On the seventh day after death, people's souls will go home to remember for the last time, and their families will prepare favorite food and objects for the deceased as their last greetings. China called this day the first seven. The first seven, China people's funeral custom, is based on the time of the deceased's death, plus the date and hour calculated by heavenly stems and earthly branches, but everyone used to think that "the first seven" refers to the seventh day after death. It is generally believed that the soul of the deceased will go home in the first seven days. Family members should prepare a meal for the dead before their souls come back, and then they must avoid it. The best way is to sleep. If you can't sleep, you should hide under the bed. If the soul of the deceased sees his family, it will make him miss and affect his reincarnation. It is also said that when you go home on the seventh day, your family should burn a ladder-like thing at home and let your soul follow this ladder to heaven.

How does the first seven pay homage to their loved ones?

The first seven are handled by the son, the last seven is the seventh, the third seven is the responsibility of the married daughter, the fourth seven is also the seventh, the fifth seven is the sacrifice of the married granddaughter, the sixth seven is also the seventh, and the seventh seven is also called the full seven or the round seven. The son handles it from beginning to end, and the merits are complete. Due to the busy industrial and commercial work, modern people sometimes shorten 7749 days to 24 days. For example, the way is "the first seven days" and "the last seven days", and every other day is "the seventh day", which is 24 days. During the mourning period, there is no sacrifice before the mourning, and there is no worship when the ancestors die. Except for those who take July 49 as the last seven days, those who are not alive on July 49 are called "the deceased", and there are usually only six days from July 27, so the last seven days are actually the 43rd day.

Procedures to be done after death.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, people attached great importance to funeral etiquette, which was cumbersome and extravagant, with strong feudal superstition. Customs go hand in hand, and whether the funeral is grand or not is regarded as a measure of filial piety for the next generation. The funeral custom is wooden coffin burial, and all the children and grandnephews are Dai Xiao. The mourning period for children is 3 years, and that for grandnephew is 1 year. /kloc-children are not allowed to shave their heads, cut their hair or make up within 0/year, which is called "disfigurement". Don't post Spring Festival couplets at home for three years. The main procedures of funeral ceremony include funeral ceremony, mourning, funeral service, funeral ceremony, ceremony, membership, sacrifice, burial, memorial service after burial, seven-day memorial service and so on. Funeral schedules range from five to seven days to half a month, which is very expensive. Generally speaking, when a person is over 50 years old, the younger generation begins to make shroud, coffin (called "longevity coffin" and "happiness coffin"), repair graves and prepare for funerals, which is considered filial piety.

First, Mix.

When the deceased died, the family quickly cleaned themselves and put on the shroud, commonly known as "small funeral". Shrouds are cotton or silk coats and undershirts. Satin and fur are forbidden. Black is a forbidden color. The number of clothes to wear is not double. The best is to have seven collars, some only wear three or two, and more collars need to be sewn. Nail strips of cloth on the shroud instead of buttons. After putting on the shroud, give the deceased 1 copper coins or 1 pearls, and then let the deceased hold coins in one hand and millet cakes in the other, which is called "beating dog cakes". Legend has it that the deceased used it against hungry ghosts and evil dogs in the underworld. Cover the deceased with a quilt and cover his face with yellow paper or white cloth. Then, move the coffin bed to the middle of the hall, and put a table in front of the coffin bed for a bowl full of uncooked millet dry rice, which is called "pouring rice". After the family burned incense, paper and mourned, the children knelt beside the coffin bed and were buried with them. At this time, it is "obeying the ceremony".

Second, the funeral home

After death, people were immediately sent to relatives, friends and neighbors to pay their respects. Most upper-class families in the city send invitations first, asking people from relatives and friends to help with the funeral. The prime minister in charge of the funeral is responsible for the funeral, as well as the cabinet, foreign cabinet, chef and guests. The Prime Minister sent people to send "long class notes" and obituaries to relatives and friends. The format of the obituary needs a proper title. All the names are male, the death of father is called "orphan", the death of mother is called "sad son", and both parents are called "orphan sad son". Family members of some officials and businessmen also issued "mourning" and "behavior" with the obituaries. Mourning is a notice named after the dutiful son, which records the life of the deceased in detail and praises his words and deeds; A statement is a biography written by a celebrity for the deceased, which is used to collect obituaries, tributes and inscriptions. A piece of white paper is pasted obliquely on the gate and door of the funeral home, which is called "closing the door". Then use a 2-foot straw to clamp some fire paper and insert it on the big door frame. The male funeral is inserted on the left and the female funeral is inserted on the right, which is called "out of the bill", indicating that there is a funeral at home.

Third, wear mourning clothes.

Commonly known as "Dai Xiao". The family members of the deceased wore white robes and sewed white cloth on their shoes to cover the uppers, which were called "mourning" and "wearing shoes" respectively, collectively called "breaking filial piety". The sons, daughters-in-law and unmarried daughters of the deceased should wear linen towels and hemp ropes outside their mourning clothes. The dutiful son wears a white cloth towel with a linen crown on it, and two cotton balls are dropped next to the towel. If the father is still alive, he will be nailed to the right, and if the mother is still alive, he will show extreme grief and turn a deaf ear to foreign affairs. Filial daughters wear white cloth (called white hair) and white hair ropes. In the old funeral system, intimacy was regarded as equal difference, and there were five kinds of funerals, namely, declining, Cui Zi, meritorious service, meritorious service, and hemp removal, which were collectively called "five clothes". Interception is the heaviest mourning, and the service period is 3 years; Cui Zi is second to Shuanfei, with a service period of 1 year; The service period is 9 months, 5 months and 3 months.

Fourth, lead the way.

On the night of death, my family bought all kinds of paper sticks (commonly known as colored sticks) and burned them outside the gate. If the deceased is male, the paper horse and groom will be burned, and if the deceased is female, the paper sedan chair and bearers will be burned. When it was burning, the children turned around the fire three times and then turned around three times, shouting the title of the deceased and shouting: "Go to the southwest!" " It is also called "burning the head of the son of man" to guide the dead.

V. Report to the temple

Also known as "sending slurry water". On the day of his death, the dutiful son led his children and grandchildren to carry a wooden tray with incense burners, incense and fire paper on it, and carry a bucket of pulp to the earth temple or crossroads to burn incense and paper and pour water. Legend has it that after death, people go to the earth temple first and then to the underworld. This move is to bribe the earth god to take care of the dead who went to the underworld and give water as a gift to the wild ghosts to prevent the dead from being bullied. The pulp needs to be delivered for three days, and for the last time, the son-in-law and nephew will also go together. After delivering the water, I went home crying, and then burned incense and paper to mourn.

Six, send money

After the water is delivered, it will be sent to the travelling expenses, that is, to the dead in the west. Most people in the city are at the street corner not far from the gate, while in the countryside, at the crossroads outside the village, they burn some gold and silver paper-wrapped ingots, kerbs, paper with money tickets, and some paper-tied colors, including cows, horses, sedan chairs, Jinshan, Yinshan and Jubao plates. When burning, the family offered sacrifices to show off the dead and set off for the Western Heaven.

Seven, pick three, send three.

On the third night after his death, the family put a wooden tray with incense burners, incense sticks and burning paper in it, went outside the door, faced southwest, lit incense sticks, stood on the wall, and the family knelt down to the ground. A man unplugged the bamboo slips inserted in the big door frame, took the incense of the bamboo slips, put them in a tray and took them home to Zhong Ling. At this time, the whole family should be quiet, offer food in front of the coffin, bow down in turn, retreat to the outside, close the door, wait for an hour or so before opening the door, burn incense and paper again, bow down, put the incense burner on the wooden tray, take it outside, bow down to the southwest, indicating that they will send the dead away, and then go home to mourn. This move is considered to bring the dead home, save their eyesight and then send them back to the underworld, commonly known as "receiving three" and "sending three", which was called "evocation" ceremony in ancient times.

Eight, great loss

Commonly known as "death". After death, the family will color the prepared coffin. Most coffins bought by rich people are cypress, followed by Chinese fir, which needs to be painted three or four times. Most poor people's houses are willow thin-plate coffins with only one layer of black outside, commonly known as "big head boxes". When buried, the coffin was carried to one side of the coffin bed, and several people carried the dead. First move the mattress and pillow into the coffin, and then slowly put the body into the coffin. At this point, the family members once again dipped the cotton ball in the face of the deceased and asked the deceased to close his eyes and shut his mouth. Family members should hold back their grief and not shed tears on the face of the deceased. Then put the sacrifice in the coffin. Before the Republic of China, wealthy families used gold, silver and jewels as sacrifices; In the future, valuables are used less and less as sacrifices. When the sacrifice is completed, the coffin will be covered and sold. At this time, the child will kneel down and say, "Dad (Mom)! Close the nail! " Otherwise, there is a saying that nails are hard to get in. On the coffin head, white lead oil is used to write "a coffin with a certain word and several lines", while in rural areas, only white or red paint is used to write the word "Fu" on the coffin head. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, if he had an official position before his death, he covered the coffin with a whole piece of red silk with the highest official title of the deceased written in white lead powder.

Nine, the main points

After the funeral, the family made a wooden memorial tablet for the deceased and called it "God". It is also a memorial tablet for ancestors. During the funeral of a rich official and businessman, a grand ceremony of book owner and point owner should be held. Before you lose your family, please ask someone to write down God's master card. God's main card is about 2 inches wide and 6 inches high. The middle line reads "God of a certain house", and the date of birth and death is written next to it, and it reads "Honor a certain man". The word "Lord" written on it is not marked, so leave it to the "Lord" to mark with a ballpoint pen. The owner should be a prestigious person, but not a law enforcement officer who has been a magistrate, magistrate, etc. Because he was afraid that he would point the names of the prisoners with rosary beads. When ordering the master, there will be a praise to the Lord, accompanied by two distinguished guests, and the master will be ordered with a brush dipped in pearl sand. After dinner, the dutiful son will take off his robes, put on plain clothes, put on a red carpet, kneel down and knock on the door to thank him, and hold a banquet in honor of the book owner, the point owner and the distinguished guests.

X.promotion

Opening a crane is the biggest funeral. On the opening day, relatives and friends come to pay homage to the coffin, which is called "mourning" and "mourning". The eldest son of the deceased knelt on the left side of the spirit to answer, and his sons and nephews knelt on the right side. "The staff was born in the mourning period" (the staff is the staff taken in the mourning period; Period, is a year's funeral. "Fishing rod period" refers to the period of taking fishing rods; Those who don't use sticks are called "no-stick period", such as the first son's funeral for his mother. "Husband and wife's clothes, if parents are absent, are also born with sticks") or "service brother" stands on the left side of the altar, and "service brother without sticks" or "service brother" stands on the lower right side of the altar to thank the clothes rack. The harem knelt on both sides of the coffin, and when undertaker mourned, they wept together. There is a mat in front of the coffin, and there is a custom in Jinan. The female clothes hanger cries first and then salutes, and the male clothes hanger kowtows or bows three times. The hoisting day takes one to three days. During this period, the shopkeeper was responsible for accepting the "libation", and undertaker sent more burnt paper, tin foil, sacrifice account, etc. , some also send elegiac couplet, money and so on. After the 1940s, it was mainly cash. At the opening ceremony, mourners hired music classes to play funeral music, and some also invited monks and Taoists to recite scriptures to cross over the dead.

Eleven, warm pot

Before liberation, in the countryside, usually the night before the deceased was buried, the family took a pot, firewood, cooking oil and a prepared cake dough to the dug cemetery to make pancakes, commonly known as "warming the pot" for the deceased. After the cake is fried, it is taken home for the whole family to eat before the spirit, which means that the deceased has the last meal. This custom gradually disappeared after liberation.

Twelve. introduce

Commonly known as "mourning", "mourning" and "mourning", it is the last funeral before burying the dead. There are big funerals and small funerals. In the past, there were specialized funeral shops. Usually only eight people attend the funeral, and several drummers play funeral music. There are 16 people, many trumpeters, and several couples of ceremony masters. The largest funeral involves 24 or 32 people, and the most is 48 or 64 people, but it is rare. Shuang Mu painted melons, axes, cymbals, snow willows and plain flags. There are also some honor guards who can stand one kilometer away.

On the morning of the funeral, families and relatives who lost their loved ones paid tribute. At noon, Li Xiang smashed the bowl for pouring rice, calling it "giving spirit". After that, 1 a powerful porter carried the coffin forward, and eight people gathered around the coffin. 1 people were at the end of the coffin, all holding the bottom of the coffin with their hands, taking the bowl as the number. 10 people carried the coffin, and the homeless men and women fell to the ground crying. With a loud noise led by the bar owner, the coffin carrier carried the coffin to the gate in unison, put it on the big bar frame and covered it. The dutiful son and others knelt in front of the railing, while the eldest son broke a clay pot (commonly known as "hair lead") with the banner of "leading souls", and the porter began to carry the coffin forward. The order of the great mourning guard of honor is: the first one is a paper pathfinder, leading god; Followed by elegiac couplet, Liu Xue team, trivia team, Mingjing pavilion and video pavilion; Then the trumpeter and the buried monk; Then there are male relatives and friends in front of the coffin. Among them, the son-in-law of the deceased should stick a small bat cut with red paper on the arm sleeves of the mourning clothes, and be responsible for spreading "travel expenses" along the road. Behind the male relatives and friends, Sun Xiao, the dutiful son, dressed in heavy mourning clothes and holding a funeral stick, led the coffin forward. Behind the coffin are the eldest son and daughter-in-law in mourning robes and cakes, and the daughter-in-law in mourning. There are road sacrifices arranged by relatives and friends along the way, and the dutiful son should kneel and kowtow. In the funeral procession, when you leave home, you should first carry the coffin to the west, cross the street and cross the city, and then go out of the city and carry it to the cemetery for burial.

Thirteen, buried

In the old society, most upper-middle-class families had their own family cemeteries, also known as woodlands and ancestral graves. Most people in Jinan ask professionals to handle burial matters; Rural families are handled by mature men in the village. Most of the tombs in Jinan area are "ditch holes", that is, a vertical pit is laid first, and then a horizontal hole is dug along the bottom of the pit. When buried, hang the coffin into the vertical pit, then push the coffin into the horizontal hole, seal the hole with slate, and pile the grave in a horse shape on the vertical pit. The rich take masonry as the arch crown, which is called "Dafa self-arch". Generally speaking, people use bricks and stones to build a stone box from a straight pit. After the coffin was lowered, a stone was placed on the top of the coffin, and the grave soil was piled on the stone box, commonly known as "Jinjingzi". The simplest thing is to dig a straight pit that can hold the coffin and pile the grave soil on the coffin, commonly known as the "straight pit". When covering the soil, the first shovel should be shoveled by the family, and then everyone will raise the soil, pile up the grave and erect a monument in front of it.

Fourteen Sacrifice after burial

Three days after the burial, the family went to the grave with offerings, commonly known as the "round grave". From the day of death, every seven days, we will go to the grave to offer sacrifices until May 7, with May 7 as the most grand day. On May 7th, the daughter of the deceased will cry. Legend has it that her daughter's crying can move Yamaraja in the five halls and let the dead pass. Later, in the centennial, memorial day and every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, on July 15th and October 1st of the lunar calendar, family members will go to pay homage to the grave.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the funeral custom of wooden coffin burial was still followed, and the complicated and superstitious funeral ceremony was gradually simplified. In 1960s, crematoriums were built in Jinan, and cremation was gradually popularized. General funeral, after death, family members send obituaries to relatives and friends, family members wear black gauze, mourners wear small white paper flowers on their chests, present wreaths and hang elegiac couplets. Generally, the corpse lasts for 3 days, that is, the deceased is transported to the crematorium for a memorial service or farewell ceremony. The time of the farewell ceremony depends on the family situation of the deceased. If there are still elderly people in the deceased's home, the farewell ceremony will be held in the morning, otherwise it will be held in the afternoon. After cremation, some put the urn in the crematorium, and some took it home or buried it in the ground. In recent years, more and more people buy urns for burial in cemeteries. When dealing with funerals, some families still follow the old funeral customs such as kowtowing and burning paper to pay homage to the dead.