During rural funerals, why did the deceased have their heads north and feet south? What s the point?

Updated on culture 2024-06-16
18 answers
  1. Anonymous users2024-02-12

    In the past, rural people were basically buried in wooden coffins. After the death of the deceased, the soul should be cut off first. When the gas stops, the head is facing south and the feet are facing north. That is, when the deceased stops at **, the feet should be in the position of the north window and the head should be in the position of the south door.

    1.The layout of the farmhouse is different from that of the commercial house. Urban commercial houses have living rooms and dining rooms, and rural houses have main rooms.

    The main room is different from the living room in that it functions as both a living room and a dining room. After a person dies, some places put the mourning hall in the ancestral hall, and some places set up a mourning hall in the main hall. The main house is the main room, and the deceased is placed in the coffin first, and then the coffin is placed in the main room.

    2.Because not all places have the terrain of high in the north and low in the south, if the cemetery is on the eastern slope of the mountain, you can only choose to face west with your head facing west and your feet facing east; The cemetery is on the western slope of the mountain, and you can only choose to face east and feet west. And if you have to choose the north slope of the mountain, you have to face the south and the north.

    3.Cremation is now practiced, and when a person dies, he becomes a pile of ashes and is placed in an urn. Even if you are buried according to custom, you can't tell the head is in ** and the feet are in**.

    But since the urn is not square, it is generally rectangular. Therefore, when buried, the rectangle should be placed along the height of the mountain, but the bottom of the tomb should still be flat. In this way, after both husband and wife have passed away, the two urns can be placed side by side.

    4.People who have just passed away are housed in the main house, head in and out of their feet, indicating that they are still alive in this world. Once in the coffin, the head is facing outwards and the feet are facing inward, and the higher end of the coffin is also facing outward. In this way, it is convenient to sacrifice, and filial piety can be incense as soon as you enter the door, so that it will be quiet.

    5.The location of the tombs varies from place to place. It doesn't have to be north-south, east-west, southeast-southwest, northeast-southwest, northeast-southwest. Some places look at the yellow calendar according to the time of suffocation.

    to determine the direction. Of course, the direction cannot be determined casually. Those who should sit in the east cannot sit in the west, and those who should sit in the west cannot sit in the east. Mass funerals are often inconsistent with the ritual system.

    There is a lot of attention to detail in the placement of the coffin. No matter how the main room sits, the corpse has its head facing the main hall and its feet facing the outside of the hall.

  2. Anonymous users2024-02-11

    In the current position of our country, it is emphasized that the north and the south are emphasized, so when the funeral is carried out in the countryside, it will also be regarded as the upper position, which is in the traditional culture.

  3. Anonymous users2024-02-10

    The cemeteries handed down in the countryside generally sit in the north and face south, so they are more in line with traditional customs, and also have the meaning of the ancestors to protect the descendants; There are a lot of superstitious overtones in it.

  4. Anonymous users2024-02-09

    Different places have different customs, which is directly related to local customs.

  5. Anonymous users2024-02-08

    The custom of the messenger's head north and feet south should be mainly in the north or plain area, and the gate of the traditional house garden in the north is the folk who sit in the north and face south, and pay attention to a straight word, so it is placed like this.

  6. Anonymous users2024-02-07

    It is a custom, and there are differences in different local customs, believing that doing so can give the deceased rest.

  7. Anonymous users2024-02-06

    Because the countryside is often high in the north and low in the south, it is often necessary to put the head in a high place and the feet in a low place, so that it can be more stable.

  8. Anonymous users2024-02-05

    1. Traditional rules

    Rural people understand rural affairs, speak rural dialect, and do rural affairs, and there are rules for everything. Especially if you don't handle major matters well, you always feel that it is an inch, and there is always a lump in your heart that you can't put down, such as rural funerals.

    Let's start with the mortuary, the people who have just passed away are placed in the hall, and their heads are facing inward and their feet outward, indicating that they are still alive and alive. After entering the coffin, the head is facing outward and the feet are facing inward, and the high end of the coffin is also facing outward. In this way, it is convenient to worship, so that the person who hangs filial piety can offer incense as soon as he enters the door, and it also looks quiet when he puts it in that way.

    The biggest mystery is that there is a kind of superstition, first ask the mage to overspend the soul, sometimes the days are not good to stop for a few days and nights, in order to prevent "cheating" the coffin is not sealed. There are always people during the day, especially at night, and filial sons should stay in front of the coffin to prevent cats from jumping out of the coffin.

    Superstitious legend has it that the cat jumps out of the coffin, and the deceased will stand up like a zombie with his face facing inward, and the guardian will just stop from behind and hug him. Superstition is believed when it is superstitious, but no one has ever seen it, and it is also convenient to get out of the coffin with the head facing outward, which is equivalent to the feeling that the deceased is facing backwards and the living is separated from yin and yang, and the living are reluctant to give up.

    The rural cemeteries are all on the mountain, of course, the coffin is on the top, and you can't plant the onion upside down, so that on the one hand, it is easy to bury, and on the other hand, the descendants go to sacrifice the dead as if it is visible. Therefore, it is not necessarily the direction of the head and the direction of the feet, it depends on the trend of the year.

    In fact, people die like mud, no matter how they are buried, they don't know, they are buried in the ground, everything is cultivated, and the living people do their last filial piety.

    2. Geographical characteristics

    The geographical characteristics of our country are high in the west and low in the east, high in the north and low in the south. The choice of the cemetery is also exquisite, with the mountains and rivers in the background. Just like the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, it is based on "resting on Lishan Mountain with your head and pedaling on the Wei River", from the perspective of feng shui, the geographical feng shui of the imperial mausoleum is a must.

    The north side is close to the mountain, so you can sit on the north and face south. The head of the person is the head, which is in the upper part of the body, so the head is facing north, and the feet are tail and are down, just opposite the head, so the feet are facing south.

    The cemetery is high and low so that water can flow away in time and not accumulate in the grave.

  9. Anonymous users2024-02-04

    Through traditional funeral rituals, the nostalgia of the living for the deceased can be expressed, and paper money is burned so that the deceased can have money to spend in another world, and the practice is to overlive the soul.

    As far as the parking position of the deceased is concerned, the head is south and the instep is when the spirit is stopped, which shows respect for the deceased, because the mourning hall in the countryside is generally the main house, which is not only a habit, but also can be explained by rural feng shui.

    Since ancient times, China has paid attention to feng shui, some people think that it is superstition, and it is actually very simple from the perspective of science now, that is, the living environment affects people's health, and the countryside not only attaches importance to the feng shui of the living, but also pays attention to the feng shui of the dead, and believes that if people are buried in a piece of feng shui treasure land after death, it will benefit future generations.

    Generally, rural families also sit in the north and face south, so when people are buried after death, they usually choose the north of the head and the south of the feet, so that the deceased can rest in peace and will prosper the fortune of future generations.

    Up the north and down the south, and the head of the person is the head, on the body, so the head is facing north, and the feet are the tail and down, just opposite to the head, so the feet are facing south, and the head is not fixed, which has to be selected according to the cemetery, because the cemetery does not necessarily sit north to south, and there is also the choice of the east slope and the west slope, then you can only choose the head facing west and the foot facing east or choosing the head facing east and the foot facing west.

    Later, after the implementation of cremation, people became a pile of ashes after death, and there was a bag in the urn, even if they were buried, they could not tell where the head was and where the feet were.

  10. Anonymous users2024-02-03

    After someone dies in the countryside, the body will be parked in the hall of their home for relatives and friends to come to mourn, at this time it is also necessary to visit the deceased head north and foot south, because most of the houses in the countryside are self-built houses, so the older generation will follow the direction of the house to sit north and face south, so that the gate is facing north.

    Therefore, if the body of the deceased is also placed in the direction of sitting north and facing south, the feet of the deceased will be facing the relatives and friends who come to mourn, so these relatives and friends will not be particularly respected, so the head of the deceased should be facing the gate to accept the condolences of relatives and friends.

    And the older generation is very superstitious about the corpse, so in order to prevent the corpse from fraudulently placing the corpse in the direction of the head north and feet south, because if the corpse fraud phenomenon occurs, that is, the bioelectricity causes the corpse to bounce up or sit up, so the head north facing south can avoid the phenomenon of corpse fraud and scare the relatives and friends who come to mourn, so when the deceased is parked at home, the body orientation of the head north and feet south is still very necessary. <>

    Although the deceased needs to follow the direction of the north and south of the head and feet when accepting the condolences of relatives and friends, it is necessary to look at the specific feng shui situation of the burial place, and it is not necessarily necessary to follow the direction of the head and north and the south of the foot to be buried.

    If the location of the mountain is not to the north, and we still bury the head of the deceased in the north, then this is a reversal of feng shui and a waste of treasure, so the location of the tomb and the placement of the coffin should be determined according to the specific feng shui of the cemetery area. <>

    We always hope to choose a feng shui treasure for their elders after their death so that they can enjoy it after death, but I think we should fulfill our filial piety during their lifetime, and now the country implements cremation, which reduces the process of white affairs, so we should be good to them during their lifetime, don't often make them angry, and don't let yourself leave regrets.

  11. Anonymous users2024-02-02

    Because this way is more in line with Feng Shui, and people can face the head of the deceased when worshipping, even if the deceased does sit up because of the effect of bioelectricity, it will not make people too afraid.

  12. Anonymous users2024-02-01

    Because the deceased's "head north and feet south" is the best from the perspective of Feng Shui, this can also prevent the occurrence of corpse fraud, let the soul of the deceased rest in peace, and let the family of the deceased be protected from human suffering.

  13. Anonymous users2024-01-31

    Because this is all handed down from ancient times, it can be said to be a habit, or it can be said to be a convention, but everyone is abiding by it.

  14. Anonymous users2024-01-30

    In rural funerals, the deceased faces north with their heads facing north and feet facing south, which is based on basic Feng Shui concepts, but it is not set in stone and is mainly based on the topography. In the past, rural people were basically buried in wooden coffins. When a person dies, he must first stop his spirit, and when he stops his spirit, his head is facing south and his feet are facing north, that is to say, the deceased is in the middle of the spirit, and his feet are facing the position of the north window, and his head is facing the position of the south door.

    In the past, if a small animal such as a cat passed by the corpse after the death of the person, the corpse would be brought up by the electrostatic induction, and then pounced straight forward.

    If the head is facing north, the corpse will stand up and will pounce in the direction of the door, while with the head facing north, there will be no problem, because the north side is the wall. However, when a person dies and is buried, it is usually the case with the head facing north and the feet facing south. Why is this so?

    Because the selection of acupuncture points is usually chosen in the northwest high and low in the south, so that the cold wind blowing from Siberia in winter is blocked by the mountain, in order to achieve the purpose of gathering the Tibetan phoenix, Feng Shui says that the mountain is in charge of people and the water is in charge of wealth, and the ancestral tomb is backed by the green mountains and faces the river, so that the descendants of the people are prosperous and the wealth is rolling. In the case of a wooden coffin, the person is lying face up, with his head on high ground and his feet on low ground.

    However, where the head is facing depends mainly on the choice of cemetery. Because not all places have a high terrain in the north and low in the south, if the cemetery is on the eastern slope of the mountain, you can only choose to face west with your head facing west and your feet facing east; If the cemetery is on the western slope of the mountain, you can only choose to face east with your head facing east and your feet facing west. And if you have to choose the northern slope of the mountain, you have to face south with your head and feet north.

    Of course, if it is a plain area, it is mainly to choose Zhaoshan, the cemetery pays attention to the green mountains, that is, the front of the cemetery, one is water, the other is to have green mountains in the distance, this mountain is called Zhaoshan. Then, when buried in the plain area, the feet of the deceased should be facing Zhaoshan, and the head north should be in the opposite position of Zhaoshan. If there is no mountain, then there is water in front of the grave, but there can be water behind the grave, and the deceased should have his feet facing the water.

  15. Anonymous users2024-01-29

    Because the choice of tombs is generally high in the northwest and low in the south, this can achieve the purpose of gathering Tibetan wind. And the person should be face up, the head should be in a high place, and the feet should be in a low place so that it can be stable, and you can't hang it head down and feet up.

  16. Anonymous users2024-01-28

    The head represents the most precious presence in a person, and in our country's culture is to honor the north. It is also so that those who have passed away can live well underground.

  17. Anonymous users2024-01-27

    Because our country's culture is "respect to the north", the head represents the most "respectful" existence in the human body, and all burials should be headed north and feet facing south.

  18. Anonymous users2024-01-26

    In ancient times, burial was generally taken very seriously, even more than marriage.

    That's because in ancient times, burial was a matter of prosperity and prosperity for future generations as a whole.

    Whether a big family is prosperous and strong, whether it is prosperous, depends on the location of the ancestors who chose to be buried.

    In ancient times, there was an ironclad rule on the selection of acupuncture points for burial, that is, sitting in the north and facing south, the emperor seat, sitting in the west and facing east, and the rich and noble.

    In ancient times, feng shui masters would determine acupuncture points according to feng shui, and the ancients would feel that after a person died, he would go to another world, and he must choose a good acupuncture point to bring a better future to his family.

    Therefore, in ancient times, although people died, their souls still had to help, otherwise they would be uneasy after death, and the family would also be affected.

    Therefore, there are many more important matters when choosing acupuncture points, one is the wind, pay attention to the purple qi coming from the east, and must choose a vibrant place.

    If the wind is smooth, the family wind will also be smooth, so the acupuncture points should be smooth and there should not be too many obstacles.

    In addition, the acupuncture points should not be directly facing north, and the feet facing north here cannot face north, so that the whole person is facing the north, which is unlucky.

    In ancient times, the weather was very unpredictable, especially in the north, and there were often bad weather such as wind, sand, rain and snow.

    If the tomb faces north, it can easily be eroded by bad weather and will be destroyed. This is a great disrespect to the deceased, so it must not be facing north.

    Therefore, in ancient times, the ancients were buried with their heads north and feet south, so that they faced the south and had plenty of sunshine.

    The north belongs to water in feng shui, and in feng shui, there is a saying that you can't hide the wind and gather qi, and it will also aggravate the yin qi.

    If the tomb faces west, and there is a saying that the deceased is allowed to drink the northwest wind after death, it is disrespectful to the deceased, and it will affect the future of future generations.

    Therefore, in the ancient feudal superstitious society, a person must be used after death and cannot get rid of control.

    In modern times, there are still many people who still believe in the rhetoric of feudal superstition, which is not advisable.

    Choosing a place with a good environment to prevent the corpse from being bitten by insects can understand the mood of the family, but blindly believing in feudalism is a bit bad.

Related questions
5 answers2024-06-16

Meaning: Drop blood to support relatives, in order to benefit future generations.

28 answers2024-06-16

People respect the dead very much, that is because the Chinese have a saying that the dead died for the eldest person, and everything should be done in a paragraph, so respect the dead and let the dead feel at ease.

20 answers2024-06-16

There is a tradition of two reburials in the south, and the reason why the north taboos the graves are actually because the ethnic characteristics of northerners and southerners are different, and northerners are more conservativeAnd when burying the dead in the north, they will do it all at once and will not move the grave at will, feeling that it is disrespectful to the deceased to move the grave. <> >>>More

27 answers2024-06-16

After the death of rural people, most people use the method of burial, and a small number of people use cremation, so why build a small mound on top of the coffin when burying? Personally, I think there are many reasons for building a small mound, the first reason is that it is a small mound to make it easier for people to find, you think that if people come to worship, the burial place is flush with the ground, then we don't know that the old man who died at home is buried in **, so it is convenient for people to find and worship by building a small mound. >>>More

9 answers2024-06-16

Because rural people attach more importance to the idea that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, in addition to sending congratulatory gifts, each household will send a person to help, washing vegetables, removing dishes, moving tables, putting chairs, serving dishes, serving wine, ......And so on, generally with helpers according to the number of banquet tables, a table with one person. The proprietor only needs to hire a few chefs. The neighbors who help will come in to help from the day before the main banquet and the thank-you wine will not end until the day after the main banquet. >>>More