Eight or sixteen people. The Dulong Bar is usually carried by eight people, but there are also sixteen people. The Double Dragon Bar must be carried by sixteen people. You also need to figure out the route of the funeral. If it is close to home and the roads are all on the main roads, arrange fewer people. If it is too far and there are many mountain roads, arrange more people. The Dulong pole we use there is carried by eight people. Generally, it is pushed by cart when walking on the main roads, and only carried on mountain roads. So basically we arrange twelve people, that is, three people per pole, and one replacement. If there are more mountain roads, We need to arrange sixteen people, that is, two teams, and twenty-four people. In that case, it is basically the kind where the mountain road is too steep and people need to put ropes on it to pull them up. Eight people Lifting is the most basic. Anyway, the rest depends on the situation. There is no rule, but it must be a multiple of four
In our local area, the coffin is placed on a special wooden frame with iron rings on the four corners. There are two people in each corner, carrying poles on their shoulders, just like two people carrying things normally. There is an iron hook in the middle of the pole, which is hooked on the iron ring at the corner of the wooden frame. Each shift requires eight people, and since no stops are allowed along the way, the coffin bearers have to change shifts when they get tired.
Our place has been carried by 16 people since ancient times. I have never heard of or seen 8 people carried. Nowadays, there is no need for people to carry the coffin. There are special vehicles to pull it. Even for burials, the coffin is placed directly into the tomb using a vehicle.
Sixteen people are arguing, and there is another person who is the leader, a replacement. There are eighteen people in a gang. When looking for someone to blame, the leader and his filial son must go to kowtow to whomever they want. If anyone doesn't go, he won't care if something happens to his family in the future. If he really goes, If you can't find someone to do it for you, even if you spend money to find someone! In addition, the gang bearers can eat five meals a day at the victim's house. They have to work hard to carry out the work. One meal at noon, one meal in the evening, and one meal early the next day. After eating, they are divided into two shifts. The gang leader leads eight people. I go dig a grave in the field, and my other half helps me with whatever I have at home. After the digger is done, he puts the shovel on the soil around the pit, with the shovel head facing up, and then there will be a person looking at the grave. This person is not in the system of arguing. These people went back to the master's house for the fourth meal, and then waited for the deceased to wake up in the afternoon, and waited for the deceased to come back to listen to the firecrackers at the master's house. As soon as the cannons were fired, they went there to eat. The last meal was all meat, and the filial son paid tribute to each table. Eat vegetables and kowtow. In the past two days, the victim has been given four packs of cigarettes to each person, but it is really tiring to argue. I have carried it several times. If the coffin is placed a little to the side, the person in the corner will suffer. Don't look at four people in one corner, it will Which one is biased has something to do with the height. Fortunately, nowadays they are all hearses, so it is much easier to carry the weight. Thinking about the twenty-year-old me back then, I could hardly stand because of the pressure, and I had to walk more than three miles. Lu, I was really panicking. The coffin couldn’t fall to the ground. If I let the coffin fall to the ground because I couldn’t bear it, I would be nagging people in the village for the rest of my life! ! !
In Yunnan, it usually takes 8 people to carry it. The 16 people who traveled farther away were two groups of people. In the past, each person was given 1.6 yuan, called straw sandal money, but I don’t know that anymore.
8 to 16 people.
Everyone has to go through life, old age, illness and death. With the introduction of many regulations in cities, cities retain fewer and fewer traditional forms of funerals. However, rural areas retain many traditional things, especially funerals. , that is, the ones that have changed the least and adopted the most traditions. Basically, they have not changed much in history. Most of them are handed down from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, with some modifications from later generations.
There are many links in a funeral, and each link is very complicated. Young people nowadays actually don’t know much about it. Basically, only middle-aged and old people understand the processes and rules. Young people are exposed to these In fact, there are relatively few, especially now that young people go out to work. They don't know if an old man has died in the village, let alone go home. They will only come back if their close relatives die.
Those who remain are all middle-aged and elderly people. I wonder how many people will know these traditional things after this group of middle-aged and elderly people disappear. In terms of funerals, carrying a coffin out is also called a funeral. It is a very important thing. For the solemn part, normal funerals are actually divided into levels. In ancient times, the levels were very strict. Most ordinary people could only enjoy the four-bar and eight-carrying ceremony, which meant that everything was stable. They were usually divided into two groups of eight people, and each group took turns. Come.
This is a relatively normal way to carry a coffin, but in many cases due to some natural environment reasons, after all, some places with better Feng Shui are chosen for burial, but not all places are easy to walk. Sometimes it is even at the top of the mountain or halfway up the mountain. The road is steep and rugged, and it is very difficult to walk, let alone carrying the coffin. For this situation, special treatment will be given. The number of main bearers can be increased, and the number of side bearers will also be increased.
What is called side-carrying? In fact, some people go up to some difficult sections to share the pressure of the coffin bearers. When encountering difficult sections, the number of people can even change from eight to 16 or even 24. The number of coffin bearers cannot be an odd number in any case, it must be an even number, just like wearing a shroud, the total number of trousers and clothes must be an even number, and the number of coffin bearers is also not allowed to be an odd number, only an even number.
The person who carries the coffin must be an adult male who is married and has offspring. Those who are not married and have no offspring are not allowed to carry the coffin. Of course, some places may not have this rule. Those who are not married and have no offspring are not allowed to carry the coffin. Yes, normally there is an even number of coffin-carrying teams. In addition to the two groups of coffin-bearers, there are also four people carrying wooden stools. Two people carry one stool, which is used to rest on the coffin halfway. The coffin cannot reach the location. Don't touch the ground before the time is up.
There is also a rule for those who carry the coffin, that is, the birth date and zodiac signs must meet the requirements and cannot conflict with the deceased's. This is usually checked by a Feng Shui master, and a dedicated elder is mainly responsible for it. The most common method is to carry the coffin with four poles and eight poles. If there are too few coffins and they are too heavy to carry, and there are too many people and the deceased cannot bear the blessing, the most suitable method is to carry the coffin on four poles and eight poles. Of course, there are also some places where eight poles and ten poles are used. The method of six people has different customs in different places, but there is one thing in common, that is, the number of people is an even number, usually 8 or 16 people, and 24 people with special status. In ancient times, the number of relatives and relatives of the emperor was different. Sixteen, seventy-two and all of these are available. For ordinary people, 4, 8 and 16 people are the most normal.
In our rural area of ??Xiangtan County, a double dragon sedan usually holds 16 people, and wealthy families invite 32 people. The minimum wage is 200 per person.
This coffin-carrying process varies from place to place. I have carried it maybe twenty times. During this time and that period, when I was a child, I also saw one that was completely white all the way up. All white means that there are Xiaopas all the way up the mountain. And the coffin was carried and chants were shouted all the way, which could be heard from a distance. There is no need to say whether the person who died was a man or a woman. When I participated in the coffin-carrying, the deceased were divided into four, eight, and sixteen. In the past, there were usually eight old people carrying the coffin, with ropes tied in front of the coffin and ropes tied behind the coffin. There was a rope in front of the coffin, a rope in the back, and four people in each rope, totaling eight people in the front and back. In mountainous areas, the coffin is usually carried with a clamp, just like the old bag, with two large logs holding the coffin, and the rope is about thirty meters long. Tie the coffin. If you know how to tie the rope, you can tie it into the word "longevity". This kind of carrying is usually carried by sixteen people, eight in front and eight in the back. There are many people pulling the rope up the mountain. Because of the steep slope of the mountain, it is difficult to climb up even with bare hands. This is how my grandmother was carried up the mountain when she passed away. There is a kind of dragon shoulder. In the early afternoon, there should be a dragon shoulder with a head and a tail. It is a single piece but has many components, all of which are made by blacksmiths. This kind of dragon shoulder is generally practical on small hillsides. There are eight people in the front, eight people in the back, and a spirit-calling person outside, who is called seventeen people. This kind of coffin can be carried along a wide path, or in a narrow path. I only carried this kind of dragon coffin after the reform was launched. I carried it three times. Only old people in their 80s used this kind of coffin. Four people carry the coffin, usually the deceased is young, but in special circumstances, they carry the coffin regardless of age.
The customs of carrying a coffin (what we call a coffin cover) for rural burials vary from place to place.
After we take the coffin out of the house, place it on the coffin stand, wait for the ceremony to end, and then press the upper shelf (hood) of the coffin cover, with four people on each corner,** *Sixteen people lifted the entire coffin cover, not stopping all the way to the cemetery. If anyone needs to take a break, discuss the change quickly on an individual basis while walking.
In the 1960s, eight people carried the coffin, but later it was changed to sixteen people.