Text: Eli
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In "Huanzhu Gege", the friendship between the fifth elder brother and Xiaoyanzi is widely known, however, a woman named Cailian caused a dispute between the two because she "sold herself to bury her father".
Cailian was poor and poor, and in order to repay the fifth elder brother for funding his father's funeral expenses, he had to follow the fifth elder brother, which made Xiaoyanzi jealous.
In fact, "selling one's body to bury one's father" was not uncommon in ancient times, when the daughters of poor families were helpless and often had to sell themselves to mourn their fathers, and they huddled on the streets, waiting for the mercy of the rich.
Seeing them do this, we can't help but have some questions in our minds, why do those people have to sell themselves to bury their fathers, and can't they just find a pit to bury them?
In ancient times, funerals burned too much silver
Taking the emperor's funeral as an example, the construction cost of the mountain mausoleum is the most luxurious, and the Ming and Qing dynasties of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties, the east and west tombs are typical representatives.
According to records, the Yongzhao Mausoleum of Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty was built by 46,700 people, and it cost 1.5 million taels of silver, 2.5 million horses of fine silk, and 500,000 taels of silver.
Even the funeral of other members of the royal family also has a huge cost, whenever the emperor dies in the Northern Song Dynasty, it is customary to report the funeral to the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia, and also send gifts, which is also a large expense, it is said that the funeral of King Yu, the youngest son of Song Renzong, mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to participate in the funeral, and the cost amounted to 500,000 yuan.
Another example is the funeral of the Jurchen concubine in the Song Dynasty, which is recorded as "serving thousands of soldiers, spending millions of dollars", and the annual cost of the royal family to worship the imperial tomb is also as high as tens of thousands.
Even the funeral of ordinary people is extremely cumbersome and expensive, taking the funeral of Miss Qin Keqing in Ningguofu in the famous book "Dream of Red Mansions" as an example, for the 49th day of its rest, 180 Zen monks were invited to chant sutras in Ningguofu, and 99 Taoist priests were invited to do the ritual of redressing grievances and washing sins.
Chose the eight-inch thick Nanmu coffin, carved exquisitely, invited 50 monks to chant in front of the spirit, 50 Taoist priests to do things, this is already the specification of the middle and lower families of the powerful in the capital, it can be seen that the funeral expenses of the ordinary people at that time were also very considerable.
The solemnity of the funeral of the ancients is due to their emphasis on filial piety, and the "Book of Rites" says, "The husband is mourned, so see filial piety", the ancients believed that giving a grand funeral after the death of the elders is an important way to express filial piety.
Therefore, the funeral must be decent, extravagant, in order to show their filial piety and family status, this concept deeply affects all classes, even if you need to borrow money or sell your body, you must try your best to buy a decent funeral for the ancestors, so "selling your body to bury your father" is not uncommon, for the ancients, the luxury of funeral is the embodiment of filial piety.
Not only that, the ancients also believed that the soul of a person still exists after death, and it is necessary to prepare rich food, clothing, shelter and transportation for the deceased in order to enjoy the life of the afterlife, which is also one of the important reasons for the thick burial in ancient times.
In the case of imperial tombs, they wanted to enjoy the same glorious life after death as when they were alive, so they competed to build huge and rich underground palaces.
The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang still holds the record of the world's largest imperial mausoleum, with more than 30,000 pieces of terracotta warriors and horses, as well as martyrs' tombs, etc., which is a very common concept in ancient times, the deceased can continue to live in another world, so it is necessary to prepare rich burial goods as much as possible to meet the needs of the deceased in the afterlife,
Ordinary people also have similar ideas, believing that the deceased still need food and clothing for use in the next life, so they also prepare some items used and cherished during their lifetime to be buried, which makes the funerals of the ancients extremely luxurious in terms of scale and cost.
Later generations of literati and scholars have criticized this, believing that this practice wastes resources, hurts people and money, and the Ming Dynasty thinker Zhu Shi once criticized the thick burial "attacking huge sums of money to uselessness, hurting the people's strength in vain", which shows that the grand occasion of thick burials in ancient times has exceeded the reasonable scope of filial piety and has become a burden.
In ancient times, the choice of cemetery is also a big deal, many people spend a lot of money to ask a feng shui master to choose a site for their elders, to find a "feng shui treasure land", I believe it is conducive to the development of children and grandchildren, "Dream of Red Mansions" Li Jia Mu, Mrs. Wang's cemetery is a feng shui treasure land bought at a high price, which also increases the cost of funerals of the ancients.
The extravagance in ancient funerals is also reflected in the hiring of monks and the reception of guests, etc., ordinary people will also invite high monks and Taoists to chant sutras, invite people to play music, and feast guests who cover the spirit, which requires a certain fee.
According to the records of the Ming people, "Fujian customs are serious murders, please monks and guests, try their best to be extravagant and filial piety, otherwise they will be ashamed of their filial piety", and the mourning family will show filial piety, and will also make every effort to make the funeral more luxurious.
In ancient times, the phenomenon of funeral cost is not uncommon, which is not only due to the influence of filial piety culture, but also inseparable from the concept of the ancients in the afterlife, although there are advantages and disadvantages, but this cultural phenomenon also reflects the connotation of human filial piety in traditional Chinese society, although it is simplified a lot, people's remembrance and mourning of the ancestors are still enduring.
The influence of feudal ideas
The importance attached to funerals in ancient society can be seen, although there are often scenes of "selling oneself to bury one's father" in film and television dramas, but it is those poor families who really suffer such suffering.
Just like Dong Yong in folklore, after his father died, he was penniless, so he could only sell his freedom to the landlord and use the borrowed money to organize his father's funeral.
According to the agreement, after three years, he must go to the landlord's house to repay the debt and become the landlord's tenant farmer.
On the way to the landlord's house, Dong Yong met a woman who claimed to be a fairy of the heavenly realm, she expressed her desire to marry Dong Yong, and prepared three hundred silks within a month to repay all of Dong Yong's debts.
The legend of Dong Yong's filial piety praised Dong Yong's filial piety and reflected the high cost of funeral at the time, and it was a huge expense for most ordinary families to have a decent funeral.
They often need to use all their family savings to make ends meet, which leads to many poor families who cannot afford to see off their loved ones even if they have the heart, so they can only choose cheap funeral methods, which is also a kind of mental suffering for them.
In fact, in that era, most of the people who undertook the heavy responsibility of "selling themselves to bury their fathers" were women, and in feudal society, the status of women was low, and there was a bad habit of not allowing women to eat at the table in many places.
Women are bound to their husbands' families, and after marriage, they are the members of their husband's family, and after death, they can only be buried in their husbands' families, and the imperial examinations and other ways to obtain opportunities for advancement are closed to women, and it is difficult for women to earn money through their own labor to support their families.
When the family changes, women often have to sell themselves to get the funeral expenses they need, and when their parents die, daughters have to rely on their own bodies to complete the last rituals.
The reason for the land
The complexity of funerals in ancient China is unimaginable to modern people, and for those homeless people from poor families, it is as difficult as climbing to heaven to give a decent funeral to their deceased parents.
In ancient times, almost all land had owners, and although emperors and nobles owned vast lands, ordinary people regarded even some small land as treasures.
If they occupy other people's land to bury their relatives, they will inevitably arouse the anger of the villagers or landlords, and may even be sued to the government, with very serious consequences.
And in ancient times, they attached great importance to genealogy and household registration, and after the death of their parents, they lost their original household registration status and became black households.
Without a hukou, they lose the legal protection of the state, are restricted everywhere, and cannot establish themselves in the local area, so they urgently need to regain a formal hukou status, which is important for survival.
Finally, there is the issue of filial piety, they believe that no matter how fate changes, people must fulfill filial piety during their lifetime, and there must be a decent funeral after death, which is the natural righteousness of their children, otherwise they will not only be condemned by public opinion, but also regarded as immoral behavior.
When those who sell their bodies are bought by wealthy people, they can exchange a considerable amount of money through long-term labor, which is not only enough to buy funeral supplies such as cemeteries and coffins, but also can be re-registered in the local area through the relationship of the buyer.
Despite their low status, this hukou gives them hope that they can finally stay in the local area legally to survive, get rid of the fear of black households, and have the opportunity to live and work in peace and contentment through hard work, so to speak, this new identity opens up a new future for them.
epilogue
It may be difficult for contemporary people to understand the sacrifice of daughters in this way by the ancients, but for the poor people of the time, it may have been the only way to give their parents rest and give themselves a foothold.
We should not criticize the ancients with the values of today, but should understand them from the perspective of their historical situation, and burying their fathers is a wonderful plan for them to not only embody filial piety, but also exchange for a new life.
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