In traditional Chinese folklore, funeral rites refer to the last form of a person's life through rituals and the last form of life, and also marks the end of the journey of life, commonly known as the end.

It was also called one of the evil rites in ancient times. Funeral customs have been passed down to the present day for thousands of years.

Every nation in the world has its own funeral customs. Since ancient times, Chinese funeral methods have been mainly divided into earth burial, cremation, water burial, sky burial and so on.

With the change of the times, the biggest change in these funeral rites is the change from burial to cremation, and some rituals have also undergone great changes.

Among them, some funeral ceremonies, which were mainly popular in cities in the past, have also become popular in villages with the implementation of urban-rural exchanges and rural cremation, such as sending wreaths and setting up memorial halls to store ashes.

However, each funeral has its own customs. Take us Han people as an example, if the burial has a funeral, stop the spirit, summon the spirit, condolences, burial, funeral, final burial and so on in an orderly manner, today I will learn and discuss the traditional funeral customs I know with you.

The first step of the funeral is called the first funeral, and before the old man dies, the sons, daughters-in-law, and daughters of the younger generations must be guarded around the hospital bed to repay the kindness of their nurturing.

In the ancient folk customs, it was very important to pay attention to the end of life. Even if the elderly die unnaturally, try to avoid taking their last breath in the hospital bed.

When the old man's life is dying, he must first bathe and change his clothes, and then move the old man to the spiritual bed in the main house and spend the dying moment under the protection of all relatives, which is the so-called send-off.

Moreover, it is taboo to say the word death after death, which is generally called old, past, gone, and so on. However, in the new society, there is still a gap between urban and rural funerals in the early days.

The funeral bed where the deceased is parked is called the corpse bed, which is usually set up in the bright room of the hall where the deceased lived. The children on both sides of the funeral bed have to guard the corpse day and night, generally arranging the men on the left and the women on the right in order of seniority, which is also different from the current storage in the funeral home.

And at the time of the funeral, the deceased is put into the coffin. Usually within three days after death, the funeral clothes are completed, and before the burial, the children of the deceased are arranged in the order of eldest and youngest, and the deceased's face is cleansed one after another.

Later, it is called a dress, and the children wear filial piety clothes and hats, commonly known as wearing filial piety. In ancient times, there were five types of filial piety clothes, which were divided into chopping and declining, Qi decaying, great gong, small attack, and hemp, collectively known as five suits, which became popular in the Tang Dynasty.

However, although the custom of wearing filial piety clothes has been enduring for a long time, the variety of its clothing has been greatly reduced.

Nowadays, in some places, wearing white shoes is a sign of filial piety, in which the children's shoes are all white, and the grandchildren's shoes are only white cloth in front, or black yarn is used instead of filial piety, and the children are all black, and the grandchildren add red cloth strips to the black yarn.

Later, the funeral is reported, and the filial son of the family is generally reported to relatives and friends, but the son or nephew is generally used as the mourner.

When relatives and friends arrive, they first kowtow to the person who is reporting the funeral, then report the time of death and the cause of death, etc., and immediately return to the wake after the report.

After the funeral, the cabinet should be set up, and the customary mourner will not ask about the funeral, mainly relying on the cabinet to master. The elders of the cabinet and the clan came forward to invite the elderly who are highly respected and have experience in funeral treatment to participate.

However, in recent years, some localities have set up funeral committees composed of cadres and representatives of group leaders, and some localities have set up red and white councils.

After the funeral, relatives and friends often come together, among which the younger generations bow, and the younger generations kneel and bow four times.

From the funeral to the funeral, children and other relatives need to wait day and night beside the coffin to fulfill their filial piety, which is also called the wake.

The last funeral, commonly known as the funeral, is also the most solemn ceremony in the funeral. In ancient times, when the funeral was held, Mr. Yin and Yang should be invited to open the list and set the funeral date.

The funeral ceremony is generally presided over by a special celebrant student, arranging the funeral formation, and determining the person who carries the coffin.

On the morning of the funeral day, drums are played, and the filial son will hold the tablet and kneel in front of the public case to thank the chief official. The chief official of the point is usually served by the local meritorious civil official, and the chief official of the point is returned to the filial son after the main word of the tablet is used with a cinnabar pen and returned to the filial son, who will take it back.

Later, the filial son and his family knelt in front of the mourning hall, and at this time, the rite usually shouted for mourning, and then cried loudly.

Then several people poured into the mourning hall, and under the command of the lisheng, the coffin was moved out of the mourning hall and placed on the prepared carrying frame, which usually ranged from eight to forty-eight people, and usually as many as sixty-four people in large households.

The coffin was then carried to the tomb that Mr. Feng Shui had already ordered, but this is usually the case for wealthy families.

When preparing to be buried, when the coffin is put into the tomb, the filial son leads his family members and friends to kneel and bow again, and the deceased is buried in the ground after firing cannons and playing music.

After the burial, Lisheng also led the filial son to thank the guests. After the burial, there are round tombs, burning seven, burning 100 days ceremonies, etc., which can be regarded as the whole process of ancient burials that I understand.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state stipulated that all Han people should be cremated, except for some ethnic minorities. Although saving land can prevent the spread of some so-called diseases, I don't think that in the end, I still occupy the land instead of holding the urn and burying it again.

And many remote rural "non-ethnic minorities" also maintain the tradition of burial. Cremation may have been popular in the city for a long time, but for the countryside, burial is a folk custom that has been accumulated for thousands of years.

If you want to seek its meaning, I think that even if it is a kind of faith, it can be regarded as a kind of deep-rooted Chinese folk culture in the countryside.