The old village is very old, old, which means that there are many old things, and the ancient customs have been passed down here.
The old village has the custom of worshipping ancestors. Each branch of the old village has its own ancestral hall, and the ancestral hall enshrines an ancestor, from which branch it is not known, anyway. The ancestral hall was built at the expense of the clan, and the subsequent repair and reconstruction were all held by the clan under the leadership of the patriarch to study (I am very surprised that the things produced by the old society of the patriarch are still being inherited. ）
Worship of ancestors is a Chinese folk belief, but also a kind of power, it is a sign of social identity hierarchy, in the past the power of the patriarch is greater than the power of the government, this hierarchical power, embodied in the establishment of different identities through the ceremonial system of people in the construction of ancestral temples and the ancestors of the hierarchy regulations, but now this hierarchy is not as dignified as in the past, but in the genealogy is still very fine.
The general worship of ancestors is manifested in the traditional Spring Festival. As in the north, cleaning, hanging lanterns, sending the god of wealth, asking the door god to ---- they worship their ancestors is limited to one, and each household must prepare three animals---- cattle, sheep and pigs. Due to the changes in history, the changes in life, and the provisions of policies, cattle and sheep are replaced by chickens, ducks and geese, only pigs, or a pig's head. On the evening of the thirtieth century, one by one, the tribesmen, carrying red baskets with their own cakes, fruits, rice noodles, and three animals, gathered from all directions within the prescribed time. When I led my little grandson to the ancestral hall, the big red table was full of offerings, about the same.
The construction of ancestral halls is exquisite, to see feng shui, "people regard the quality of the ancestral hall feng shui as the key to the rise and fall of the clan, so the site selection of the new ancestral hall is very exquisite, generally requiring attention to the dragon vein and the source of life, the back of the mountain and the water, the Ming Hall is wide, square, the water mouth collection, no conflict, no fighting and other phenomena. As well as left and right mutual contrast, the four potentials are evenly harmonized. It has connotations such as yin and yang, virtual reality, rigid and soft complementarity, square garden victory, and small in the middle. Its environmental model is best to have a group of peaks around the screen, in front of the portal guard, left and right guards, behind the back of the mountain leaning on the landform, pay attention to the mountains and rivers, the spirit of the earth, the requirements of wenyun Hengda, people Ding two Xing. According to the law of feng shui: "The left ring and the right hug will have qi". This is the choice of anger, aura and blessing usually turning back to the real and the virtual, very particular about the orientation, generally sitting in the north or sitting in the west facing the east, there are also other directions selected according to the special dragon vein conditions. ”
This is the requirement for the ancestral hall seen on Baidu, and it is hoped that through this way, it will better obtain the blessings of the ancestors, so that the family fortune will be long-lasting, and the people will prosper. But this ancestral hall really can't see any advantages, neither relying on the mountain, nor facing the water, looking at the age of the building, the inside is not magnificent, but it is very clean. The people who come here to worship the ancestors are all close branches, an grandfather, which has lasted for several generations without knowing, anyway, it is quite prosperous---- people of my age in the south, at least 4--5 children, and must have sons. The ancestral hall is full of incense, and there are some unknown portraits on the walls around it, all of which have incense and some choke people. One by one, people hold incense sticks, bow in front of the portraits of their ancestors, put incense on them, and whether there are words in their mouths that cannot be seen, and there are also in the hearts, right? The ancestors are all dressed in the Qing Dynasty, grandparents and grandparents. There are men and women who worship, males are descendants, women are daughters-in-law, daughters who are not married, daughters who are not married, and daughters are unmarried, and they do not go to worship to see their mood. Underneath the portrait is a small wooden box, a few rows before and after, which are the names of the clans (all men and women do not enter the ancestral hall, which is reflected in the family tree). Some of those dense names were covered by notes, some were exposed, and the son-in-law said that those exposed on the outside were all deceased, and the inside of the notes were alive. Whoever dies, tears the note off.
After worshipping ancestors, there must be firecrackers. Fireworks bloomed in the air, rendering the original dark sky colorful, picturesque, the deafening sound, like thunder, in this happy day, celebrating with the ancestors, the endless gratitude to the ancestors, with the moment of fireworks blooming, also bloomed.
Like the north, the first year of the New Year, red envelopes, red envelopes. The red envelope here is not large, 10 yuan 20 yuan with the mood. Thirty nights Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the mother of the family sent red envelopes to the children, one person 20 yuan, two small grandchildren 40 yuan, uncles shouted "eccentric", are children, why should they be graded. Of course it was a joke, and they also had to hand out red envelopes for their nephews. My husband and I were no exception, and we also received a red envelope from my mother, who said that she was happy, and that a Korean guest was treated the same.
The customs here are somewhat like foreign countries, stringing relatives is not like our big bags and small rolls here, the more expensive the better, less seems to be unable to get out. Here is a delicate, their mascot is oranges, you see every family in front of the door planted kumquat, symbolizing auspiciousness, so visit the door to take a few oranges, maybe a piece of cake is good, the real human feelings are another saying.
There is also a custom here, this custom that has been extinct in many regions has been followed here---- if there is a boy in the family, it will be lit in the ancestral hall "Tim Ding Lamp", day and night, until the round lamp. As long as anyone adds a man, he becomes a "lamp boy" who holds the moon in the stars, and the people of his own clan hold a lantern opening ceremony for him to pray for blessings (if it is a girl, there will be no such courtesy). The Tim Ting lantern hangs from the second day of the Lunar New Year and does not go out day and night until the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar. The removed lamps were hung on the feng shui trees in the village, brightly colored for months. 12th of the first month
On this day, the Tim Ding family will invite the whole village to drink Tim Ting tea---- you see their busy and joyful, the whole family is immersed in a joyful atmosphere. Two days before drinking tea, the guest should go door to door to inform, when going to bring two oranges a piece of red cake, orange tied with red ribbon, tied with a flower knot, the same is true of the cake, it looks very festive. On the second day of the first year, the family hung a big lantern between the stairs and the canopy gap, red and green, long spikes, bright electronic lights---- this is the Tim Ding lamp, three days later to hang in the ancestral hall, let the ancestors see, our family has added Ding again! The day before drinking tea, the father-in-law prepared the materials to be used, the table was full of dishes and chopsticks and spoons, and the next morning, the son-in-law and his sister were busy cutting vegetables---- and boiling dishes (in fact, the so-called "tea" is rice noodles, plus a large pot of vegetable mixed vegetable soup, saying that the soup is not accurate, very thick, very thick, some like the northeast stew, even vegetables with water). These dishes should include celery, garlic sprouts, peanuts, squid, sausages, shrimp, etc., and when eaten, a handful of fried rice flowers should be placed, and then poured tea soup into the bowl before serving. The south has the habit of nightlife, this day is also earlier than usual, around 10 o'clock there will be villagers will come to celebrate, to celebrate that your family has another son. The more people who come, the better your family will be, and the more you eat, the more prosperous your children will be.
