several years after burial, the bones of the deceased were dug up on an auspicious day and put into a pottery urn for reburial, which was called bone picking. Because the pottery urn containing bones is commonly called "golden urn" or "golden urn", bone picking is also called "golden urn" or "golden urn" in Fujian folk. Golden urn is different between men and women. The golden urn used by men is higher, and the word "Fu" is written on the lid. The urn used by women is slightly short, and the word "longevity" is written on the lid. ? The custom of bone picking and burial has been popular in all parts of Fujian since ancient times. Generally, bones are picked up three years or more after burial (after 7, 9 and 11 years in southern Fujian), and the bone picking season is mostly around Qingming, Chongyang and Winter Solstice (Wuping County is the spring equinox and solar terms), and some people pick bones on auspicious days. Before picking up the bones, a certain sacrificial ceremony should be held, mainly to pay homage to the dead and to the landowner. When picking up bones, cover the bones with a broken umbrella, so as not to see the light of day, and avoid the shadow of strangers reflecting on the bones, and abandon the broken umbrella after picking up bones; When picking up bones, the bones must be placed on the straw mat one by one, and then put into the pottery urn according to the human structure from the foot bone to the skull. You can't put them in the wrong place, and you can't leave any broken bones. Generally, you should take a rice sieve to sieve the broken bones. In some places, there is a special custom to pick up bones. In Fuding and other places, the teeth of the dead should be knocked out when picking up bones to prevent "cannibalism" in the future. In Jianyang and other places, the two ends of each skeleton should be touched with a brush, and then put into a pottery urn. In Gutian and other places, bone picking usually ends before the sun comes out. In Fuzhou, Putian and other places, bone-picking masters should first drink a few mouthfuls of white wine and spray graves and bones with white wine, which is commonly called exorcism, but actually for disinfection. If the bones are white, they are regarded as auspicious, while red is regarded as unlucky. In southern Fujian, the bones are connected with red silk threads and then put into pottery jars. ?
There are three main reasons for picking bones: First, shallow burial is adopted for the first time due to economic and other reasons. A few years later, the family economy improved, and in order to repay the kindness of parents, graves were built and reburied; Second, after the husband and wife died, they were buried together by picking up bones; The third is to listen to the warlock's words, and attribute the disaster in the family to the bad feng shui in the burial place, and solve it by picking up bones and moving to the burial place. ? After bone collection, it is generally necessary to move to another place for reburial. Due to the influence of the theory of geomantic omen, many places believe that multiple reburies are beneficial to the living, and there is a popular saying in southern Fujian that "ten burials and nine burials will last for ten thousand years". Other areas also have the trend of relocation and burial.
Bones should be picked up in order, starting from the beginning. If it's a woman, it's followed by the right hand, body, left hand, right foot and left foot. From top to bottom, if it's a man, it's left first, and if it's a man, it's left and right. Just be careful not to mess up the position after it's picked up.