What is a funeral? What were the social roots of ancient Chinese funerals?

The old tradition of Han funerals is to pay attention to heavy burials, and there are many superstitious customs. Since ancient times, the Han nationality has been prevalent in coffin burial, and the funeral ceremony is solemn, divided into three stages: burial, funeral and burial.

Burial is to dress the corpse and put it in the coffin. Before the first death is buried, the deceased should be summoned and bathed. The funeral is divided into two steps: small burial and large burial.

The small burial is to wrap the corpse in clothes, generally with cloth, rich people use silk, and some royal families use jade clothes. The burial is the body in a coffin. The coffin is called "Shoucai", the male coffin is engraved with the word "Shou", the female coffin is engraved with the word "Fu", and some are engraved with the combined writing of the three words "Fu Lu Shou".

When the small burial is also to put the rice in the mouth of the deceased, the rich people contain bi, beads, etc., the royal family contains jade, and in modern times it contains a silver dollar, all called "rice contains". When the funeral is often carried with some items, ordinary people have clothes, quilts and daily necessities, etc., and the rich families and royal families have many and valuable burial items.

Funeral, that is, after the funeral in the funeral palace, the length of the funeral period varies, less than 3 days, more than 30 days, mainly determined by the mourner. In ancient times, the coffin was buried for more than 3 months, up to 7 months. The traditional customs of the Han nationality are that when parents die, children must be mourned, otherwise it is unfilial.

Relatives and friends will mourn the deceased in the future, which is called "mourning" or "mourning". Those who run for mourning must be dressed in mourning clothes. The ancient Han mourning clothes are divided into five kinds, called "five clothes", made of different coarse and fine linen, and wear different mourning clothes according to the relationship between relatives and relatives, which is called "wearing linen and wearing filial piety".

In modern times, white cloth is often used for mourning clothes. Modern cities generally wear white flowers on their chests and black gauze on their arms.

Burial is to bury the body of the deceased, that is, to put the coffin into the ground. Before entering the funeral, the old custom often has to look at feng shui and choose a cemetery, which is called "choosing an auspicious place". The funeral is also called the funeral.

At the time of the funeral, the ancient Han people were generally "filial sons" in front of the scarf, and the person who saved the coffin sang an elegy. Elegy has evolved into mourning in modern times. Relatives and friends write elegiac words or elegiac couplets to send funerals, and in modern times, they have evolved into sending wreaths, and the wreaths are written on the elegiac couplets.

It means that there is a very solemn memorial service for the deceased, and the funeral is also very solemn (the grave is well repaired, the burial goods are good and there are many funeral goods, and the funeral is very large).

A grand funeral! It is a funeral ceremony performed after a person's death in order to affirm his life! Generally refers to antiquity!

It's that this person has a lot of credit in life, and his death is a thick burial!

1. The social needs of funerals and burials;

Second, the social mechanism of funeral and burial.

In the old days, funeral customs were rooted in the ancient concept of the immortality of the soul, believing that people should go to the underworld to live in the underworld after death, so they hoped that their deceased relatives would be happy and peaceful in another world, and bless their families with prosperity. People do their best to meet the needs of funerals, and even break their homes. At the same time, funeral customs and rituals are complicated, and the difference between the rich and the poor is very obvious, which has become a form of gambling and luxury competition between wealthy businessmen and eunuchs.

In the process of inheritance, from the complicated to the simple, and then from the simple back to the complicated development process, and according to their own needs, the old etiquette and etiquette are deduced.