Li Sanxiang has a long history, and in the long rural life, it has formed a unique funeral folk custom.
When the old man dies, the family will move the old man from the bed to the floor of the hall at home as soon as possible. There will be a straw mat on the ground, a brick as a pillow, and some yellow money paper on the forehead. Head toward the gate, light an oil lamp outside, and put an iron basin for burning paper money. If the temperature is low in winter, it will last for several days. Now, in summer, people will be moved into ice coffins shortly after this, and then moved out to straw mats the afternoon before the funeral.
After these are done, people will be arranged to inform relatives of their death. In the past, when there were no communication tools, we had to notify them one by one. Nowadays, most of them are notified by telephone, and some relatives who are particularly close still have to come to the door. Nowadays, many people work all over the country. After receiving the notice, they will arrange the time to go home.
Generally, the children of the elderly will find a Mr. Feng Shui and choose an auspicious day for the funeral. According to the expected date, the parking time at home varies from 3 to 7 days, usually 4 to 5 days. A few days ago, relatives of the same clan who came back one after another made all kinds of preparations, held funerals and arranged mourning halls. Arrange four people to stay up all night every night. The night watchman usually plays mahjong or poker all night.
The old man's daughter needs to buy all kinds of things that the old man wears at last.
It's really busy to start the afternoon before the funeral.
Usually at 3 pm, the old man will be carried from the ice coffin to the straw mat. At this time, the old man's daughter will put on white mourning clothes, put a white tofu bag on her head, take a basin, a straw hat and three incense sticks, and pick up some water from a nearby pond. She will cry all the way to the pond, and she needs to ask the water god for some water, not borrow some. Then she will put her hat by the pond and put three incense sticks in the soil. After receiving the water, I cried all the way back to the old man, wiped my body with the received water and tidied up my appearance for the old man.
At this time, the eldest son of the old man needs to wear new clothes that the old man will wear and walk around his house. Finally, the children help the old man put on a full set of clothes, shoes and hats.
Next, the well-dressed old man was moved into the coffin, and the bottom of the coffin was covered with a layer of yellow paper. Relatives brought quilts covered by the old people, tore off cotton and filled them in coffins, and put some things that the old people liked in coffins. When the coffin is finally closed, the old man's daughter will cry very sadly. Yes, the whole process is basically that the daughter and daughter-in-law cry, and the son generally does not cry.
The coffin was placed on two benches in the middle of the hall. There is a square table in front of the coffin, on which there are coffins and portraits, candles and incense on both sides, and a three-beast pot with a whole chicken, a fish and a big strip of cooked pork.
In the afternoon, people from the same village sent a knife of paper money one after another. A good relationship will bring some silk and gold, and the gift can't be an integer. They must bring small denominations of money, such as 10 1, 2 10, 50 1 and so on. Spouses and friends also bring silk and gold in the afternoon or near dinner. One person in the family is responsible for registering the names of visitors and the amount of money, and the other person is responsible for giving gifts to each visitor. Generally, a gift bag contains a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of drinks and a towel. In addition, a well-written person will be arranged to list the names and silks of all the attendants on a huge white paper, and write the word "gift list" and stick it on the external wall of the house for everyone to see. This is a very important thing in the countryside.
The banquet is the most important banquet in the funeral, and it is also the banquet with the largest number of participants, setting off firecrackers and fireworks.
The banquet will be especially rich, with two packs of cigarettes and various drinks at each table. In the past, vegetarian dishes were generally bought in the township vegetable market, but now they are basically driving to the farmers' market in Nanchang. It should be noted that the number of funeral plates can only be odd, and even if the plates are finished, they cannot be folded and taken away.
After the banquet, generally irrelevant villagers and ordinary friends will leave. Family relatives and spouses stayed to start the most important ceremony of the night.
The three animals placed on the table in front of the coffin were removed and replaced by a small smoke stove, next to which were some flammable branches cut into themselves with axes. Put a rectangular cushion in front of the table for relatives to kneel down.
The whole ceremony has eight full-time staff, known as the Eight Immortals. Generally, there will be 9- 10 Eight Immortals in every village, some of which will be handed down from generation to generation, and some will be drawn by lot in the whole village. In any case, these eight people can't have their own tribe in this room.
The division of labor of the Eight Immortals that night was roughly like this: two people sat on the left and right sides of the Eight Immortals table, responsible for interacting with the people who bowed down. The other three sat by the wall and played various musical instruments, mainly drums, gongs and cymbals. There is also a special performance. As soon as they listened, they knew it was a funeral. This instrument will also be used at Li Sanxiang's wedding, but it is cheerful music. There are also three people who are responsible for rubbing the dried straw harvested and threshed by the basic households in Lisan Township into straw ropes, and then cutting it into a headdress every 50 cm, commonly known as a rooster hat. The function of this hat is to fix a rectangular white cloth and cover it on the man's head. The length of white cloth varies with the relationship between relatives and friends. The old man's son is the longest, and ordinary relatives are shorter. Both men and women need to wear white mourning clothes. Men wear white cocks' hats, while women's hats are huge cloaks made of white tofu bags.
It takes a long time to bow at night. If there are many relatives, if the activity starts at 8 o'clock, it is normal to continue after 0 o'clock. Because everyone has to bow their heads. There are rules in the order of bowing. First the eldest son, then the other sons, then the eldest daughter-in-law and other daughters-in-law. Then there is the daughter-in-law. Grandson, grandson, granddaughter. In short, blood relatives first, then clan relatives, and then other relatives according to the relationship between relatives and friends.
When bowing down, the old man's daughter and daughter-in-law must always cry on both sides of the coffin.
The process of bowing your head is complicated, and it takes about seven or eight minutes for everyone to make a complete set.
The first gift of the eldest son, the cock hat of the old man's son is a little different from others, that is, the cock hat made of straw rope should be wrapped in yellow paper money, and the original appearance of straw rope can't be seen. Then cotton balls are made of cotton and tied around the cock hat, which is much more solemn than ordinary relatives.
The procedure of etiquette is probably like this: first, stand in front of the square table, that is, walk slowly three times outside the house, and then turn around and kneel down to the coffin. Every time you kneel, you need to kowtow three times, and kneel three times and worship nine times. This is only the first round of the whole process. After the first round, you kneel at the table to protect the incense burner with one hand and put the prepared stick in the other. This small piece of wood is also called incense at this time, and it is called twisting incense when burned with incense. Get up and kneel nine times, then kneel on the mat and ask the Eight Immortals in the right hand for a glass. The Eight Immortals will scoop out a small glass from a big bowl full of wine and hand it to the believers. Worshippers will worship the ground three times with their glasses in their hands, and the glasses will be returned to the Eight Immortals. The Eight Immortals will stand up and turn clockwise for three times, and then turn counterclockwise for three times. Every time I turn around, I salute the coffin. Finally, they will pour the wine into a big bowl and put another cup on the table. The worshiper got up and made another round of three kneeling and nine worships, then asked the Eight Immortals on the left for a cup and repeated a fair procedure. After the wine ceremony, I got up again and knelt down for nine times. Finally, I got up and paid tribute to the Eight Immortals on the left and right, and the Eight Immortals returned the gift. This is the end of the whole process. The process of women bowing their heads is slightly different, but it is roughly the same. And children, because most of them don't know this etiquette, basically only need to bow down to the coffin three times.
When all relatives are late, the Eight Immortals will also worship one by one. This means that the whole ceremony is over and fireworks are set off. We also need to prepare a sumptuous dinner for the Eight Immortals to thank them for their efforts.
The next morning, it was slightly brighter, and all relatives would come to the old man again. This day is a funeral day, which is very important. In the morning, the Eight Immortals tied the coffin with a thick rope and a big piece of wood, just like the eight-sedan chair used by ancient great people to travel. The coffin is covered with a blanket, and a bag of rice will be wrapped in black cloth above the coffin head. In addition, the daughter will buy eight long-handled umbrellas and eight pairs of shoes, tie them with ropes and hang them on the coffin. This is a gift for the Eight Immortals.
You can eat steamed stuffed buns, fried dough sticks or biscuits for breakfast. As the night before, all the people were dressed in white. A wide and long white cloth was tied behind the coffin. The length depends on the number of relatives, ranging from tens of meters to hundreds of meters.
The Eight Immortals carried logs and coffins to the cemetery. The eldest daughter-in-law had to cry all the way to the coffin in a small space surrounded by logs at the end of the coffin Others followed the team with long pieces of cloth on both sides.
Some people will carry new blanket beds with bamboo poles.
The eldest son walked in front of the coffin with the coffin, and the second son walked with the photo. Others set off firecrackers and fireworks at the forefront. If you pass by the villagers' door, the villagers will set off firecrackers, and the helpers in front will provide the villagers with a towel and a cigarette. Walking in the front is another person, who is responsible for throwing paper money with baskets and throwing a few pieces along the way.
Others have been beating gongs and drums, and others will arrange for the band to play all the way.
Every walk, the Eight Immortals will put down their coffins and support them with two benches, commonly known as "beating benches". At this time, they will put the coffin and photos in front of the coffin, and everyone will come and pay a short visit. There are about seven or eight stools from going out to the cemetery.
When they arrive at the cemetery, everyone will take off their white hats, leave the rooster hats and white cloth around the cemetery and return to the old people from a path. At this time, some people who stayed at home had already prepared a banquet, which was as rich as the banquet the night before. After breakfast, the whole funeral was over. Relatives and guests can go.
The grave of the old man was dug with tools the afternoon before by the Eight Immortals. After coming back for breakfast, they need to go back to the cemetery and put the coffin in the grave. The bottom layer of the tomb will be covered with yellow paper first. After the coffin goes down, there will be more space around. Then the walls will be built with bricks that have been transported for a long time, and the coffin will be built with bricks to form a brick house. Lime will also be sprinkled on the bricks. Tombstones are also carved in advance. The Eight Immortals erected a tombstone, and the small space in front of the tombstone was leveled with cement. If you want to make the earth grave better, you should use cement blocks made of stone or cement to make a solid grave bag.
Generally speaking, the funeral folklore in Li Sanxiang is probably so, but it is actually more complicated and detailed than described. Now, except for the elderly, most young people don't have many more detailed procedures. There are many things and taboos to pay attention to during the funeral.
In 20 18, Jiangxi began funeral reform, and rural burial also required cremation. There have been some changes in the ceremony. The Eight Immortals no longer need to dig graves. The deceased are all arranged for public sacrifices, and each person has only a small lattice grave, almost as big as an urn. The land occupation area has been greatly reduced. Because it needs to be cremated, there is no customized heavy coffin, only a temporary small coffin made of corrugated paper. Put the body in a bigger ice coffin and cover it with a blanket on the night of the worship ceremony. And the next morning, a car will pull the body from the county funeral home for cremation, so many relatives will be arranged to go to the funeral home to see it off. In the funeral home, everyone wears white and white hats. Because the dead from all over the county will come here, and the folk customs are different from place to place, you can see all kinds of different batches and styles of mourning clothes. After getting the ashes, the car will return from another road. At the end of the village, people who didn't go to the funeral parlour will wait by the side of the road in white hats, and then the rest of the road can't be opened. The ashes were removed and placed on a long iron shelf, which was also shaped like a big sedan chair carried by the Eight Immortals. The urn wrapped in red cloth is fixed on the iron shelf, and the umbrella and shoes for the Eight Immortals are also placed on the iron shelf. The rest of the process is the same as carrying the coffin to the cemetery, except that the long white cloth is missing for everyone to hold.