After a person dies, the first burial is to place the body in a wooden coffin, "lying" it in the soil, and pile it into a long grave, which is called a "long grave" or a "new grave". "Tomb" means that the person is still "sleeping" and has not "dead"; it also means that the person's soul has not yet reached the "underworld" and is still a "new ghost" and has not been reincarnated, so another spiritual place is set up for him in the family hall to worship him. He had no share in the ancestor's time, so another sacrifice was set up at his spiritual place. The second burial took place three years after the first burial, that is, after the corpse was "purified", the "pure bones" were picked out and placed in a clay pot (called "Golden Pot" in Zhuang dialect, also called "Golden Bell" ), select the "treasure land of graves" for reburial, and pile them into round graves, called "round tombs" or "ancestral tombs". As the name suggests, the deceased in the "ancestral tomb" should have descendants (including collateral relatives), so young people are generally not buried twice after their death. Before liberation, according to custom, people under the age of 36 (and women who died of pregnancy [called "wet body death" in Zhuang language] were not given a second burial. But after liberation, people became more liberated and less superstitious. Adults (over 16 years old) and women who "died wet" were also buried twice.
Cemeteries for one-time burials are generally relatively casual. They can be on the edge of fields or on the barren slopes of Maoshan Mountain. They do not pay attention to "Feng Shui", but you still need to ask a "geographer (Mr. Feng Shui)" to determine the "grave direction". "In addition to attaching great importance to the funeral, the burial was very simple when setting the burial time. However, in the old society, or dating back to before the Republic of China, there were some "rich" people who, in order to show their status, had a very grand burial and a very grand cemetery. They followed the emperor's practice and no longer had a second burial. Folks call it "big burial". However, in the public mind, most people sneer at this kind of burial method and do not value it; they even ridicule some deserted "long tombs" as "ownerless" or "no heirs", and sometimes they use it to curse people they hate. "When you die in the future, you will be buried in a long grave", which means that you will die before you are a minor (die early).
Cemeteries for secondary burials are very particular about "feng shui". If you can't find a suitable cemetery for a while, you would rather bury the "golden altar" (a pottery pot in which the bones are collected and placed) in a temporary location. At the designated location, one usually looks for a sunny, dry soil slope and cliff, and digs an arch-shaped cave that can accommodate the "Golden Altar". After the "Golden Altar" is placed, it is usually open and can be seen by passers-by. Sealed with turf and soil. For this type of burial, sweeping the tomb during the Qingming Festival is also very simple. Just cut down the weeds and burn a few sticks of incense. However, the burial period cannot be too long, usually one year or at most three years. Of course, there are also cases where the burial period is long due to financial problems or other reasons.
The "feng shui" of the secondary burial cemetery is usually found by a "geographer", or the "geographer" can confirm it after finding it yourself. It is generally believed that the "feng shui" of a cemetery will bring good luck to future generations, otherwise it will bring bad luck. Anyone who knows a little bit about "geography" knows that a cemetery should be close to mountains and rivers, or pillowed by mountains and facing water, or backed by mountains and facing plains, just like a village where living people live. There is a story in the ancestral genealogy of the giant family surnamed Li in Shanglin (according to genealogy records, the family has been passed down for more than thirty generations, with a current population of more than 200,000), which is enough to illustrate the importance people attach to the feng shui of the cemetery. The original text of the story is:
"A Brief History of Thousand Sons and Ten Thousand Grandsons"
It is said that five hundred years ago, there was a Feng Shui master who stayed at the home of our great ancestor Tao Jing Shenggong. His name is Huang Shengdong from Jiangxi. This person has extensive knowledge of ancient and modern times, and is especially good at Feng Shui. He travels around mountains and rivers all day long, and is named after mountains everywhere. It is said that the golden rooster spreads its wings, the red phoenix rises to the sun, the white crane drinks water, and the nine dragons play with pearls. Each mountain is named for its shape. name. ...Gong Guan Jing Sheng was appointed magistrate of Fenghua (now Shanglin) County and married his wife, the Huang family. The Huang family is a tolerant person, and visitors from all over the world treat them as one family. As mentioned above, Mr. Huang Shengdong traveled to Fenghua and stayed at the house of Mr. Jing Sheng. Mr. Huang treated her like a brother. Mr. Huang was so moved that he was rarely seen in the world, so he deliberately gave her a geomantic treasure land.
Before delivering the land, I tried again and again to test Huang's heart: once she said that her husband traveled every day and when he returned home, he would dip his muddy feet into a water tank to wash them. He cleaned the water tank and filled it with water again and again. Secondly, he said that every time it rained, Mr. Huang would go out and get an umbrella from Mr. Huang. When he returned home, Mr. Huang would always wait for his return at the door. At the door, Mr. Huang would treat him like Mr. Huang. In front of Mr. Huang, he deliberately broke his umbrella on the door frame. Not only was Mr. Huang not surprised, but he also praised Mr. Huang for braving the wind and rain. He did not know how many umbrellas were damaged in this way. Mr. Huang said that one time, Mr. Huang was going to invite an old friend. Therefore, he borrowed Duke Jing Sheng's official clothes for use, and Huang generously gave them more money. After the banquet, Mr. Huang wrapped the leftover pork in his official clothes, which made the official clothes dirty, and Mr. Huang did not blame him;...Mr. In response to Huang's reception, he gave Huang a cemetery located at the back of Yanyunxu Village in the west of Tiantang Mountain. He also said that the so-called Santai Luomai of Tiantang Mountain is also the nest of golden ants in Tujiaoliu. There are three kinds of auspicious places. Burial method: First, the number one scholar in nine generations, second, wealth from generation to generation, and third, thousands of sons and grandsons. Duke Jing Sheng wanted to be buried as the number one scholar of the ninth generation, but the Huang family stopped him because he was the only son of the five generations before Jing Sheng, saying: Although the number one scholar of the ninth generation is noble, it will not last long and decline, but thousands of sons and grandsons will last for generations. Continuously. Mr. Huang praised Huang's vision for being better than men, and it was the right place for a blessed man to be buried. As a result, Huang was buried a hundred years later. Mr. Huang personally presided over the funeral, which later came true, leaving behind the legend of the "Chengjiang Giant Clan" with thousands of sons and grandsons. ...
For the second burial, the bones are collected first (also called "gold collecting"), usually three years after the first burial. Therefore, three years is determined, firstly, until the body is completely decomposed, and secondly, according to the "five clothes", it should be "three years of mourning". It is also necessary to choose a good time to pick up the bones. All immediate relatives in the "five services" will be present. First, burn incense and worship, then dig the soil and open the coffin. When opening the coffin, use a tarpaulin or umbrella to shade the sun. When the bones are seen, the relatives cry bitterly. Then they formed a circle and took out the bones one by one and wiped them clean. If the bones were wet, they had to be dried over charcoal fire. Finally, he was placed in the "golden altar" in order from feet to head, taking a "sitting" posture, which means that he sat naturally and calmly, facing the world and his descendants, and worshiping as if he were intimately with his descendants. Just like "meeting", close the lid of the jar. Another time is chosen for the burial. A cylindrical well hole is dug in the cemetery to accommodate the "golden altar". The "golden altar" is put in at that time. The "well hole" is covered with a round stone slab and piled up. Earth becomes a tomb. Then a grand worship ceremony is held, and the second funeral ceremony ends.
After the second burial, there will be one or two "gold prospecting" sessions between one and three years. The so-called "gold prospecting" is to dig up the grave soil, open the stone slabs, and check whether the bones in the "golden altar" are good: dry and golden ones are good, while water-soaked and gray-black ones are not. If it's good, you can rest assured that it will be "buried"; if it's not good, you have to take out the "golden altar" for burial, and then find a "feng shui place" for a second burial; if it's not bad (the remains are not soaked in water, but they are very moist, (gray in color), you can temporarily leave the soil in the grave, and then "look for gold" again the next year to see if it gets better or worse to decide whether to choose the cemetery. "Gold prospecting" is also timed and presided over by a "geographer", and worship is required before and after, but the rituals are relatively simple. After the "ceremony burial", the tomb becomes the "ancestral tomb" and is generally no longer moved.