In Song Dynasty, paper money and paper burial were widely used in funeral and sacrificial ceremonies. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, in Dongyue Palace in Fuzhou, people used paper money to offer sacrifices to the gods and pray for blessings. At that time, people described the amount of paper money as "flying snow" and finally burned it out. Zhang Lei's poem "Hills and Sand Cover the Wind" said: "Paper money on the shore is like rain, and wine is sold to the gods." On the Cold Food Festival, people sweep graves without incense, but hang paper money on the branches next to the graves. People who are far away from home climb mountains and look far away to make sacrifices, tearing paper money away with the wind, which is called "breaking money". Sima Guang and Yu Wenbao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded that at that time, people gave paper money, paper and silks to relatives and friends at funerals. Burning to ashes is useless for life and death. Xiaozong also advocated burning paper money at the ceremony of sacrificing ancestors in the palace. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, it became popular to make sacrificial houses, birds and animals, flowers and trees, chariots and horses, servants and maids, and burn them all. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the people of Jingzhao Prefecture suffered a funeral and displayed statues. Among them, the gods made of silk (raw silk) and gold are called "big empty", and the gods made of paper and color are called "small empty". But burning silk funerary wares is still a waste. Therefore, since then, more paper lighters have been used. Zhao Yanwei said: "Ancient funerary wares ... today are all made of paper, called funerary wares, and money is called treasure." Paper funerary wares are often burned as gifts for the dead; Some people are buried in graves. Replacing real money and ceramic utensils with paper money and paper utensils is another great progress of society.
Burial and cremation were two main burial methods at that time. Since the early Song Dynasty, cremation has gradually become popular. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Taizu issued an imperial edict prohibiting cremation, but the effect was not great. People on Hedong Road, because "the land is narrow and there are many people, although their loved ones are lost, they are all burned and abandoned". Generally, a scholar-bureaucrat went to other places to be an official, died of illness and took office. His descendants burned his coffin and took the bones back to his hometown for burial. The imperial court stipulated that soldiers should leave the garrison, be cremated after death, and bring their ashes back. It is also stipulated that only three miles away from the suburban altar can "burn people". Cheng believes that cremation in the country is actually "clear and consistent, and has not been banned". Therefore, the people regard cremation as a ceremony. "Although a dutiful son loves his grandson, it is no different." Because of the advantages of saving money and allowing ordinary people to be buried in this way, cremation was more popular after it was spread to Dunan. From time to time, the rich room in Lin' an city showed some pity, "Give the coffin to the poor and sick, and help them cremate". While vigorously promoting cremation, some Buddhist temples set up crematoriums for secular people, which were then called "human pavilions". For example, there are about ten Tongji temples in the southwest of Wuxian County, Pingjiang Prefecture (now Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province), which shows that their scale is not very small.
Funeral ceremonies are also deeply influenced by folk superstitions such as Buddhism and Taoism. Mainly manifested in July 7th and centenary, anniversary, choosing a day and place for burial, doing Dojo and other merits, wearing mourning clothes, mourning, eating and drinking. Buddhism fabricates stories about the world and the underworld, heaven and hell, saying that after death, every seventh day, the soul will go through the nether world and suffer a lot. From the first seven to the second seven, until the seventh seven, that is, the last end of the ghost, it is called "breaking seven." Then there are 100 days, the third anniversary, and I have to go through a ghost. Out of filial piety and love, but also out of superstition and ignorance, after the death of their parents, the people asked monks to do Dojo or land and water meetings, play games, write scriptures and build pagoda temples, which is called "doing merit." After my merits, I cooked soup rice, which is called "Seven Soup Rice". It is said that this can make up for the sins of the dead, free them from the suffering of hell, ascend to heaven and enjoy all kinds of happiness; Otherwise, you will go to hell forever, suffering from burning and grinding, and you will not be able to surpass life. Taoism originally only talked about pure nature, and there is no such thing as hell and heaven. However, seeing that Buddhist monks made profits, they also followed suit and fabricated "sending souls to heaven, forgiving heaven, frying in a cauldron, which is called refining;" There are many ridicules in the saying that "paying pears and dates is the way to repair" Therefore, when people encounter funerals, it has become their habit to invite monks and Taoists to chant Buddhist scriptures, fast and hold ceremonies. This is rarely surprising.
The people also believe the words of the Yin and Yang master or the "burial master". When they choose the burial time after death, they believe in geomantic omen. They think that whether future generations are rich and virtuous or poor and foolish depends on this. Therefore, secular people often leave coffins in the monk temple unattended, often because of the unfavorable years, which delayed the burial for decades, even for a lifetime or generations, and were inevitably abandoned by others, or given away by thieves, or burned. There are also some families who don't want to pay the funeral expenses because they are far away from the burial date, so they stop at home so much that they put all kinds of sundries at home on coffins, just like using several boxes.
When Liu Yue wrote about Yi Shu in the Five Dynasties, filial piety of children and grandchildren stipulated that all the five clothes (namely, cutting off decline, Cui Zi, meritorious service, meritorious service and hemp removal) should be dressed in cloth, and the clothing system was roughly the same, which was close to the "ancient ceremony". In the Song Dynasty, because of the "secular taboo", no one wore linen unless the son was a parent, the daughter-in-law was an in-law, the wife was a husband, and the youngest wife (concubine) was a husband. Otherwise, the elders who lost their homes will not agree, and everyone will sneer. At that time, I was used to mourning when I met my relatives. According to the "ancient ceremony", all hair should be let loose. After Song Taizong's death, the real sects "split". Only the Empress Dowager is "long-haired", that is, her hair is all loose, while the emperor, queen, king, princess, princess, king's wife and people in the sixth house are all "left-handed", that is, her hair on the left is loose. Folk customs only put down the left hair for the father, the right hair for the mother, the left hair for the father-in-law, and the right hair for the mother-in-law. This is much more complicated than the previous generation.
In the process of funeral, people have become accustomed to "using music", that is, hiring bands to play music. At the first funeral, the music "entertaining the corpse" was played. At the funeral, the guard of honor was guided by the monks with "beautiful teenagers and long nails", beating the cymbals and drumsticks of ethnic minorities and echoing the cries of bereaved families. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was forbidden for scholars' homes to use music and monks' sacrificial ceremonies at funerals, but it had little effect. During the Southern Song Dynasty, residents of Lin 'an Prefecture generally adopted "yoga ceremony" when building Dojo, beating gongs and drums all day. At the same time, during the mourning period, people still drink and eat meat, and they also entertain each other, which is rarely strange.