In the history of China, the traditional mourning clothes were also white. At China's funeral, relatives and friends of the deceased usually wear black gauze and white flowers on their chests to express their condolences and respect for their dead relatives.
White often reminds people of snow, ice and white clouds, giving people the feeling of being bright, clean, carefree, simple, elegant and chaste. In Europe, white always symbolizes the purity of friendship and love. When westerners hold weddings, the bride's wedding dress must be white. In China, ancient literati often took plain clothes as a refuge for their lofty ideals, and people with status usually wore white pipes? Young officials:? In the ninth and ninth seasons, you wear white. ?
Strangely, the traditional mourning clothes in China are also white. At China's funeral, relatives and friends of the deceased usually wear black gauze and white flowers on their chests to express their condolences and respect for their dead relatives. In most countries in the world, the color of mourning is usually black, black means sadness, and white means joy and happiness. Why are there so many differences between ethnic groups?
The use of white mourning clothes in China (plain clothes, plain clothes, plain clothes, plain crowns, etc. ) began in the Zhou dynasty. Five-service system came into being in the Zhou Dynasty, and it is divided into five grades according to mourning, work and cycle length: withering, Cui Zi, Dacheng, Xiaocheng and numbness. In the funeral, white mourning clothes are required, and black clothes and hats are forbidden. Without the lamb's crown? ("The Analects? Difficult times appear "). ? Lamb Qiu? , that is, black sheepskin, fur outward. The color of mourning clothes is mainly white, which has become customized. This system continued until the Qing Dynasty.
First, the original taboo
The symbol and implication of color reflect the cultural psychology of the nation. The color symbols of China culture are based on China's early political, cultural and educational conditions, and have a certain tendency of politicization and mystification. Because our ancestors were weak and unable to resist the attack of wild animals, their psychology was still exposed in broad daylight. Faced with the danger of becoming a victim of wild animals, there is an instinctive fear of white. As a result, white has become a color taboo in China culture.
"Once"? Dongping Cang chuan zai:? Seeing the old clothes of Empress Yin, I was very moved and ordered me to keep five pieces each. Five hours of clothes? That is, wearing five-color clothes, the son of heaven wears different colors in different seasons of the year. Its colors are: Chun Lv, Xiazhu, Xiahuang, Qiubai and Winter Black.
? Five hours of clothes? The white in the picture corresponds to autumn. Autumn is the season when nature kills people. The white mourning is not only a kind of retro and ancestral mourning, but also a kind of mourning for the dead.
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the emperor ordered officials to wear them? Five hours of clothes? Clothing? Welcome to the five suburbs? . Ming and Qing dynasties? Five hours of clothes? Deeply welcomed by the people. In western culture, the symbolic meaning of color is not so mysterious. The symbolic meaning of white mainly comes from white itself, such as snow and white flowers. White only represents elegance and purity, while black is a taboo color in western culture, symbolizing death and disaster.
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Second, worship ancestors.
China's funeral? Shang Bai? Customs and habits reflect people's respect for their ancestors? Reverence? . Historical records? Book of rites:? Heaven and earth are the foundation of life; Ancestors are the foundation of class; Jun and Shi are the foundation of governing the country. There is no evil life in the world? No ancestors are evil? Without the bad governance of the monarch? If these three people die, there will be no peace. Therefore, the ceremony, the matter of heaven, the matter of land, respect for ancestors and the feldspar army is also the third ceremony. ? "Dai Dai"? Li San Ben also said:? There are three kinds of rituals: those who live in heaven and earth are the foundation of life; Ancestors are the foundation of class; Jun and Shi are the foundation of governing the country. There is no heaven and earth, no ancestors, no monarch and teacher, three partial deaths, and no people to live in. Therefore, treat heaven and earth as the third gift and spoil your teacher in advance. ?
? Respect your ancestors? , is it? Three gifts? One. China people's earliest clothing raw material was hemp, while China Central Plains did not produce cotton cloth in ancient times. In addition to animal fur and feathers obtained from nature, raw materials for clothes include kudzu vine, hemp, silk and silk. After degumming and silk bleaching, it naturally appears white, and white naturally becomes the earliest clothing color of China people. White is the invention of ancestors, and white mourning reflects the reverence for ancestors.
Third, express piety.
China's mourning clothes are mainly white, which also reflects the ceremony? Sincerity? . The principle of material selection for mourning clothes is to advocate primitiveness, simplicity and naturalness. "Yili? Mourning:? Mourning, cutting off petticoats, smashing sticks? ; ? What happened? ; ? Non-sticky, hemp? ; ? I received a small contribution in March, that is, Ge? ,? Small work, poor clothes, numbness in the shower, maybe? ,? Are you full, March? .
The roughness of raw materials was linked by the ancients to the level of funeral. The ancients in China had different requirements for the production of five kinds of mourning clothes: cutting is the highest grade among the five kinds of mourning clothes, and the upper and lower dresses are the thickest linen, only cutting without trimming or decoration; Cui Zi is second only to cutting, wearing clothes made of burlap and sewing edges, so it is called Cui Zi; Successful people wear clothes made of cooked linen, which is thinner than zicui and thicker than small ones; Small jobs, wearing clothes made of linen that are finer than big jobs; Hemp is the lightest of the five clothes, and it is made of fine hemp. The more people who are close to the dead are mourned, the simpler the processing is the day after tomorrow, so the raw material cut down is raw hemp.
The inevitability of choosing white as the color of mourning clothes is well explained: Gentlemen don't dress up, and red and purple don't feel obscene? The reason is that the acquired color is usually considered as a kind of? Fake? , for the end of the ceremony. Reflect the essence of ceremony with hemp (white) as the color of mourning? Sincerity and hypocrisy? Spirit. And then what? Pima Dai Xiao? , has become a widespread folk custom. Later, it gradually evolved into today's form, all in white.
It turns out that there are so many stresses on the choice of this color. In ancient times when science and technology were underdeveloped, there was a fear of everything in nature. Therefore, all customs have their unique connotations. It is this historical background that has created today's colorful traditional culture.