First, what needs to be burned and the process:
It used to be popular in Fujian not to fight. The so-called "rich family's huge room" was delayed by geomantic charm, while the self-protection of small families was delayed because of money. The burial of several generations often stops in one room, and decades have passed, and it is not buried until very late. "Therefore, this is often done while waiting for burial. After 1949, the bad habit of abstinence was basically abolished, and the custom of seven things still existed, only after burial. At the time of the Seventh Day, the first, third, fifth and seventh "Seven Days" sacrifices were more grand, while the rest were slightly simpler. Some people only do the first seven and the last seven. Zhangping does not engage in "April 7th" or only engages in sacrificial ceremonies on the first, third, fifth and seventh days of the first lunar month.
The first seven-day festival is also called "the first seven days" or "the first ten days". When this custom spreads, the dead know that they have passed away, and the dead will return to their homes to visit their children and grandchildren. To this end, mourners began to cry after midnight, and invited monks and Taoists to chant Buddhist scriptures and sacrifice, burning paper money, haunted houses and other superstitious supplies. In recent years, there are televisions, refrigerators, cars, airplanes and other household appliances. This is made of five-color paper and modern communication.
Tool model (incinerated in a boat made of paper and bamboo). In Nanping, the hemp rope tied to the waist during the funeral will be incinerated at this time. In Ningde, Xiaowen knelt at the gate and repeatedly shouted "Dad (Mom) is back!" Then break a rice bowl with an axe, and the whole family wail, and then hold a memorial ceremony, commonly known as "calling for seven days." In Fuzhou, when you do the first seven, you should use a bamboo pole to light a lamp at the door as a sign. If relatives and friends want to "send money" to their relatives in the underworld, they can also burn paper money at the seventh day home and let the people who just died take it with them.
"Sanqi" is called "checking a son (daughter) for ten days" in southern Fujian. Married women and son-in-law prepare rich sacrifices to pay homage to their parents and family, and often invite monks and Taoists to chant Buddhist scriptures. In the past, rich people also invited theatrical troupes to perform, and most of them advocated filial piety. Such as "Mulian Save Mother" and "Save Tiger".
In most places during the May 4th Movement, filial piety was still used as a memorial, and the ceremony was quite grand. Zhangping will hold a "restitution" ceremony. "Repay" means "repay", which is to repay the kindness of parents. Please ask monks and Taoists to recite scriptures and worship Buddha for confession. Short is one day and night, long is seven days and nights. Wealthy families will also set up a "patrol library", that is, burn a large number of spiritual treasures, paper money, paper men, paper horses and so on. For the newly deceased relatives and other ancestors to enjoy. In southern Fujian, "May 7th" is commonly known as "Tea Sun Mouxun", that is, the granddaughter and niece offer sacrifices, and the ceremony is similar to "March 7th". At noon, every married woman will hold a banquet for her relatives and friends, burn a coffin at night, and then sit in the coffin and enter the ancestral temple. After entering the ancestral temple, there were sacrifices to talk about the land and to protect the land. When I came back from the ancestral temple, there were also sacrifices to the door god, the land god and the kitchen god. The ten-day of a daughter and the ten-day of a granddaughter are different from place to place. February 27th in Putian is a granddaughter's ten days, and June 7th in Fuzhou is a daughter's ten days. The newly deceased can get all the sacrifices of their daughters and granddaughters (nieces), while the sacrifices offered by filial piety at seven o'clock are given priority to the ancestors of the underworld, and the newly deceased may not get them.
"July 7th" is also called "Man Qi" and "Wei Qi", and the ceremony is similar to "First Seven". In some places, it is also called "July 7" as "starting clothes", that is, taking off mourning clothes and putting on auspicious clothes. Women wear a linen cloth on their heads, and men wear a black veil on their skirts to show their condolences.
As the saying goes, "the deceased is like a husband", so the tenth day of the ten-day holiday is shortened to seven days. After the first seven days, the sixth day is 1 day, and the 49th day on July 7th is actually 43 days. However, people who live longer often don't do the "tail seven" until they are 49 years old. In some places, after the seventh place, the sixth place is 1 for men, and the seventh place is still 1 for women. Haircuts, eating, drinking and having fun, wearing strange clothes, etc. are prohibited at seven o'clock. Ninghua and other places have the taboo of "bumping into seven", that is, on the day of "April 7", if the seventh, seventeenth and twenty-seventh days of the seventh day are unlucky, filial piety to family members must live in other people's homes and be named "Zouqi".
Besides the seven ceremonies, there are many other commemorative activities. On the 60th day after death, a "60th Day Sacrifice" will be held, and the ceremony is similar to that of Seven. During the "Sixty Festival" in Fuzhou, an empty egg with seemingly intact yolk and egg white was put into a washbasin filled with clear water for sacrifice. Sixty days after the death of an ordinary cloud man, the deceased must pass through Naihe Bridge in Yin Fu. When he fished out the floating eggs from Naihe River, he found that his nails had all fallen off, and he knew that he was dead. This is the origin of the custom of offering sacrifices to empty eggs. One hundred days after death, we should also pursue the "one hundred-day sacrifice." After his death 1 anniversary, he was posthumously named "Zhou Nianji", which was called "Xiaoxiang" in ancient times. Three years after death, a "three-year sacrifice" was held, which was called "Daxiang" in ancient times.
In addition, some mourners also hold confessions, commonly known as "doing merit" and "becoming a monk". The length of mourning depends on the financial situation of bereaved families, ranging from 1 night to 7 days and 7 nights, or even 49 days.
The seven eulogies of the funeral should be singular. Because yang alone, double is yin. This is why modern people don't count odd numbers.
Second, the origin of the seventh day, the third day, the fifth day and the hundred days.
1, Buddha said
As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, we have seen relevant records, such as Biography of Hu Guozhen in Northern History: "Although Guo Zhen is old, he is elegant in Buddhism" and "from the beginning of the imperial edict to July 7, there was a thousand monks' fasting"; Sun's Biography of the Northern Qi Dynasty: "Since the death of Ge (Nanyang King), monks have been invited to set a fast for Ge every seven days and one hundred days. "
According to the above records and other materials, scholars believe that the custom of the seven things originated from the origin theory, which was formed during the spread of Buddhism to the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and began to break through the scope of believers and become secular from the early Tang Dynasty. Why should "seven" be specified as the date of death? They say there are six roads in life. Between a person's death and life, there is a "yin body" stage, such as the shape of a teenager, seeking fate in the underworld, with seven days as a period; If you still can't find fate by the end of seven days, you can continue for seven days, and by the end of the seventh seven days, you will have a place (see yoga). Therefore, in these 7749 days, we will turn over every seven days to pay homage. This custom of doing seven things, which was born out of Buddhism's "Fate Theory", was formed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and naturally it should be regarded as the product of Buddhism prevailing at that time. Li Ao, a native of the Tang Dynasty, once wrote "On Going to Buddha's Lent", which refuted the custom of making seven times and its theoretical basis. One of its bases is "injury ceremony", which is not in line with the Confucian emphasis on human feelings, sorrow and joy, and it can also be disproved that doing it seven times is a Buddhist thing.
2. Taoism
On the contrary, some people think that the custom of doing seven things originated from Taoism. Judging from the practice of this custom, Zuo Qi invited both monks and Taoists to recite the scriptures, but most of the folk explanations of the origin of Zuo Qi are consistent with the propaganda of the structure and function of Taoist hell. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Yi demonstrated this point in Volume 32 of "Examination of Jade Cong", combining the origin of the customs of seven things with the historical background of the Northern Qi Dynasty: "It is said that at that time, the Taoist priest Kou Qian's teaching prevailed, while the Taoist alchemist worshipped fighting, so it was forty-nine days in July, so it was effective to push the law to the end." He also quoted the biography of Han Qi: Song Renzong died, and Yingzong acceded to the throne at the beginning. Empress Guangxu said to Han Qi, the minister in charge of slaughter, "When he was appointed as the Crown Prince, many people said something wrong. I am afraid that he will feel uncomfortable after seeing it. Yesterday, he was burned in the money stove because he fasted for seven days. " This quotation is meaningful-as we all know, Taoism has been highly respected since Song Taizong, especially by the true Sect. There is also a so-called "sacred ancestor" Zhao Xuanlang, who became the ancestor of Zhao and Song, thus making Taoism rise to the status of "state religion". If the seventh ceremony was created by Buddhism, it is hard to imagine that it was performed for the late emperor.
3. Other legends
Some people think that the custom of doing seven things stems from the theory of gathering souls and dispersing souls in the pre-Qin period: first, seven days are used as wax, and one wax becomes one soul, so its life is forty-nine days, and the seven souls are complete; Death is taboo for seven days, and one taboo is scattered, so the old man died for forty-nine days and the seven spirits were scattered. The meaning of being seven is to sacrifice to the dead. In addition, if Heaven develops everything with Yin and Yang and Jin Mu's five elements of fire, water and soil, it is called "seven politics", and people have "seven emotions" with Yin and Yang and the five permanent members, then Heaven has only seven, and human spirit has only seven; However, Yi Xi Fu says "come back in seven days" and Book of Rites Tan Gong says "those who don't enter the water for seven days", all of which come from this truth and are also the belief connotation of the seven customs in later generations. However, how did these concepts and old rituals become the seven customs? So far, it is still a problem that has not been explained clearly.
Others speculate that the prototype of the seven customs is "fear sacrifice", that is, in the Zhou Dynasty, "Chinese" welcomed their souls into the burial palace after their parents were buried, and "fear" means "peace", even if the souls of the deceased were laid to rest. According to the etiquette system, the time and frequency of holding a dangerous sacrifice vary with the identity of the deceased. There are three dangers of losing a doctor, five dangers of losing a doctor and seven dangers of losing a gentleman. Every danger is sacrificed for seven days. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, doctors abused the seven dangers of princes. Later, Qin merged with six countries and changed dynasties. As long as there are conditions, anyone can hold the seven risks, which eventually became a popular custom of doing the seven risks.
Third, what are the etiquette?
There are many specific etiquette during the period of "doing seven", which are practiced everywhere. In Guangzhou, the fifth seven days of the old funeral custom must be returned by married women, and the cost of this day is entirely borne by married women. If the deceased has no married woman, it will be done by a married niece or grandniece. The first seven days, the last seven days and the last seven days after death are called "Big Seven". There is a custom of "walking seven times" in this day's memorial service, that is to say, in this day's memorial service, the married daughter and daughter-in-law each carry lanterns and race like kites in the prescribed ceremony to get the first one to run home, commonly known as "fighting for heroes", thinking that the soul of the deceased can protect well-being. Because people think that although people are dead, the soul still has feelings like the living.
Doing seven is usually presided over by a son-in-law. In Zhejiang, there are different ways to hold the Seventh National Congress. In Hangzhou, the son-in-law will hold the "May 7th" and in Lin 'an and Ningbo, the son-in-law will hold the "June 7th". On the night before May 7th, "Home Watch" was popular in many places. Legend has it that the deceased didn't know he was dead until that day; You will board the "homecoming observatory" in the underworld, overlook the dead family and meet relatives and friends. Hangzhou people are used to putting the clothes of the dead on the stage, wearing masks and holding umbrellas. In Suzhou area, at five o'clock this day, the children opened the west gate and shouted three times in a row: "Come back!" " "Then he wept bitterly in front of Ling, and at the same time brought the food and wine prepared in advance, and offered a glass of wine, which was called the" Night Banquet of the Five Watches ". This ceremony is called "Calling Five Watches". After dawn, the mourners asked the store to tie up a house with floral paper in advance. Doors, windows, halls, courtyards, well stoves, etc. Very complete. After giving a look, burn it with a torch. It is said that this will give the deceased a room to live in the underworld. This is the so-called "Hua". Now, paper appliances are incinerated to the dead, so that the dead can live a "modern" life in the underworld. On the 49 th, it will "break seven." After seven days' rest, there is a period of mourning, and bereavement is very important. Relatives and friends participate in the "breaking seven" etiquette activities. On the day of "Breaking Seven", Taoist priests and monks were invited to do Dojo, which was euphemistically called "keeping peace". Because this time it is to pray for the living. After singing, the children took off their mourning clothes and put on their uniforms.
In some ethnic groups in southern China, there is also the custom of "entertaining corpses" on Tanabata. Tujia people hold a grand wake every 12 days during the coffin deduction. Young men and women in this village and other villages gather behind the houses where their loved ones have lost, playing, singing and dancing for the funeral, so as to make love and choose partners. Funeral dance, also known as "relieving anxiety" and "beating gongs and drums", is a national dance invented by Ba people, the ancestors of Tujia people, more than 2000 years ago. Later, Tujia children were passed down from generation to generation and have been passed down to this day. After death, especially on the first night after the death of the elders for a hundred years, this kind of funeral dance activity began when the family members were lost. One of them invited a singer to lead with gongs and drums, and the other two helped, singing and dancing around the coffin for several nights. The purpose of funeral dance is to alleviate the grief and melancholy of the family members of the deceased, so as to achieve the purpose of mourning without sadness and injury without pain. ..