According to the custom in the village, on the day of the burial and the first seven days of the funeral, the largest number of guests come and go. The courtyard www.biquge.info of Lao Li's house is now crowded with people.

During the day, the third uncle presided over the ceremony. The ceremony of the first seven is similar to the day of the burial, but it is a little more complicated. First, the order of worship is clearly defined according to the generation. If there is someone in the Li family who is older than Mrs. Li, then this person can have the right not to participate in the worship ceremony, but the descendants of Mrs. Li must participate. It is first divided according to the immediate and collateral relatives, and then according to the order of male and female generations.

Lao Li, who is the only son of Mrs. Li, is naturally the first person to worship during the ceremony.

I saw that the third uncle was in the courtyard facing the position of the mourning hall, setting up a table, on which the incense burner and the empty wine glass were placed, and a hall was set up on the left and right sides, which were placed the same. After everything was in place, he saw the third uncle take out the family tree and read it out first. After reading out, shout Lao Li's name, and Lao Li needs to come forward and kneel down to listen to the reading. After pouring some wine into each empty wine glass on the table, the third uncle lit three sticks of incense, inserted them in the incense burner, and then asked Lao Li to worship. There is a special aspect of the worship here, that is, "three kneels and three rises", every time you kneel, after kowtowing, you have to stand up, then kneel and kowtow, and get up again, and so on three times. After that, they perform the same salutation to the left and right sides of the court, and finally thank the guests, and do the same in the direction where there is no room for the case.

After Lao Li's worship was completed, Lao Li's wife and descendants came forward to pay their respects. All in all, the ritual is complicated and time-consuming. The villagers are happy, after all, it is not a big deal to watch the excitement, buy a bag of melon seeds, sit down, eat and watch, and then chat with the people next to them by the way.

Li Ziping and Zhang Taisheng were also sitting in the courtyard watching at this time, but they saw Li Ziping touching Zhang Taisheng with his elbow and asked, "Is the custom of your village the same?" ”

Zhang Taisheng shook his head and said: "It's not the same, the ritual in our village is much simpler, that is, the son and daughter worship first, and after the rest of the side descendants come forward to make a salute or something, it will be over." ”

As mentioned in the previous document, in the old days, Hainan's economy was underdeveloped and the transportation was not convenient, so there were many villages here, and the customs and habits were very different. However, a large part of this is due to the multi-ethnic factor. It is said that the first to enter Hainan was the Li people, followed by the Hui and Miao people, and finally the Han people. Although the Han people later had a large population, the differences in customs between them sometimes had different effects on people in different places.

Li Ziping said: "Do you think these things are useful?" ”

"What's that?" Zhang Taisheng pretended to be stupid.

Li Zi gave him a blank look and said, "It's these different rituals such as worship in each village. ”

Zhang Taisheng smiled and said, "Of course it works." ”

"Useful?" Li Ziping was a little puzzled and said, "Since they are all useful, why are there so many differences in the convenience of many villages?" ”

Zhang Taisheng said: "You don't know this!" According to my opinion, it is the customs and habits that people in every place are familiar with and continue to use, which has become a kind of thing in their bones, and this kind of thing may decrease with the change of time, but this set of things is the most effective in their time, to put it bluntly, the people who died in this village, even if he turned into a ghost, he only recognized this set of rituals, once you use the rituals and customs of other villages to worship him, it is easy to anger them, and it is very disrespectful to them. ”

After hearing this, Li Ziping seemed to understand a little, and said: "In other words, although this person became a ghost after death, the set of things he identified was what he recognized when he was alive, and there is no way to change it." ”

"That's right." Zhang Taisheng looked at Li Ziping, with an expression of "boy, you have finally opened up", which made Li Ziping want to jump up and give him a beating.

By the time the first seven rituals of the Lao Li family were completed, it was already noon. The hot sun is shining in the sky, and the scorching heat is unbearable. At this time, it is not yet the time for the guests to leave, and according to the customs here, the host needs to prepare a meal for all the guests who come, as a thank you to the guests for giving Mrs. Li a ride. Of course, this food is not eaten for nothing. In the old days, there was a custom that was passed down, that is, when someone from a poor family died, the neighbors would give some money as the cost of helping with the burial, which was also equivalent to accumulating a yin virtue for themselves. This custom has continued to this day and has become one of the indispensable customs in Hainan, just as it is normal to give money to people on happy occasions.

In some areas of Hainan, if you get married once, or if you have a white affair at home, you can often get it down, not only can you enjoy the scenery, but you can also earn a gift money. The most exaggerated is the Hui people in Hainan, who get married once, and the gifts given by the guests add up to at least four or five million, and the maximum can be tens of millions. The author himself has a Hui friend, who received more than 20 million yuan in gift money when he got married, and bought a Porsche immediately after getting married. Of course, this passage is talking about the current era, and if there were millions of people in that era, it is estimated that it can reach the level of indignation of the whole country.

Leaving aside the digression, Zhang Taisheng asked people to prepare a large pot full of flour and peeled coconut branches and leaves. Anyone who has ever seen a coconut tree knows that the trunk that grows out of the tree is elastic and bendable, and the coconut leaves that grow on the trunk are elongated. According to my understanding, there are no willow trees in Hainan, so the willow branch fighting ghosts will not happen, so there must be something that can be replaced. And such things are the branches and leaves of the coconut tree. In general, first break off a tree trunk, then use a knife to cut off the large branches at the end, leaving only the slender part of the middle and tail ends, and then pull out some slender leaves, the vacated part can be used as a handle, and finally take the rootless water, that is, the dew in the mountain forest in the early morning, and then burn the charm into the water, and then sprinkle it on the coconut leaves, it has the effect of driving away evil and avoiding evil. In addition, Zhang Taisheng also asked people to prepare a mirror, a few strings of copper bells, and a bundle of red threads.

Zhang Taisheng's style of doing things belongs to the fierce type, once the demon is subdued and the demon is eliminated, he will not leave any hand, which is very powerful, which is also one of the reasons why Li Ziping values him.

After everything is prepared, just wait for the meal to be finished and the villagers and neighbors disperse, and then you can make arrangements.

"I'll go to bathe and change clothes first, and wash the wind and dust on my body for the past two days, so as not to make a mess if Master Zu doesn't bless me later." Zhang Taisheng said a word and left first.