What are the customs of Hakka building houses?

When building a new house, Mr. Kan Yu is usually invited to look at "Feng Shui" to choose Geely's residence. China's traditional concept of Feng Shui inevitably has many superstitious colors. However, it also contains some reasonable factors for the choice and planning of residential address. For example, there is running water on the left, a road on the right, a pond in front and a hill in the back, which is considered to be a treasure trove of geomantic omen surrounded by Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu. These statements reflect the ancient inheritance of Hakka worshipping dragons, dragons, turtles and tigers, but they also have practical uses: building a house facing south at this address is not only sheltered from the wind and the sun, but also warm and comfortable, close to the water, convenient for pumping water and convenient for transportation.

Most Hakkas live in mountainous areas, so they pay special attention to the relationship between residential sites, mountains and rivers and topography. People think that we should choose a place with "dragon potential" to build houses. This is a place where mountains enter. Mountains should be surrounded by clear water and hover around to form a tortuous entrance. Building a house on this site can make the population flourish. At the same time, there should be a strip river in front of the homestead, with loops at the water source and outlet, and no nozzles in sight, so that the financial resources can be abundant. To this end, if there is no water in front of the door, it is necessary to open ditches and dig ponds in front of the door to make money. The pond is mostly semicircular, which can form an auspicious circle with the semicircular dragon house. On the contrary, a square pond regarded as a "blood basin mirror" is absolutely impossible.

There are still many taboos in choosing a house address. For example, the residential site should follow the trend, and it is forbidden to go against the trend, and it is forbidden to sit south and sit north; It is necessary to be low before and high after, and avoid being high before and low after; It is advisable to build houses near Guan Gong's Xianju, and avoid building houses in towers, temples, furnaces, military camps and places with poor vegetation. In addition, we should avoid facing ravines, main roads and rivers and avoid "rushing". If it is really unavoidable, a Jieshi engraved with "Mount Tai Shi Gandang" should be erected in front of the "Chongshe" to ward off evil spirits.

Habits of house layout

After choosing a good homestead, we should also pay attention to the height and orientation of the new house. If the mountain behind the house is high, the new house can be built higher or farther away from the mountain; If the back hill is low, the new house can be close to the hill, which is not suitable for building tall buildings. This can not only prevent wind and moisture, but also make the configuration of the house and the mountain harmonious.

The height of the new house is also exquisite: the left is "dragon" and the right is "white tiger". The left side is higher than the right side, and the right side must not be higher than the left side. This is the saying that "dragons are not afraid of soaring, while white tigers are most afraid of soaring". Obviously, this is the expression of the ancient custom of worshipping the dragon and the left in Hakka residential buildings.

Hakka folk houses also pay attention to the overall layout. For example, in order to show the primary and secondary relationship, the height and width of the upper and lower halls in the enclosed house are different. The lower hall next to the gate is lower and the upper hall is higher; Correspondingly, the upper hall is wider and deeper than the lower hall. In this way, from the height, the front is low and then high, and the front is narrow and then wide, which shows the style. But also makes the layout of the upper and lower halls as the word "Chang" indicates prosperity.

The configuration of the hall and the left and right wing rooms (commonly known as horizontal rooms) is regular: the first horizontal room next to the hall is lower than the hall; The second row of houses is slightly lower than the first row. At the same time, because the upper hall is higher than the lower hall, it is required that the second half of the left and right horizontal houses and patios should be higher than the first half to match the height of the upper and lower halls, which is harmonious and beautiful and conducive to drainage in rainy days.

The custom of breaking ground.

Hakkas generally build houses in the winter when there is little rain and slack season. However, when to choose a date, such as Pingji, Kaiji, Rockfall, Tiananmen Square, Shangliang and so on. You should ask Mr. Feng Shui to choose a date so as to avoid an ominous day and choose an auspicious day. On the day of construction, the descendants of the main family should avoid the zodiac.

If there is a mountain behind the house and the ground is broken, it is necessary to dig a mountain to level the foundation, so it is necessary to dig layers of horizontal steps (called "Yang Duan" by Hakka people) on the hillside behind the house to slow down the erosion of the house when flash floods come in rainy season.

If it is a homestead opened by blasting stones, before digging ditches to build the wall foundation, some soil should be sprinkled on the stone surface, indicating that the soil will take root, blossom and bear fruit, which indicates that the owner can live and work in peace and contentment and that future generations can reproduce. This shows the Hakka people's traditional custom of worshipping the land.

If the homestead is purchased or exchanged from others, it must be signed by the buyer and the seller and the notary office as evidence to avoid complications for future generations. At the same time, superstitious people in rural areas have to burn incense, burn paper and chant scriptures on the site of the house they bought, explaining that they "bought" the address from the deceased ancestors who sold the house in order to pray for the safety of the house and life.

Architectural custom

The wall foundation of the paddock is made of stone and mortar, which is strong and can prevent floods and waterlogging. Therefore, in the riverside areas prone to floods, some people even put the wall infrastructure on the roof to be safe forever. The base of an ordinary person's wall is about four feet high. First lay the foundation of the wall, and then tamp the earth wall on the foundation. The soil on the earth wall, or the raw soil in the mountains, or the hardened soil at the bottom of the rice field, is tough and sticky. However, before tamping, it should be rammed into mud with a hoe, sieved with a sieve, mixed with appropriate amount of pebbles and lime, and evenly stirred to make "cooked mud", which can be used for tamping the wall.

The people standing on the wallboard held high the wooden pestle and pounded it hard. The sandwich panel is about four feet long, and the sandwich panel for building circular earth buildings and Longwei houses is about three feet long, which can be turned into annular and semi-annular earth walls. When ramming the wall, put some branches of Chinese fir as "bones and muscles" to enhance the tension of the earth wall.

The quality of the wall is related to the firmness of the house. In order to prevent sloppy work, leaving behind the consequences of external reality and internal weakness, most of the employed people are brothers, uncles, relatives and friends. In order to avoid the intrigue of masons and carpenters, they even took "simulated witchcraft" as their main home "nightmare town", such as quietly stuffing Xiao Mu, paper figures, paper knives, hair and nails into the wall, which made the main home miserable. To this end, the master craftsmen hired by the master's family should have good character and good technology. At the same time, the host family is also very kind to them, and the salary is particularly favorable.

During the period of building, both owners and workers are forbidden to say unlucky words such as "falling to death" and "collapsing" to avoid accidents. Once upon a time, women were despised, and carpenters, masons' rulers, Mo Dou, tile knives and other tools were not allowed to trample on them to avoid making mistakes.

The custom of setting windows in Tiananmen Square

The door of the shell is generally placed on the central axis. And houses such as Lock House and Zoumalou can build gatehouses on auspicious surfaces. Doors and gatehouses generally face south, southeast or distant peaks, so as to "cultivate talents from generation to generation". The gate and gatehouse should not face down-the local river shall prevail, and the gate should be set against the river direction; If you go down the river, this is the "backwater gate house", which is unlucky. Gates and gatehouses are also forbidden to face canyons, gullies, deep alleys and towers, and cannot be blocked by other houses. In case it is unavoidable, a ceramic lion, gossip or Jieshi engraved with "Mount Tai Shi Gandang" can be placed on the main ridge of the gatehouse to ward off evil spirits. In addition, digging a pond three or five meters in front of the door, the people think it can also "swallow" the wind.

When placing the gate, you should stick red couplets such as "Anmen Daji" on the gate, and hang red cloth commonly known as "Door Red" on the lintel. A big family that pays attention to it has to bury a little gold and silver or coins under the threshold in order to "have a foothold in gold and silver and make a fortune." Then, in the sound of firecrackers, the gate was released.

Shangliang custom

Shangliang is a symbol of the basic completion of new houses, and people all over the country attach great importance to Shangliang. Hakka Liang's customs are very particular. First of all, the girders should be made of large and straight Chinese fir, and some should be painted with cinnabar paint. In the middle of the girder, auspicious words such as "prosperity from generation to generation", "wealth and splendor" and "erudition from generation to generation" should be written, and some of them should draw eight diagrams. There is a red cloth bag hanging in the middle of the girder, which contains thread incense and is called "hanging dragon"; Tie a red cloth bag at each end, which contains early rice. All this is nothing more than congratulations to Liang Daji, who lives and works in peace and contentment, has ample food and clothing, and will be rich in future.

Shangliang wants to invite a grandparent in the clan to preside over the master of ceremonies. As soon as the auspicious day of the ecliptic arrived, with his call, everyone carried girders and drums firecrackers and entered the class. Then, in the sound of his chanting, the carpenter master began to pour wine and worship Liang. "... a glass of wine, Liang tou, from generation to generation; Two glasses of wine can make Liang Xin and his descendants prosper from generation to generation; After three glasses of wine, Wei Liang and his descendants will be officials from generation to generation and prosper from generation to generation! "

After the sacrifice, everyone tied the two ends of the beam with red cloth and carried it to the roof. According to the usual practice, the beam was first carried to the left and then to the right. Watching the beam rise, the host sang songs praising the beam loudly. The ceremony ended with firecrackers, drum music and cheers. After that, the host family will hold a banquet to celebrate and reward the host, host, relatives, friends and helpers.