The funeral
After the burial, the time for the funeral must be determined immediately. When funerals are held in various parts of Shanxi, people generally do not bury the dead in a hot and hot manner, otherwise it will be considered as being unfilial and disrespectful to the deceased. As for when to hold a funeral, it often depends on factors such as preparations, the season, the presence of close relatives, and whether the tomb is complete. The time can be long or short, the shortest is generally three days, followed by five, seven, nine days...the longer can be more than a hundred days, all must be odd numbers. In the old days, it was also emphasized that Mr. Yin and Yang would choose an auspicious day and determine whether the grave was "empty", that is, when the grave could be entered.
After the funeral time is determined, relatives and friends must be notified, which is called "sending filial piety" in Wuzhai area. When you go, you should bring a piece of filial piety cloth. Depending on the distance between you and your relatives, the older one should wear a filial piety cloth, and the smaller one should have a filial piety scarf. In places such as Qixian County in central Jinzhong, on the day of a funeral, banners with patterns cut from white linen paper should be hung in front of the door; the paper is not connected with glue, but iron or stone tools are used to fold the paper and pound it on the Together, it is called "Smashing New Year's Eve Paper". This is similar to the "age paper" mentioned earlier, except the hanging time varies. When the deceased reaches an advanced age, the local people tear a piece of the "year-old paper" and give it to their children to wear. It is said that it can prolong life. Tear it home and paste it on a noodle vat to prevent bugs. In the old days, in some places, "taboo signs" were erected outside the gate, with men on the left and women on the right. Not only did they write down the dates of birth and death, and the date of the funeral, but they also listed the taboos.
Except for the "cliff burial" custom in Ningwu, "earth burial" is common throughout Shanxi. That is, "tomb". Some graves are built in advance, and some are opened temporarily after death. In the old days when opening a tomb, one would ask Mr. Yin and Yang to sit down and watch the Feng Shui to determine the points of the acupoints. Then sprinkle grains and use a silver needle to open the character "十" on the designated acupuncture point, which is called "opening the soil" or "breaking the soil". After "opening the soil", the tomb can be dug. Those who are buried together only need to open a new hole next to the old burial place. The deceased is like entering an ancestral grave, and his tomb is at the feet of his predecessors. Arrange them one by one until no more holes can be opened in the cemetery, then ask Mr. Yin and Yang to look at Feng Shui and choose a new site to build a new grave.
In the old days, before a funeral, there was a ceremony of "nodding the head" in various places in Shanxi, such as Qin County, Qi County and other places. That is, someone is asked to use a cinnabar pen to add a little more to the word "王" originally written on the tablet, so that the word "王" becomes the word "主". Commonly known as "Becoming a Lord", it means becoming a god. The person who points the order is called the "Dianzhu Guan", and a respected local celebrity, scholar or local governor should be invited to serve. This ceremony is generally limited to middle-aged and elderly people who died normally, and is not held for young people who died and those who died due to murder.
On the day of the funeral, relatives, friends, and neighbors gather at the bereaved family to pay homage and pay homage to the deceased to express their condolences. The memorial ceremony generally includes sacrificial mats, steamed buns, banners and paper bindings. Relatives send a memorial feast. Commonly known as "Sacrifice", it is mainly about delicacies, each with paper flowers of different sizes, followed by steamed buns, a kind of pasta that is steamed in a bowl and placed in a basket. Relatives and friends mostly send elegiac banners and elegiac couplets, which are later transformed into a piece of cloth. Ordinary neighbors give four-color paper gifts, including candles, incense, tinfoil, paper, or just paper. After the 1950s, paper gifts were mostly replaced by wreaths.
After the public memorial ceremony for the deceased, the eldest son of the deceased kneels down and pays homage, carrying the big head of the coffin, and with the help of everyone, moves the coffin out of the mourning shed, which is commonly known as "coming out of the spirit". There is a custom in various parts of Shanxi Province of breaking a rice bowl used by the deceased behind the coffin when the spirit is revealed. It is called "Zhanpai" in Wuzhai area, which means to kill evil spirits and eliminate disasters. In some places, the medicine jars used by the deceased are broken into pieces to indicate that no one in the family will get sick in the future and there will no longer be a need to boil medicine. Before the funeral, in Qixian County, central Shanxi, the sons of the deceased have to perform a ritual of "pressing the food pressure bowl". They put various dishes and food into a porcelain jar, and then took turns pressing it until it was full. Place a steamed bun on top to cover it, use a pair of chopsticks to perforate it vertically, and place some red vermicelli on top. This can of food, together with "Xiaqi Steamed Buns", "Changming Lantern", etc., will be buried with the coffin during the funeral.
After the coffin is carried out of the mourning hall, it is placed on a pre-tied rack, which can be found in several forms such as a tofu rack, an Erlong bar, and a Dulong bar. In the Wuzhai area, an offering table and offerings are also placed in front of the coffin. Family members carry soul-guiding flags and circle the coffin three times to the left and three times to the right amidst the sound of drums to express their attachment to the deceased. Every time it turns around, a libation must be poured out.
After the coffin circling is completed, the coffin is raised and the spirit is raised, which is locally called the "spiritual mourning ceremony".
Coffins are popular for funerals in various places in Shanxi. They are shaped like a long sedan with a tin top, a gourd head and a golden top. The four corners are dragon heads and tails for male deceased, phoenix head and tail for females, and are surrounded by decorations. Red, blue and yellow cloth curtains are painted with various auspicious patterns. There are shops specializing in renting out this kind of utensils.
The heavy coffin and the huge coffin cover make it more difficult with fewer people. As a result, the number of bearers increased from 8 to 16, 24, or even 32 people, commonly known as 16 bars, 24 bars, and 32 bars. Some places in Shanxi require that after the coffin leaves the house, it must be delivered to the cemetery without stopping (except for road festivals). There are many people carrying the coffin, which not only facilitates this, but also makes the coffin look grand.
Before the coffin was lifted, the eldest son of the deceased fell on his knees. Holding the earthen basin with burning paper money in his hand, he burst into tears, and then broke the basin on the ground. The area around Xinzhou and Dingxiang is called the "Falling Mangzi Basin". Folks believe that if the funeral pot is broken, the deceased can take all the burned paper money to the underworld for use.
After falling over the "child mourning basin", the funeral officially begins. In some places in southern Shanxi, coffins must be carried with the big end in front when leaving the hospital; after exiting the door, the coffin must be turned around and carried all the way to the cemetery. It turns out that people believe that the deceased lying in the coffin is like a person standing. When going out, head forward, which means looking back at home, showing attachment to the world; after going out, head backward, it means no longer looking back, and heading straight for the paradise of the west. .
There is a path at the front of the funeral procession, and "road flags" - small pennants made of five-color paper or white paper are placed along the way to guide the souls of the deceased; paper money is thrown around to show that the ghosts along the way are bribed. . Next are the ceremonial guards, various paper bindings (called "zhiwen" in Xingxian area), coarse and fine music classes, soul-inducing flags carried by nephews or grandsons, those carrying stools, and then the ropes and mourning sticks. The filial son is followed by the coffin, followed by the female family members in cars and sedans and relatives and friends on foot.
When the funeral procession is sent to a crowded place or a major intersection, it must also stop to offer sacrifices and drum music to play. In ancient times, sacrifices were usually held by relatives, friends, and neighbors. Later, sacrifices were mostly held by the bereaved family themselves. The purpose was just to show that the funeral was grand and grand.
After arriving outside the village, the relatives and friends attending the funeral stopped, and the son of the deceased "expressed his gratitude". Then the coffin cover is removed, the ceremony stops, and only family members and close relatives carry paper bundles and offerings along with the coffin to the cemetery. When the time comes, he will be buried immediately. After the coffin is placed in the tomb, Mr. Yin Yang will set up the compass to determine the direction in Qixian County, central Shanxi, and move it left and right until he thinks it is OK. Generally speaking, the upper direction is southeast-northwest (Qian-Xun position). There is a local saying that "the Purple Mountain is above the head and the Yanmen Pass is on the feet." In places such as Qin County in the southeast of Shanxi Province, Mr. Yin and Yang must install town objects, such as peach bows, willow arrows, mulberry branches, cotton, and grains. The son of the deceased went into the tomb to inspect, and then the family members threw "rich money" and "rich steamed buns" into the tomb. In the Fushan area, new bricks and tiles painted with symbols by Mr. Yin Yang are placed in tombs. Folks believe these are the locks and keys of the underworld. When burying coffins in Wuzhai and other places, it is required that "people stop and shovel without stopping." The family will call the deceased to "hide the soil". After the tomb is piled up, the "weeping stick" and "soul-drawing flags" held by the deceased's children and grandchildren are inserted into the grave (the soul-drawing flags are also placed on the top of the coffin), and then all the paper bundles are burned (the "boys and girls" have already had their heads cut off). Or twist the feet backward and place them on the side of the coffin), everyone will pay homage again, cry bitterly, and then quietly exit, letting the deceased rest here forever.