The intense ceremony of ancient funerals

Funeral refers to the etiquette of mourning according to one's birthright after the death of someone who has a different relationship with oneself. In ancient China, funeral etiquette has always been highly valued and regarded as the most important performance of filial piety to future generations. Monarchs and nobles have strict requirements in this respect, which leads to a lot of red tape. Such as the level, time, style, procedure and specifications of funeral, have always been strict and trivial. Here is a brief introduction to some important knowledge. In ancient times, people with different identities had different names when they died. According to the Book of Rites under Quli, the death of the emperor is called the collapse, and the death of the vassal is called the death. "Doctors say death, scholars say failure, and Shu Ren says death." They all reflect a level of difference. Traditional funeral sacrifice can be divided into three parts: first, funeral, that is, a series of ceremonies from the death of the deceased to burial; The second is funeral, that is, various ceremonies in the process of burial; The third is the sacrificial ceremony, which refers to some ceremonies held after burial.

When the deceased is dying, it is called "Yi" to change his bunk. When you die, put fluffy wool on your nose and mouth to see if you are dead. This is called "genus" When a person dies, it is called "Guangfu", that is, there is a special person holding the clothes of the deceased and shouting the name of the deceased on the roof, probably because Beidou is the legendary death. Nandou is the god of life. ) The clothes used for evocation are called "shroud". The next step is to bathe the dead, and then put rice or jade into the dead's mouth. This is called "containing rice". When a person dies, someone will be sent to send a funeral report, and relatives and friends who know the news will come to pay their respects. This is called "condolence". Condolences need gifts and couplets. Then there are funerals, which are divided into small funerals and big funerals. A small funeral refers to putting a shroud on the deceased, usually in the morning after the death of the deceased; A gown is a ceremony to put a corpse in a coffin. After the funeral, there will be a rest period before the funeral, which is called "mourning". After the funeral, the coffin was nailed and then waiting for burial. The funeral was not held immediately after the great coat. After the funeral, the coffin will be parked in the ancestral hall for a period of time. During parking, you should choose the cemetery and the auspicious day for divination and burial. "The Book of Rites" said: "The son of heaven was buried on the seventh day and in July. The vassal was buried on the 5th and May. Doctor, doctor and Shu Ren were buried in March for three days. " Only after seven days can the emperor stop the coffin, and the number of princes, doctors, scholars and Shu Ren decrease in turn.

Relatives of the deceased want Dai Xiao, which is called "mourning". Mourners wear different levels of mourning according to the intimacy of the relationship. According to ancient records, it can be divided into five types, which are called "five clothes": decline, Cui Zi, Dacheng, Xiaocheng and numbness. It is the closest person-children's filial piety clothes worn by their parents that cut off the decline. It is made of coarse cloth and uneven. Those who serve the dead will mourn for the dead for three years. You can't get married and have children for three years. You'd better live on the edge of the grave. Sometimes, students also dress their teachers in such heavy clothes. Students like Confucius lived in front of the tomb for three years, and then dispersed after three years. Not only that, Zigong lived in the cemetery for three years, before and after six years. The reason for this is probably that he owes too much to his teacher!

A libation ceremony will be held on the morning of the burial, and then the relatives of the deceased will go to the cemetery with the hearse. The rope pulling the hearse is called "Yi", and the number of Yi people depends on the identity of the deceased. The Yi people should sing elegies. I don't know what the elegy of the Western Zhou Dynasty was like, but Cao Cao did draw up an elegy entitled Artemisia and Ramp Road. Later generations will throw paper money when they go to the funeral. After the burial, the family should be in mourning, and the dutiful son should be in mourning for three years, because "the baby can't be pregnant for three years", which means that the baby should be held or hugged by the parents for the first three years. This is called Gu Fuzhi. Carrying a baby, you often need to look back at the baby, so it is called caring. ) So keep it for three years. There are a series of taboos during the mourning period, such as not eating meat or drinking, not having a haircut or taking a bath, not marrying or concubinage, and sharing a room with husband and wife. After the burial, there are a series of sacrifices such as anti-crying, fear sacrifice, dying cry, Ruo, Xiaoxiang, Daxiang and Mao. Later generations had the ceremony of "doing seven things", which probably began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and was related to Buddhism. The most important of the seven is the May 7th, followed by the Centennial Festival and Zhou Nianji.