1. Popular beliefs and superstitions

First of all, we should simply distinguish between popular belief and superstition.

Folk beliefs and superstitions, as two important properties of folk beliefs, look very similar and easily confuse people, but they are essentially different. Folk belief means that folk custom once existed as primitive folk belief in the process of inheriting history, with strong superstitious color. However, with the gradual development and progress of scientific society, in people's social production and life practice, the common people gradually discovered some rationality and applied it to daily social life, forming established customs and habits and losing their original strong mystery. Superstition, on the other hand, is a completely anti-scientific mysterious means, which is a distorted interpretation of folk customs to confuse people. Superstition is more common in witchcraft operation.

2. Folklore and superstition in funeral folk language.

As a part of folk culture, funeral folklore should be the most complicated folk culture system. It combines various folk cultural units (or "folk elements") such as folk beliefs, religious concepts, witchcraft sacrifices and family concepts, and forms a huge system as a "folk chain" in folk culture. Here, from its combined elements, we can see that almost all the folk languages appearing in funeral ceremonies have the meaning of folk beliefs and superstitious colors.

At present, most of the folk languages in funeral ceremonies are popular, but some of them are superstitious. Of course, there are also many common beliefs formed in modern society, including superstition. For example, in Yingxian County, people generally think that "it is enough for people to live at 60 years old", and it is generally believed that death at this time is an "old happy event". In fact, at this age and beyond, most people are generally full of children and grandchildren, and feel that it is normal to die of old age because they no longer suffer from old age. This is reasonable to some extent. Another example is "looking at the cemetery", which seems to be superstition. In fact, it is reasonable in terms of the geographical conditions it refers to when choosing a cemetery. This can be said to be a universal belief. Of course, when taking photos of tombs, the technology of taking photos of tombs and the divination methods used are naturally superstitious.

In modern society, while advocating science, most people see the mystery of superstition and no longer believe in superstition, but they are still used to believing in popular beliefs in daily folk life. A large number of folk languages in funeral can directly or indirectly reflect folk beliefs and superstitions. In fact, under the pressure of modern life, people are looking for a kind of spiritual comfort to meet people's psychological needs and restrain people's behavior, which is also the utilitarian feature of folk language.

(3) Overview of traditional funeral ceremony in Yingxian County.

Folk custom is a standard of life formed by the broad masses of people in a country or nation in the long-term social production and life practice. The so-called "one side of the soil and water supports one side of the people", a country or nation is always formed and developed in a specific natural geographical environment according to a certain production and lifestyle. Therefore, in the daily social life of different countries or nationalities, different folk cultures will naturally be displayed. And this folk culture is passed down through the accumulation of language.

As an important part of folk culture, traditional folk funeral ceremony contains rich folk language. Funeral ceremony refers to a series of ceremonial activities held by future generations for the funeral of the deceased. Death is an objective phenomenon in the process of human existence, but funeral ceremonies are dominated by people's folk concepts. Should belong to the category of folk culture. A complete funeral ceremony includes folk beliefs, religious concepts, witchcraft operations, family concepts and so on. And integrate with them, forming an important folk chain in the huge cultural system and becoming an important link in the process of life ceremony.

Taking Yingxian County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province as an example, this paper introduces the local traditional funeral ceremony, and specifically analyzes the folk language and the "reference" behind it.

Yingxian county, located in Datong basin, is an important agricultural county in Yanbei area. In a big coal province like Shanxi, especially in Shuotong area, coal resources are very rich. However, there is no coal resource in Yingxian County, and other mineral resources are relatively scarce. People here have to make a living by planting crops. "Yingzhou Zhi" records: "Yingzhou people, specializing in farming, do not know textile"; "I am very satisfied with agriculture and not very interested in businessmen." Because people here pay more attention to life and death, they have formed a set of very complicated funeral ceremony activities in their long-term life practice, which is the most important folk culture chain besides weddings, so their folk language is also very rich.

In Yingxian County, after the death of an old man, the Yin and Yang teachers will determine the mourning period according to the situation of the deceased and the Huang calendar, and the children will arrange the specific activities of the funeral ceremony accordingly. Formal funeral ceremonies are usually held in different days, and a few days are called "queuing". Because of the taboo of "it never rains but it pours", funerals are generally not even, and most of them are calculated by odd numbers, so there are "seven rows", "nine rows" and even "thirteen rows". Except for some special circumstances (such as the death of the deceased one or two days before New Year's Eve, or coincidence with other days, etc.). ), influenced by the Buddhist idea of "July 7th memorial service", most formal funeral ceremonies usually last for seven days, because the local people believe that the deceased didn't know he was really dead until the seventh day. Therefore, it is also the children's hope that the deceased can come back to life in these seven days.

Thus, in the traditional funeral ceremony, these seven days are usually divided into three stages. The first stage began on the day the deceased died and lasted for two days. We can simply call it the early stage of the funeral ceremony here. The second phase lasts for three days, and there are no public activities in these days. Generally, it is the stage when children and relatives prepare for the next ritual activities. The third stage lasts for two days, and the children are convinced that the dead will not be resurrected and decide to bury them, which is the end of these seven days; For convenience, we can combine the second and third stages into one stage, which is called the middle stage of funeral ceremony. In addition, a complete funeral ceremony includes a series of other activities for children to remember the deceased after burial, which we might as well regard as the later period of funeral ceremony. Let's analyze each stage in detail.

First, the perspective of folk language in the early stage of funeral ceremony

At this stage, when the old man dies, the children should bathe, change clothes and bury him, and then report their funeral to other relatives and friends and inform them to attend the funeral ceremony of the deceased. This process lasted for two days, counting from the day the old man died. Among them, there are many important folk languages.

(A) the preparation process of folk language

1. "Old" and "Easy"

(1) "Lao": In the local area, when an old man dies, people call him "Lao". In Yingxian County, people often say that "a person will break even when he is 60 years old", because at this age of 60, people are generally full of children and grandchildren, so it is considered normal to die of old age or die after 60. Such a normal death is considered an "old happy event". Although children, relatives and friends will feel very sad because of the loss of their loved ones, they will also feel gratified because they believe that their loved ones will no longer suffer from old age. Simply put, people die when they are old, so people die in this situation, which is commonly known as "old" or "gone".

(2) "Walking naked": When the old man is still dying, the children should take a bath for the old man, which means that the old man should go to the underworld cleanly and not take away the dust in the world. Then we should dress the elderly with shroud, shoes and socks. On the one hand, we are afraid that the old man will be stiff and uncomfortable to wear after death. On the other hand, it is generally believed that if the children haven't put on birthday clothes, hats and socks when the old man dies, it means that the old man is "streaking", which not only means that the old man is not "at large", but also makes his relatives feel guilty, and even makes the villagers laugh at the deceased, his children and even other relatives.

(3) "Shun Qi": When the old man is dying, the children who are not around should come back overnight. Arriving before the death of the old man is called "shun qi" The so-called "compliance" means that children catch up with the old man's last breath, that is, they see the old man's last side, and the old man also sees their children's last side before he dies. In this way, children will not leave regrets for themselves in the future, and it is also a kind of peace of mind for the elderly. Before the old man died, all his children had to wait by his side day and night. Before dying, the elderly will train and settle their children and their relatives, and fulfill their unfinished wishes before dying. If you don't tell your children or people you trust, the old people will cry, which is what we often say: "Die unsatisfied."

(4) "Back kang surface": In rural areas of Yingxian County, the elderly should lie in the central position on the kang when they are dying, which means "as they lay dying". You need to put a door panel under your body. In the local area, people are forbidden to "stick their backs to the kang surface". In people's homes in northern rural areas, people usually sleep on kang instead of bed. Therefore, the folk cultural meaning of "sticking his back to the kang surface" means that when an old man dies, if he lies directly on the kang surface, he will be considered to have gone to the underworld with his kang on his back, so he is considered to have left with a heavy burden, which means that there is no "bon voyage". Therefore, wooden boards should be padded under the car body, especially door panels. On the one hand, the door is the most convenient flat when the old man dies; On the other hand, the folk belief gate is a passage, which symbolizes walking from one side to the other, that is, I hope the old people can smoothly walk from the world of Yang to the underworld without bearing any burden.

2. "mourning" and "mourning"

(1) "Pouring chicken" and "Pouring rice": When the funeral ceremony is held, the dutiful sons all kneel in front of the coffin, and several "carpenters" (that is, helpers invited by the children of the deceased from the village) mainly help the deceased to carry it into the coffin after the death of the old man, and then help the coffin from home to the cemetery when buried. ) Lift the board with the deceased from the center of the fire resistance and put it in the coffin. At this time, the family will kill a rooster, which is called "upside down chicken". People who believe in the secular world commit crimes when they are alive, and when they come to the underworld after death, they will be punished by eating insects. In order to prevent the dead from eating insects in the underworld, children will kill a rooster and let it go to the underworld with the dead to eat insects for the dead. In addition, it is believed that the dead will go through the gate of hell when they go to the underworld. There are little ghosts guarding them, and they will salvage some meals or other items for the dead who want to pass the customs, otherwise they will not pass the customs. In order to let the old people pass smoothly, the children cook some meals for the dead and give them to the kids, so these meals are called "making a meal backwards". The meanings of "upside down chicken" and "upside down rice" are actually hype and flattering. After the body is put in, the coffin will meet, but there will be a small gap, and a pile of hemp will be caught in the gap. I also hope that the deceased can come back to life during this period.

(2) "Looking at the sun": After the death of the old man, children should first look for Mr. Yin Yang to "look at the sun", that is, choose the auspicious day of the funeral and many matters in the funeral ceremony. Children should inform Mr. Yin and Yang of the date of birth, age, zodiac sign, exact time of death and other important details of the deceased at home. Mr. Yin Yang will determine the auspicious day of the funeral and other matters during the ceremony, and he will write an obituary. Obituaries clearly list the descendants of the deceased according to their size, closeness and distance (generally within the five clothes), and then write down the specific date of birth and death of the deceased, as well as the four zodiac signs similar to the situation of the deceased at the funeral (generally avoid tigers, monkeys, snakes, pigs, or dragons, dogs, cattle and sheep, or rats, horses, rabbits and chickens). Finally, put this obituary on the east wall outside the gate. The process of "seeing the sun" will involve the operation of witchcraft divination, which has a certain superstitious color.

(3) "Paper before the seat" and "Ask the host": Children should cut out the same amount of paper money with a hole in the middle according to the age of the deceased. String these paper money into a string, add one in the sky and one on the ground, and then hang them outside the gate as a funeral signal to inform the villagers, which is called "paper in front of the seat" Then there is "ask the Lord." If the deceased is male, the owner is his grandparents, uncles, cousins and others; If the deceased is a woman, the people invited are her parents (usually not attending), brothers and nephews. "Ask the Lord" is the person who is invited to make a decision for the deceased. The host plays a very important role in the funeral, mainly to determine whether the deceased died of natural causes, and also to supervise whether the filial sons and daughters are seriously arranging the funeral and making decisions for the deceased.

(B) the early end of the process of folk language

After all the preparatory work is completed, the first important node of the funeral ceremony will be "burning night paper". People attending the funeral ceremony are required to wear mourning clothes and hats to varying degrees here.

1. Five Clothes and Pima Dai Xiao.

In Yingxian County, the funeral system in the traditional funeral ceremony is also very complicated. According to the closeness to the deceased, the Five Clothes divided the relatives into five grades, namely, decline, Cui Zi, meritorious service, meritorious service and numbness in both cheeks. "Mincing" is the heaviest mourning. It is made of coarse hemp, and all the corners are not stitched. This kind of mourning clothes is usually worn by children for their parents. "Cui Zi" is made of primary fine linen, and the cut pieces of clothes can be stitched (the same below). This kind of mourning is usually worn by grandchildren to grandparents and great grandparents; "Dagong" is made of coarse cooked hemp and worn by nephews, nieces, uncles and parents. "Hong Xiao" is made of fine cooked hemp for grandparents, uncles and parents who live outside. "Buccal numbness" is the lightest form of mourning. Made of refined cooked cloth, worn by parents and in-laws.

In Yingxian County, the heaviest mourning clothes, that is, the mourning clothes worn by children, are simply sewn coarse linen. Wearing a hat made of white cloth and sewing a small cotton ball on both sides, commonly known as "crying eggs", is to wipe away the tears in the corner of your eyes. There are thick linen and filial hats on the waist, so this suit is called "Pima Dai Xiao".

2. Burning Night Paper

On the second night after the death of the old man, a ceremony will be held, that is, "burning night paper." In the two days after death, the soul of an ordinary believer wandered outside for a long time, because it had just left and didn't know it was dead. Therefore, dutiful sons will take their relatives to the streets to find the soul of the deceased on this night, and then send the soul to the deceased at the intersection outside the village.

After dark, all filial sons and daughters and their relatives put on mourning clothes and hats. And hold a mourning stick (willow branches for mourning, about a foot long, wrapped in white paper for filial sons to use. It was placed in front of the coffin during the funeral ceremony. Hold it in your hand like a crutch when you "collar", support it on the ground when you walk, and insert it on the grave after use. ) March in the streets. At the intersection outside the village, the children of the deceased burned paper carriages and some paper money ingots to see the deceased off, commonly known as "sending the soul." In fact, it is the children who find the soul of the dead, lead it to the crossroads and send it to the underworld.

Second, the perspective of folk language in the middle of funeral ceremony.

(A) the medium-term preparation process of folk language

This stage can also be said to be a transitional stage, and there is no big public activity. After the last stage, the children began to prepare for the next stage of sacrificial activities. They will ask oil painters to color the coffin of the deceased and buy paper wreaths for the deceased. Therefore, there are relatively few important folk languages at this stage.

(1) "Oil coffin": "Coffin" is a box for holding corpses. It is called "coffin" because "coffin" is homophonic with "official" and "material" is homophonic with "wealth". Combine them, and there will be a beautiful meaning of "promoting to a higher position and making a fortune". Inviting a painter to paint the coffin of the deceased is also in the hope that the family of the deceased will have future generations, so it is called "oil coffin".

In ancient times, "coffin" and "wood" were two kinds of vessels for holding remains, representing two different identities respectively. In ancient times, people were not only alive, but also had status differences after death. After death, officials, rich people and ordinary people have great differences in the containers for holding corpses. After the death of officials, the utensils used to hold the remains are exquisite, and the materials and sizes used are different from ordinary people. These objects are called coffins, including sarcophagus, bronze coffins and gold coffins. In a wealthy family, people usually make a bite of "material" for themselves after the age of 60, which is what they call "longevity material" before they die. This is also the hope that they can live long. "Material" and "coffin" also have certain specifications and requirements. Therefore, in ancient feudal society, people with official positions slept in coffins after death, and rich people slept in materials after death. After their death, the poor people can only nail a box with boards to hold their bodies, or even bury them with straw mats more simply. Later, with the development of society and the popularization of the concept of "everyone is equal", people thought that it was used to hold the remains anyway, so they combined "coffin" with "material" and called it "coffin". Of course, this is also related to people's concept of "promoting to a higher position and making a fortune", which expresses people's good wish that their deceased relatives can bless future generations.

(2) "Seeing death as life": At this stage, one of the most important tasks is to buy paper sticks needed for the funeral, such as wreaths, paper figures (golden weddings), paper horses, Jinshan Yinshan, cornucopia, gatehouses, houses and poultry. In Yingxian county, folk believers will continue to live in the underworld after death, which is the so-called "seeing death as life". Therefore, children should buy all the necessities of the deceased in another world for the deceased, which is also to make up for the material wealth that the deceased did not enjoy before his death and the filial piety that the children did not fulfill before his death.

(B) the end of the mid-term process of folk language

At this stage, it is certain that the deceased will not be resurrected and can be covered with a coffin. Since then, the deceased has passed away, and children can bury the deceased. There are also many important folk languages at this stage.

1. "Sacrifice" and "Angu"

(1) "Sacrifice" and "Angu": "Sacrifice", also called "welcome sacrifice", is usually a sacrifice reserved by daughters for the dead in advance. At noon on the first day of this stage, the daughters took the invited "Drummer Team" (the local people called it "Drummer", and the folk drum band called it "Drummer Team") and tied their own reserved offerings at the intersection outside the village, namely, a round steamed stuffed bun (with a red dot in the middle) on a square table and other offerings such as pig heads and wreaths. Then, guided by the funeral music played by the drummer, he returned to the mourning hall and put the recovered sacrifices in front of the coffin for mourning. At this time, the "drummer team" played funeral music under the shed set up in the courtyard, which was called "An Drum". The folk cultural significance reflected by the "sacrifice" is not only the mourning of the dead by the daughters, but also the display of wealth to outsiders. The size of ostentation and extravagance is also a matter of the face of the dead.

(2) "Paper-making": In the evening of that day, villagers in the village will bring some offerings and paper money to the home of the deceased, present offerings in front of the coffin, and then burn incense and paper to pay homage to the deceased, commonly known as "paper-making". Generally, when burning paper, the dutiful son should kneel beside him and kowtow. Then the people who came to pay homage were sent out in person to express their gratitude. Most of the people who "send paper" are friends and fellow villagers of the same age as the deceased. Because I knew the deceased very well before my death, I came to see the deceased off, hoping that the deceased would go well.

In this process, although the form is "paper money", the folk language and cultural meaning of "paper feeding" is not to send money. In our general sense, paper money is money like paper, and paper is like money. Some people think that the underworld needs paper money as much as the dead, so the sacrificial activity of "sending paper" should be considered that the dead gave money to his friends before his death so that he could spend money in the underworld. However, in Yingxian, the folk language and cultural significance of this ceremony is not here, but in the form of paper, giving the deceased a ride, hoping it will be relaxed, which is equivalent to the "condolence" in our modern funeral, but most modern funerals are offering a bunch of flowers. The traditional concept of villagers is to burn paper to pay homage to the dead.

2. "Scattered lamp" and "wedge silver ingot"

(1) "Scattering lights": The ceremony was held that night, and the process of "burning night paper" was basically the same. The difference is that each of the dutiful son's relatives who took to the streets this time will hold a lampshade surrounded by white paper, in which candles are lit, just like holding a lamp, so it is called a "scattering lamp", and its "finger" is also to open the way for the deceased and illuminate the road to the underworld, hoping that the deceased will have a pleasant journey.

(2) "Opening the light": Before closing the coffin, the dutiful sons should open the coffin lid and pay a final tribute to the body of the deceased. The eldest son should clean the eyes of the deceased with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol. This is called "opening the light". It is said that if the deceased is not opened, he will be reincarnated as blind in his next life. In addition, the children will put some paper money in the two sleeves of the deceased, sprinkle some grains and other foods, and the important thing is sheep bones. The significance of these important folk customs is not to enjoy the dead in the underworld, but to protect themselves. I believe that dogs will get in the way on the way to the underworld. These are used to drive away dogs or directly beat them.

(3) "Silver Ingot": Silver Ingot is the currency in circulation in ancient times. The so-called "silver ingot" actually means that when sealing the coffin, a piece of wood similar to the shape of "silver ingot" is wedged in the mortise and tenon at the joint between the coffin cover and the coffin body, so that the coffin cover is not easy to loosen, thus sealing the coffin. This process is called "silver ingot". The "wedge silver ingot" was carried out after the "scattered lamp" came back. The master of Yin and Yang divined in advance, and the dutiful sons should seal the coffin according to the determined time. When closing the coffin, the children should lie on the "big head" of the coffin (that is, where the head of the deceased is located) and call it Sansheng Dad (or Niang). Then the eldest son and three other dutiful sons nailed the wooden block into the mortise and tenon at the joint between the coffin lid and the coffin body, and sealed the coffin. From then on, the dead completely bid farewell to Shi Yang and entered the underworld.

3. "Start" and "End"

(1) "Wanggraveyard": the so-called "fragrant wood". In Yingxian county, burial is still carried out, and people think that the dead have life in the underworld. Therefore, choosing a good cemetery will have a good home for the deceased; For family members, it can protect future generations and make the family prosperous. So the choice of cemetery is very important. Yin and Yang teachers will determine the cemetery of the deceased in advance by surveying the terrain and surrounding landscape trees, commonly known as "looking at the cemetery". In fact, cemeteries are generally selected by ancestors, and future generations can be buried directly when they are buried. Unless future generations want to move to a new grave, they will ask Yin and Yang teachers to choose a new cemetery. Graveyards are generally chosen in places with broad terrain and lush vegetation, or even auspicious points that Yin and Yang teachers think are angry and condensed, which is also often called "good feng shui" by the people. Buried in a cemetery with good feng shui can not only let the deceased rest in peace, but also bless future generations. This is also the result of primitive ancestor worship.

(2) "Joining the membership": the ritual activity of sending the deceased to the cemetery and guiding his soul to be buried, which is called "funeral". The initiation ceremony was held on the morning of the last day of mourning. Every day at dawn, there will be "coffin bearers" who carry the coffin out of the mourning hall and outside the gate. The deceased's daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law stand in a row according to their age, relatives and friends. The eldest son's daughter-in-law stood in front (the local people think that her daughter is an outsider after marriage, so she has to stand behind her daughter-in-law), holding a big "sacrificial bun" in her hand. Then from the first person to the last person, it is covered with sewn long white cloth strips (similar to the form of dragon dancing), and each person covered with white cloth strips will be assisted by one person (mainly the granddaughter or niece of the deceased and other women in the family). Why do you want to cover your head with white cloth strips like this remains to be further investigated. In the eyes of outsiders, there are two most lively points in the ceremony, one of which is "looking at the wreath". The drummers are playing sad songs. They come to the corner of the village center, and then the families will lay all the wreaths in turn. These wreaths include those bought by children, married grandchildren, married grandchildren, other relatives at home and gifts from friends of the deceased. People in the village will look around at these wreaths and other paper bundles, with the names of elegiac couplets and buyers written on them. The more wreaths are placed, the more prosperous and important the family of the deceased is, and the face of the flower sender is also shown here.

(3) Dojo: The second lively attraction of the "joining" ceremony is Dojo. When the "carrier" carries the coffin to the central corner, the family should be the "Dojo" of the deceased from the beginning of the child. The drummer played a complete Dojo tune, and the children burned paper in the casserole in front of the coffin in turn. Every time the drummer finishes playing a tune, he stops burning paper and kowtowing. In this way, a "Dojo" was completed. The next one will do it again. Other relatives can also do "Dojo" for the deceased if they want, but they can't do it until their children have finished. To outsiders, this is also the face of the deceased. "Dojo" ceremony projected filial piety, including mourning, offering sacrifices, atonement and inheriting Lu Yi. Children's relatives do Dojo for the deceased, and they also hope to mourn the deceased and excuse the deceased through such sacrificial activities. By doing one Dojo after another, it is for the sake of Lu Yi's inheritance, hoping that the family will be passed down from generation to generation, so that the family can flourish.

(4) "Close your head": After the Dojo, the eldest son knelt in front of the coffin, burned a casserole on his head with paper money, called "Dad" (or "Niang") to appease the dead, and then threw the casserole to the side of the road. With the rupture of the pottery jar, the funeral procession set out for the cemetery. When the coffin was carried out of the village, the daughters and daughters-in-law covered with white cloth uncovered the white cloth together and turned to go home, calling it "closing their heads." "Closing my head" is also telling my daughters that the old man has indeed left this world and will never come back. I hope to stop here and no longer miss the deceased. Don't cry on the way home, let the dead go to the grave with peace of mind. At this time, the family man followed the "wooden man" to the cemetery, buried the dead, and inserted "funeral sticks" (it is said that the dead will not be bullied) and "guiding spirits" (guiding the souls of the dead not to wander around) in front of the grave. Filial sons will burn all the paper sticks they bring and leave a big wreath in front of the grave to show that the funeral ceremony is over.

Third, the perspective of folk language in the later period of funeral ceremony.

At this stage, the children of the deceased are mainly doing some aftermath, and they are also mourning the deceased. There are relatively few important folk languages here.

(A) the folk language in the process of "Fu San" and "Guo Qi"

"Fu San" and "Guo Qi" have just passed the seven-day mourning period, and filial children are the mourning stage of the deceased. During this time, they will continue to go to the cemetery to pay homage to the deceased, which has the folk meaning of "being cautious in the end".

(1) "Fu San": On the third day of burial, children will come to the cemetery with prepared meals and other sacrifices to pay homage to the dead, which is called "Fu San". After the memorial service, when returning, the children should collectively turn left three times and turn right three times around the grave of the deceased. It is believed that after the dead are buried, the soul may come out of the grave at any time and follow the children home. Therefore, in order to confuse the soul of the deceased and prevent it from following, children should get rid of it in circles. On the way home, children are not allowed to come back to visit, otherwise they will see the souls of the deceased, which is not good for their future lives, commonly known as "wake." In fact, it is to comfort children, fearing that children will not persuade the dead.

(2) "Out of breath": After the child is buried, he will go to the cemetery to pay homage to the deceased every seven days, which is called "Out of breath". From the first seven days to July 7, * * * forty-nine days. This is mainly influenced by the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. According to Buddhism, those who do evil before their death will go to hell after their death; Those who do good deeds before their death can go to heaven. Here, 7749 days is the most critical period. Shortly after his death, the soul of an ordinary believer could not go to heaven or land immediately, and there was no chance of reincarnation. But after 49 days of burial, the soul of the deceased has a home. At this time, whether to go to heaven or hell; It is a foregone conclusion whether to be reincarnated as an adult or a foster animal. Buddhism advocates crossing over for the dead within July 7, so that the dead can have a good home in the afterlife. Therefore, children will ask monks to do Buddhist services for the dead within seven weeks after they are buried, that is, to cross over. In this way, those who do good deeds before their death will be blessed after becoming monks, and will be reincarnated as adults in the next life to live a better life; Those who did evil before their death can repent and do good after crossing over, and can also be reincarnated as adults. At present, this kind of ritual activities of doing Buddhist services and crossing over for the dead are all carried out in the ceremony. "Chinese Valentine's Day" is simply to go to the grave to pay homage to the deceased, similar to mourning in the cemetery in ancient times.

(B) "More than 100 days" and "anniversary" in the process of folk language

On the hundredth day after the burial of the deceased, children should go to the cemetery to pay homage to the deceased like "Fu San" and "Guo Qi", which is called "over a hundred days". Within/0/00 days after the burial of the deceased, children should wear a seal with the word "filial piety" on their arms to be filial for the deceased. After the first anniversary, the second anniversary and the third anniversary, they will go to the grave to pay homage. The third anniversary is also called "anniversary". Covering the grave of the deceased with new soil is called "filling the grave". "Filling the grave" is more about expanding the cemetery, which is called "expanding the grave plate" by the people. In fact, its folk cultural significance is more for the dead to protect their descendants in the underworld. This is influenced by ancestor worship in primitive beliefs.