Crying at Miao's funeral

Before the Miao people died, there was a unique funeral custom of "sending them to cry" in Xiangxi, especially in the Miao territory outside the Great Wall in the south.

In the old society, when the old Miao people died, all relatives and friends went to their own local products to mourn their families. When they lost their loved ones, they set up a banquet for the cows and began to cry. Before being influenced by Han culture, Miao people didn't need clothes, coffins or Dai Xiao for burial. Use a bamboo raft for divination after death (a bamboo raft is a divination instrument made of two bamboos). According to the location where they were divined, they went to find three or five Miao people, dug a pit one meter deep and put boards around the pit.

Later, a set of witchcraft sacrifices was held to tell the ancient ancestors Chiyou and witchcraft gods, and then they came back.

Three days later, the relatives of the deceased went with the wizard, bringing sacrifices such as cattle, sheep and pigs, covering the grave and holding a set of witchcraft sacrifices. After that, they can go home.

A year later, in the spring of February, the family once again went to pay homage with the wizard with sacrifices. When the wizard held the ceremony, his son stood on the left and his daughter stood on the right. He must make a sad and pious form and express his sadness.

In this way, for three consecutive years, we will pay homage to the dead.

Sacrifice for three years, you will never ask, and the families of the deceased will never come to visit the grave again. However, every year on the anniversary of the deceased, this family belongs to its own family to pay homage. ...

In this way, the "send tears" ceremony was completed and the deceased rested in peace.

Jiang Bin's self-evaluation: This custom has now disappeared in the rolling wheel of history. With the national integration, the customs of all ethnic groups also influence and blend with each other. Based on the worship of nature, the ancient Miao people abandoned this primitive funeral custom. I should say there is no inheritance.

Let's call it a day.