff neck
Move the body, spread a white cloth on the hall floor, put the body on it, put a new tile on the head, put a cloth triangular pillow on the tile, and send people to wait day and night; It is called "entering the material" to put the body into the coffin at a fixed time. Every morning and evening, as well as when relatives and friends come to pay their respects, widows mourn beside the coffin in the tent. In the evening, relatives and friends attend the mourning hall, commonly known as "accompanying the night".
Choose the right time for mourning, often in the morning. In the old days, there was a "mourning" on the first day, and all night long, drums and music were loud. Hold a memorial service before sending out a funeral. Pay attention to ostentation and extravagance to show filial piety.
bury (the dead)
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 enclosure of Hakka people, which is a manifestation of Hakka people's worship of their ancestors. On the third day after burial, relatives wore mourning clothes and went to the grave to cry and worship and burn paper money, which was called "the Three Dynasties".
Zuoqi
After death, every "seventh" day, a memorial service is held, commonly known as "doing seven". Generally only do "five seven". Finally, a memorial service was held and the spirit house (paper house) was burned, which was called "Wanqi" to show the end of the funeral. Later, the anniversary ceremony was held, called opening filial piety; A sacrificial ceremony is held for three years, which is called opening a big filial piety. When opening the big filial piety, the door and the hall were changed into red couplets, and everything returned to normal.
It is the custom of Hakka people to dig the grave after being buried for several years (usually ten years), bake the remains with charcoal fire, bend their limbs according to the human body structure and put them into a special pottery urn, which is called "checking gold" and then reburied. This is a permanent and real grave.
For people who die abnormally, there are some special funeral customs, such as paying more attention to asking monks and Taoist priests to chant Buddhist scriptures and turning over the dead.