Why choose a dearest offspring to top the pot in a rural funeral?

In rural funerals, a descendant of the deceased is chosen to top the pot. Generally, the eldest son of the deceased stands at the intersection with the ash basin on his head, and then the chief will take down the ash basin carried by the eldest son and slam it on the bricks prepared before, and the more broken the better. This is the folk mourning, of course, according to the different customs in different places, the name is also different.

There are also places called ash basins, because the basins are used to hold paper ashes; There is also a place called a corpse basin, because this basin is generally placed in front of the spirit of the deceased and is used to guard the corpse; There are also places called throwing old pots, because the local taboo is dead, so the old is used instead of dead. Either way, the general meaning is actually the same. So,Why should the top pot choose the closest offspring?

1. Why choose the closest offspring to top the pot and then drop the pot, which is a ritual. This top and fall is the respect of the juniors to the elders, and it is also a farewell to the yin and yang. In addition to this, there is actually a deeper meaning, that is, the inheritance of the inheritance and the transfer of family power.

In the civil society, the property of the deceased will be inherited by the person who carries the basin, and at the same time, the power held by the deceased in the family during his lifetime will also be transferred to the person who carries the basin. Therefore, the top basin is actually the establishment of a kind of inheritance relationship among the people, which is generally borne by the eldest son of the family, and if the eldest son has died, then the second son will be responsible, and so on. If all the sons are dead, the grandson will take the responsibility.

If there are no children, one of the nephews will be selected to take charge, and the selected one will be regarded as the child of the deceased, with the right to inherit and the obligation to inherit the heir. On the basis of inheriting the property of the deceased, it is necessary to bear the funeral expenses of the deceased and the obligation to pay tribute to the deceased in the future. In the old days, there was often a rush to the ash basin, in fact, it was to compete for family property.

Second, the origin of the top basin and the fall of the basin The custom of the top basin and the pot has a long history, and it is rumored that the earliest establishment of this rule is the ancestor of the pottery industry, Fan Li.

Actually, in Zhuangzi drumming and singing.

Since then, there has been some life and death between man and the basin. Top basin and falling basin were the most popular after the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is described in many books.

Of course, the customs of various places are different, and the sayings and practices are naturally different, and some places say that it is taken to pray for the blessings of the juniors, wishing the future generations a safe life; Some say that it is for the dead to go to hell.

After that, you can drink less ecstasy soup. No matter what the statement is, with the ashes of the basin, the deceased has finally gone away, and the life has come to an end.

According to traditional customs, whoever breaks the pot inherits the inheritance. It is a person who tops the basin and throws the basin, and of course the old man wants to leave the inheritance to the person closest to him, so he must choose the person closest to him to do this work.

This is a custom from ancient times to the present day. It is a sign of respect for the elderly to be carried by the dearest descendants. It can also teach future generations to be filial to their elders and educate them to become grateful people.

The top basin is not only the respect of the juniors to the elders, but also the farewell of yin and yang. It also has a deeper meaning, that is, the inheritance of the inheritance and the transfer of family power, so it should be topped by the closest one.

In fact, it is the heir who falls the basin, and under normal circumstances, the closest descendant inherits the family property and is the master of the house, so it seems that the closest descendant falls into the basin.

Under normal circumstances, these two situations are not in conflict, after all, under normal circumstances, everyone must choose their closest children to inherit their family business, and will not choose a child who is not close to them to inherit. However, there are exceptions, like some people who have a very big conflict between themselves and their children due to educational problems when they are young, and when they are old, they feel that their children are not filial, and their children also ignore him, so they decide to entrust their family business to a collateral child, or even an outsider, in this case, the one who is responsible for breaking the pot is not his closest descendant.

As for why there is a connection between "throwing pots" and "inheriting the family business", there is no historical record of this, but in folk rumors, it is said that it is because of the customs handed down by Fan Li in ancient times:

Fan Li: We all know that when he was an official, he was a wise man and knew how to govern the country. In folk rumors, it is said that he finally retired safely with a beautiful woman and was not tossed to death by the emperor. Whether it's true or not, we don't care, let's talk about this custom left by Fan Li.

In addition to being an official, Fan Li is also a big businessman, perhaps this is the ability of a smart person, he wandered in the world penniless, and also accumulated a large amount of wealth, becoming a well-known rich man in a certain place.

However, he had no children, and the disposal of his family property became the most troublesome thing for him before he died.

Some people say that you don't have children anyway, so simply giving the family property to the nearby neighbors is the last good thing to do before you die. Fan Li didn't agree.

Just when Fan Li was worried, a young man said that he would simply burn down all the family business, and it would be a hundred.

Originally, this was an idea to break the jar, but it made Fan Li's eyes light up, he carefully observed this young man for a long time, and finally made a decision.

After Fan Li's death, the young man held a clay pot and smashed it in front of Fan Li's coffin, and then inherited his family business.

Why is this so?

First of all, because Fan Li is in the local business of selling clay pots, this broken clay pot means that all Fan Li's family business has been "burned", and then the rest of the family business is given to young people.