Sanli Township is located in the northernmost part of Jinxian County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, due east of Nanchang City, about 40 kilometers away from Nanchang City.
Sanli Township has a long history, and unique funeral customs have been formed during the long period of local life.
When an old man dies, the family will immediately move the old man from the bed to the floor of the hall at home. A straw mat will be spread on the floor, and a brick will be used as a pillow. The old man’s forehead will be placed on the floor. Put some yellow money paper on it. With your head facing the door, light an oil lamp on the outside of your head and place an iron basin for burning paper money. If the temperature is low in winter, the coffin will be kept like this for a few days. Now in summer, the person will be moved into the ice coffin shortly after being left like this, and then moved out on the straw mat in the afternoon before the funeral.
After these are done, people will be arranged to report the death to relatives. In the past, when there were no communication tools, everyone had to notify each household. Nowadays, most notifications are made by phone, and some relatives with special close relationships are notified by phone. Still have to go to the house. Nowadays, many people work across the country. Once they are notified, they will arrange a time to go home.
Generally, the children of the elderly will find a Feng Shui master to choose an auspicious day for the funeral. Depending on the calculated day, the time spent at home varies from 3 to 7 days, usually 4 to 5 days. In the past few days, relatives of the same clan have rushed back to make various preparations, such as playing mourning music and decorating the mourning hall. Every night, four people are arranged to keep an all-night vigil. The wakers usually spend the long nights playing mahjong or poker.
The old man’s daughter needs to buy all kinds of things that the old man will wear last.
The real busyness begins in the afternoon of the day before the funeral.
Usually at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the old man will be moved out of the ice coffin to the straw mat. At this time, the old man's daughter should put on white mourning clothes, put a white tofu bag on her head, take a basin, and another Go to a nearby pond with a straw hat and three incense sticks to collect some water. Weep all the way to the pond. You need to ask the water god for some water, not borrow some water. Then put the hat on the side of the pond and insert the three incense sticks through the hat. soil. After receiving the water, she cried all the way back to the old man. She used the water to wipe her body and tidy up her appearance.
At this time, the old man’s eldest son needs to put on the new clothes that will be given to the old man later and walk around his house. Finally, the children helped the old man put on a full set of clothes, shoes and hats.
Next, the fully clothed old man is moved into the coffin, and a layer of yellow money paper is laid on the bottom of the coffin. The relatives took the quilt that the old man had covered, tore off the cotton and stuffed it around the coffin, and put some of the old man's favorite things into the coffin. The old man's daughter will cry very sadly when the coffin is finally closed. Yes, the daughter and daughter-in-law are basically crying throughout the whole process, but the son usually doesn't cry.
The coffin is placed on two benches in the center of the hall. A square table is placed in front of the coffin, with a memorial tablet and portrait placed on it. Candles and incense are lit on both sides, and a pot of three animals is placed. In the basin was a fully cooked chicken, a fish and a large piece of cooked pork.
In the afternoon, people from the same village sent a knife of paper money one after another. Those with good connections would bring some silk money with them. The gifts cannot be rounded up. You must bring small denominations of money, such as 101, 210, 501, etc. . Relatives and various friends will also come in the afternoon or near dinner time, bringing silk money. Someone in the family is responsible for registering the name of the visitor and the amount of silk money, and another person is responsible for distributing return gifts to each visitor. Generally, the return gift bag contains a Pack of cigarettes, a bottle of drink, and a towel. In addition, a person with good handwriting will be arranged to list the names and gold copies of all the people who are accompanying the gift on a huge piece of white paper, write the word "gift list" and post it on the outer wall of the house for everyone to see. This is a very important thing in rural areas.
The dinner is the most important banquet of the funeral and the banquet with the largest number of attendees. Firecrackers and fireworks are set off.
The banquet will be extraordinarily sumptuous, with two packs of cigarettes and various drinks on each table. In the past, meat and vegetable dishes were usually purchased at township wet markets, but now I basically drive to the farmer's market in Nanchang to purchase them. It should be noted that the number of plates at the funeral banquet can only be an odd number, and even if the plates are eaten up, they cannot be stacked or taken away.
When the banquet is over, villagers and ordinary friends who have no relatives usually leave. Clan relatives and foreign relatives all stayed behind to begin the most important ceremony of the evening.
The three animals placed on the square table in front of the coffin were removed and replaced with a small smoke stove. Next to it were piled some flammable small wooden strips cut into pieces with an axe. A rectangular mat is placed in front of the table for relatives to perform kneeling rituals.
The entire ceremony was attended by eight full-time personnel, known as the Eight Immortals. Generally, there are 9-10 Eight Immortals in each village. Some are passed down from father to son from generation to generation, while others are drawn by lot in the whole village to select eight. Either way, among these eight people, there cannot be any clan of their own.
The division of labor of the Eight Immortals that night is generally as follows: two of them sit on the left and right sides of the square table, and they are responsible for interacting with the people performing the kneeling ceremony. The other three sit next to the wall and knock on various The musical instruments, mainly drums, gongs, cymbals, etc., have a special set of performances, and you can tell that it is mourning music. This set of musical instruments is also used during weddings in Sanli Township, but the music that plays is cheerful.
There are also three people who are responsible for rolling the dry straw after harvesting and threshing that is available in every household in Sanli Township into straw ropes, and then cutting them roughly every 50 centimeters to make a headgear, commonly known as a chicken hat. The function of this hat is to fix it. A rectangular piece of white cloth covering the male head. The length of the white cloth varies according to the relationship. The old man's son uses the longest one, while ordinary relatives use the shorter one. Both men and women need to wear white mourning clothes. Men wear a white cloth on their heads with a cock hat, and women use a white tofu bag to make a huge cloak-like hat and wear it on their heads.
The kneeling ceremony in the evening will take a long time. If there are many relatives and the activity starts at eight o'clock, it is normal for it to continue after 0 o'clock. Because everyone has to perform a kneeling ceremony. The order of kneeling and worshiping is prescribed. The first is the eldest son, then the other sons, then the eldest daughter-in-law, and then the other daughters-in-law. Then there is the daughter and son-in-law. Grandchildren. In short, according to the relationship of kinship and distance, blood relatives are first, then clan relatives, and then other relatives.
When kneeling down, the old man’s daughter and daughter-in-law must lean on both sides of the coffin and cry.
The procedure of kneeling and worshiping is relatively complicated. If you complete a complete set, it will take about seven or eight minutes for each person.
The eldest son is the first to perform the ceremony. There is one difference between the old man's son's cock hat and the others, that is, the cock hat made of straw rope is wrapped with yellow paper money, so that the original appearance of the straw rope cannot be seen. , and then they have to make cotton balls and tie them in the front, back, left and right positions of the rooster's cap, which makes it look much more solemn than that of ordinary relatives.
The etiquette procedure is roughly as follows: First, stand in front of the Square Table, which is also the Eight Immortals Table, and walk slowly three steps toward the outside of the house and bow outward three times. Then, turn around and kneel down to the coffin. Each time you kneel down, you need to Kowtow three times and repeat kneeling three times and nine times. The so-called three kneels and nine times is just the first round of the whole process. At the end of the first round, you kneel in front of the table with one hand protecting the incense burner and the other hand holding the incense burner. Put the small wooden sticks prepared before into the stove and burn them. Take one stick at a time, a total of three times. This small wooden stick is also called incense at this time, and burning it is called twisting incense. Stand up and kneel down again for three times and nine times, then kneel on the mat and ask for a wine cup from the Eight Immortals on your right. The Eight Immortals will hand a small wine cup with wine from a large bowl filled with wine to the kneeling person, and the kneeling person holds it in both hands. The Eight Immortals will stand up and turn the wine cup three times clockwise and three times counterclockwise. Each time they turn, they will salute to the coffin. Finally, they will pour the wine into a large bowl and scoop it up again. Put the last glass on the table. The kneeler gets up and performs another round of three kneels and nine bows, and then asks the Eight Immortals on the left for a wine glass to repeat the same procedure. After the drinking ceremony, he stood up again and knelt three times and bowed nine times. Finally, he stood up and bowed his hands to the Eight Immortals on the right and left to express respect. The Eight Immortals returned the favor. This is the end of the complete process. The process for women to kneel down is slightly different, but generally the same. Since most children do not know this set of etiquette, they can simply bow to the spiritual throne three times.
When all the relatives pay their last respects late, the Eight Immortals will also have to pay their last respects one by one. This marks the end of the entire ceremony and the fireworks are set off. We also need to prepare a sumptuous supper for the Eight Immortals to thank them for their efforts.
The next morning it will get slightly brighter, and all the relatives will come to the old man's home again. This day is the day of the funeral, which is very important. In the morning, the Eight Immortals tied the coffin with thick ropes and large logs, just like the eight-carrying sedan used by ancient dignitaries to travel. The coffin is covered with a blanket and a bag of rice wrapped in black cloth is placed above the head of the coffin. In addition, the daughter will buy eight long-handled umbrellas and eight pairs of shoes, tie them with ropes and hang them on the coffin. These are gifts that need to be given to the Eight Immortals.
Everyone can have some breakfast such as steamed buns, fried dough sticks or biscuits. Everyone was wearing the same white clothes and hats as the night before. A wide and very long white cloth is tied behind the coffin. The length depends on the number of relatives, ranging from tens to hundreds of meters.
The eight Immortals carried the logs on their shoulders and lifted the coffin to the cemetery. The eldest daughter-in-law had to cry against the coffin in the small space circled by several logs at the end of the coffin. The other people were holding the long cloth with their hands on both sides of the long cloth and followed the team.
Some people will use bamboo poles to carry beds of new blankets along with them.
The eldest son is holding the coffin, and the second son is walking in front of the coffin, holding the photo. Someone in the front will set off firecrackers and fireworks. If they pass by the door of a villager's house, the villagers will set off firecrackers while walking. The person assisting at the front will provide a towel and a cigarette to the villagers. There is another person walking in the front who is responsible for throwing paper money in a basket, throwing a few pieces of paper money along the way.
There are people playing gongs and drums throughout the whole process, and some people will also arrange a band to play and play along the way.
Every time they walk a certain distance, the Eight Immortals will put down the coffin and support it with two benches, commonly known as "beating benches". At this time, they will place the coffin and the photo of the deceased in front of the coffin, and everyone will come and worship briefly. From going out to the cemetery, there are about seven or eight times of beating the stool.
When arriving at the cemetery, everyone will take off their white clothes and hats, leaving their cock hats and white cloth on their heads around the cemetery, and return to the elderly home along a path. At this time, some people who stayed at home had prepared a banquet, which was as sumptuous as the banquet the night before. After breakfast, the whole funeral is over. The relatives and guests who came can leave.
The old man’s grave was dug by the Eight Immortals with tools the afternoon before. After they returned and had breakfast, they needed to return to the cemetery to put the coffin into the grave. The lowest layer of the grave would also be filled with yellow money paper first. After the coffin is lowered, there will still be a large space on all sides. Then the bricks that have been transported will be used to build the walls on all sides. Then the top of the coffin will be built tightly with bricks all the way to form a brick wall. It is an ordinary house, and lime is sprinkled on the bricks, and finally the earth is sealed to form a large tomb. The tombstone was also carved in advance. The Eight Immortals erected the tombstone and the small space in front of the tombstone was smoothed with cement. If the earthen tomb wants to be better, it will pull in stones or cement blocks to build a solid tomb.
Generally speaking, the funeral folk customs in Sanli Township are probably like this, but in reality they are more complicated and detailed than described. Nowadays, except for the elderly, most young people no longer know many more detailed customs. It’s a set of processes. There are many things and taboos that need to be paid attention to during the funeral process.
In 2018, Jiangxi began funeral reform, and rural burials were also required to be changed to cremation. The ceremony has undergone certain changes. The Eight Immortals no longer need to dig graves. The deceased are all placed in the planned public collection. Each person only has a small grid grave, which is about the size of an urn. The area occupied by the land is greatly reduced. Because of the need for cremation, there is no longer the custom-made heavy coffin of the past. There is only a temporary small coffin made of corrugated paper. The body is placed in it, and then placed in a larger ice coffin, covered with a blanket, for the kneeling ceremony. Night. The next morning, a car from the county funeral home will come to take the body for cremation, so many relatives will be arranged to go to the funeral home to say goodbye. At the funeral home, everyone wears white clothes and hats. Because the deceased from all over the county are brought here, and the folk customs vary from place to place, you can see mourning clothes in various styles and styles. After getting the ashes, the car returns from another road. When it approaches the entrance of the village, those who have not gone to the funeral home to say goodbye will also put on white clothes and white hats and wait on the roadside, and then they are not allowed to drive the rest of the way. The ashes were taken down and placed on a long iron frame. This iron frame was also shaped like an eight-carriage sedan by the Eight Immortals. The urn wrapped in red cloth was fixed on the iron frame. Umbrellas, shoes, etc. were also given to the Eight Immortals. Put it on the iron frame, and the rest of the process is the same as carrying the coffin to the cemetery, but without the long white cloth for everyone to hold.