When it comes to 'inviting ghosts', it is not a very profound thing, just like the usual New Year's festival to worship ancestors, a table will be set first, and the ancestors and ancestors will be invited to eat first, and then it will be the turn of the living to eat.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for this funeral to 'invite ghosts', the point is to invite the 'ghosts' away, this is a science, if it is usually the New Year or something, those 'ghosts' will naturally leave after eating.

However, it is an extremely difficult thing to invite a 'ghost' to go to this funeral, there is no certain way, it will not work at all, and it verifies the sentence handed down by the ancestors, 'It is easy to invite a ghost and it is difficult to send a ghost'.

Thinking of this, I was a little hesitant in my heart, so I asked Mr. Fan: "Do you have to 'please ghosts'?" ”

He glared at me and said angrily: "What is the meaning of 'please ghost', that is to invite the ancestors and ancestors, it is a funeral etiquette, and it cannot be abolished." ”

I sighed and asked him again, "Can you ask a Taoist priest to do this ceremony?" ”

He shook his head and didn't speak, but pointed to the mother-son coffin with his finger, the meaning was very clear, let me look at it.

What can I say when I see him do this? The mother and son can be said to have been killed indirectly by me, so let the funeral go out and let someone else do it? Let's not talk about it, I undertook this funeral, let's just say that Shen Jun's reaction when he died also made me feel guilty.

I didn't say anything to Mr. Fan, nodded, and walked towards the auspicious position pointed out by Lao Wang, intending to try.

I wanted to ask Mr. Fan if there was anything I needed to pay attention to, but when I saw him standing there like a mud bodhisattva, motionless, I guess he wouldn't teach me anything. So, I took the plunge and started 'asking for ghosts'.

I first asked my sister-in-law for some lists of Shen Junzu, and then asked Lao Wang to find a pair of candles, three taels of yellow paper, four long wooden stools, eight pairs of dishes and chopsticks, a bottle of liquor and ten dishes. (Note: Dishes are raw and cannot be cooked.) ）

Preparing these things, I moved the offering table forward, put a long wooden bench next to the coffin, this is the upper table, and moved the black and white photos of Shen Jun's family to the middle of the offering table, and then wrote the names of the two people on red paper on the upper table. (Note: This person's name is the name of the deceased's ancestor with the highest rank.) ）

Then, I wrote the names of the six in the other three directions of the Eight Immortals Table on red paper, straightened the wooden bench, and wiped the surface of the bench with yellow paper.

When I fiddled with the table of the Eight Immortals, the old Wang and Sister-in-law Hua had already prepared ten dishes and stood on the left side of the hall, and they used trays, and each tray had five dishes, all of which were ordinary dishes, not much to count.

When the old king saw me fiddling with the table of the Eight Immortals, he asked me, "Nine Guys, can you serve the food?" ”

I shook my head and said, "I'll see my gestures later." ”

After speaking, I scooped up the yellow paper and candle, first tied a hemp rope to the foot of the Eight Immortals Table, and then tied the other end to the candle and inserted it into the tail of Shen Jun's coffin, and then according to the method just now, I inserted another candle into the tail of the mother-son coffin, so that the candle and the Eight Immortals Table were triangular.

Immediately afterwards, a gossip diagram was placed on yellow paper inside the triangle.

After doing this, I lit three pieces of yellow paper, burned them next to Shen Jun's coffin, made three gestures, said some auspicious words, and then burned seven pieces of yellow paper in front of the altar of the hall, and read in my mouth: "I, Chen Jiu, today I came to Yanma Village to plead for Shen Jun's great-grandfather Shen Feng'an, Shenmen Wang and his wife, Shen Jun's great-grandfather Shen Fengxiang, Shenmen Liu's wife, Shen Jun's grandfather Shen Pingjiang, Shenmen Luo's wife, and Shen Jun's father, Shen Zhengyou, Shenmen Zhang's and his wife, to be seated. ”

After shouting this, my face sank, pretending to be hideous, I turned around, stomped on the ground with my right foot, stared at the outside of the hall, and said angrily: "This is a family banquet, if any of them break into the banquet without opening their eyes, don't blame Chen Jiu for not being emotional, and let down bursts of thunder and other souls scatter." ”

As I spoke, I sprinkled the yellow paper and said, "Wait for some yellow paper, and leave quickly." ”

After saying this, I don't dare to be careless, the words just now are to scare the lonely souls and wild ghosts around, this can't be helped, the funeral itself is easy to provoke the lonely ghosts, if you don't brag about some bull coins, where to hold.

At that moment, I hurriedly picked up the spirit flag, waved it four times above Shen Jun's coffin, and three times above the mother and son coffin, then lit the candle next to the coffin, shook the Taoist robe on my body, walked to the middle of the gossip diagram in the triangle, bent down slightly, held the spirit flag behind me on the left and right, made a gesture of invitation with my right hand, and shouted in a long voice: "Yinluo, Yinluo, the ancestors of the Shen family have entered... Mat... Smart! (Note: This is a prolongation.) ）

As soon as the words fell, the sound of firecrackers sounded, crackling, and when I looked up, it was Mr. Fan, who was holding a firecracker about two feet long in his hand, which was being set off. Seeing me look over, he nodded and didn't speak.

When the sound of firecrackers stopped, I moistened my voice and was about to shout to serve the food, when I saw the smoke from the firecrackers drifting into the hall, I don't know if it was my dazzle or what's going on, the smoke was hazy and somewhat like a human form, I rubbed my eyes vigorously, and I saw a lot of smoke on the table.

Seeing this, I swallowed my saliva, a cold sweat broke out in my palms, and I didn't dare to be sloppy, I took a few deep breaths, stretched my voice and shouted: "Serve!" ”

With this sound of 'serving the food', the old king took a sentence of 'the dish is coming, be careful of scalding'.

Immediately afterwards, the old king put the tray on the threshold of the hall, picked up one of the bowls of lettuce, and walked into the hall.

When Lao Wang's left foot stepped into the threshold of the hall, I immediately raised my voice and shouted: "Don't do anything to serve the food first, listen to my detailed description, look at the people, take care of the seat, the guests in the banquet listen to me, a dish to see the wine full of menji, mourning and sackcloth to make a big gift, the crane will go back to the west today, when will I come to visit again." ”

After shouting this, I made three tosses at the offering table, and motioned for the old king to put the first course on it, and then pour some wine.

The old king came to his senses, poured some wine, and was about to speak, when I hurriedly waved my hand at him, telling him not to speak, and to serve the food quickly.

He nodded, didn't dare to speak, turned around, brought the second bowl of dishes, I shouted: "The second dish looks at the wine and weeps, one door is full of sorrow and filial piety, the Zhou metric system is safe and the family is in the country, and Confucius is famous." ”

It is worth mentioning that the fifth dish is raw meatballs, which require a firecracker, which means that the deceased can be reunited with his ancestors when he arrives in the underworld.

It took about seventeen or eighteen minutes to serve the food, and my throat was a little hoarse when I shouted, but in the face of 'please ghost', I didn't dare to slack off, and I did the etiquette to the end of each dish, until the tenth dish, a little accident happened.