China has always been a world-renowned country of etiquette, after all, China has a history of 5,000 years. In the long history and civilization, the Chinese have gradually integrated our traditional culture.
The richness of this set of cultural content and the perfection of the system are unique in the world. Moreover, Chinese culture also has a strong uniqueness, such as giving children a longevity lock when they are born, and matching the eight characters of the newlyweds when they get married, to test their future good fortune and evil.
Every year at a certain time, you have to go to the ancestors to sacrifice, and when you die in the twilight of your life, how to bury them in the future, and where to bury them, are also particular.
For example, when you go to the countryside to mourn, you generally can't say two bows, and after one bow, you have to bow again. So why not say two?
What is the meaning of the second bow in the rural condolence culture, so you can't talk nonsense? Let's take a brief look at it now.
1. The bow itself is an important symbol of traditional culture
If you want to understand why you can't say two bows when you go to the countryside to mourn, you can only say bow again, so let's first understand what a bow is. In fact, in different parts of the mainland, the thriving culture of condolences is also different, after all, China is an ancient civilization with a long history.
Although the Chinese civilization is a whole, different ethnic groups live in different regions and differ in specific details. Everyone attaches great importance to the death of their ancestors, but when mourning the deceased, the specific customs used are different.
For example, in some places, it is popular to kneel and kowtow to elders, but in other places, it is popular to bow three times to elders as a sign of respect.
In any case, both forms of condolence are a sign of respect for the elders, but bowing is relatively more solemn and more in line with traditional beliefs in some places.
There has always been a saying that "a man has gold under his knees", so boys can't kneel easily. Boys can only kneel to the sky and kneel to their parents and teachers all their lives, and even after the death of their elders, they can't kneel casually.
So bowing can show respect without hurting some people's pride. However, there are also some particularities when bowing, such as expressing gratitude and mourning, and bowing to 90 degrees.
Nowadays, there are always some people who feel that this culture of condolence is feudal dross, but this is not right in itself.
The Chinese civilization has been able to survive to this day, relying on this traditional clan culture and family concept, which has left traditional ideas and traditional culture from generation to generation.
Therefore, the closer to the south, the closer to the southeast coast, and the stronger the clan culture, the more important the various ceremonies of condolence are relatively more.
Nowadays is indeed an era when new culture is popular, but new culture and traditional culture can be integrated in many ways, and there is no conflict.
For example, to show respect for the deceased, to show respect for the elders, and so on. And when an elder or someone older than himself dies, the use of bowing is both a remembrance and a commemoration of the elders.
Bowing is not just a simple action, it is more integrated into the core concept of respecting the old and loving the young in traditional Chinese culture, and it is also expressing one's own emotions. Therefore, it has a special ceremonial symbolism.
The current bowing culture is not only in our country. Many countries that also belong to the Chinese cultural circle and are influenced by traditional Chinese culture also have the custom of bowing in the secondary culture produced there.
In Japan, bowing has become a basic skill that almost every Japanese person must learn. Regardless of the occasion, Japanese people have the habit of bowing, such as apologizing to others, paying tribute to their elders, or going to a temple to worship, and sometimes even bowing just when they meet friends.
It shows that the bowing culture has become an extremely common basic etiquette in Chinese civilization and secondary civilization. But when it comes to bowing, it's true that it's rare to say two bows.
Second, it is generally not said that two bows
After talking about the basic culture of bowing, let's talk about why we say one bow when bowing, not two bows, but another bow. In fact, this is mainly because the cultural customs are different from place to place.
We are a multi-ethnic country, and different regions have different dialects, and in some places the dialects are even more different.
Northerners who go to the southern provinces may not be able to understand the dialects of their southern compatriots, but they are also likely to not be able to understand the northern dialects when they come to the north.
This was very common at a time when Mandarin was not yet widely available. Even now, in some provinces of the mainland, people still communicate in dialects.
In different local dialects, the pronunciation of the word "two" is also different. If it's a time of worship, there may be a problem.
For example, the host on the stage said a bow according to the dialect, and everyone understood, but when the second bow was said, some people did not understand, only heard the bow, and did not know how to bow; Or someone mishears it, adding some specific action before the bow, which may disrupt the funeral ceremony, which is a great disrespect to the deceased.
But with Zaibow, there is no need to worry about this situation, because the pronunciation of the word "re" in most dialects in China is about the same. After saying a bow, and then bowing again, there will basically be no mishearing.
The second is the word "two", which is a relatively festive number in ancient Chinese traditional culture. For example, when a couple got married in ancient times, they had to prepare a couple for everything, and if they only prepared one, it would be disrespectful.
At that time, if you go to give gifts, you will also give a couple, because the double number means that the husband and wife can be happy.
But at the funeral of the elders, it is somewhat inappropriate to use the word "two", after all, most of the elders must have died alone.
Then, it is a little stronger to use a more serious, more solemn word that does not contain festive colors than the number two, which contains festive colors.
Finally, in ancient China, the ancients said that the word "two" rarely appeared in classical Chinese, but often appeared again.
And many times can be used to replace the word twice, after a long time, the ancients developed a mantra, in the description of the second time, will directly use the word again, so that you can save another word.
At the time of the funeral, some people said that it was smooth, and there was no problem in saying that the second bow was bowing again, anyway, everyone could understand it, as long as they understood that they had to bow again. Therefore, the second bow will replace the second bow, which itself is caused by a combination of factors.
3. A maximum of three bows can be taken
Finally, let's talk about why in funeral ceremonies, it is generally only possible to bow three times at most. Even if it is a ceremony that presides over the ceremony, it is at most about three bows.
This is mainly because the meaning of the word three in traditional Chinese culture is very special in itself, and three has the meaning of harmony. And for most people, three times is a limit in itself.
In ancient times, even if it was to worship the gods, it was to prostrate three times. Only when worshipping a particularly important deity, or worshipping the emperor, or participating in certain ceremonies, will the head be deducted nine times. In most cases, three times is a limit.
For example, when attending the funeral of some elders, bowing means worshipping the gods and thanking the gods; The meaning of the second bow is to worship the ancestors, that is, to worship the old man who has just died; The three bows are to thank God for blessing and make the family smooth sailing.
But with four bows, it's different. The word "four" was used as "death" in ancient China, which is a very disrespectful practice.
Therefore, the rule of three bows is also to express respect and worship for the ancestors, to the gods, and to heaven and earth.
The ancestors of the Chinese sometimes did not have faith, but our faith is very special, closer to nature, closer to heaven and earth. Sometimes it is not a belief in a specific life, but a belief in the great power of heaven and earth.
Therefore, if we have the opportunity to participate in rural funerals in the future, we must act in strict accordance with the relevant regulations when we participate, and bow when we should bow.
Even if this elder is not close to himself, the filial piety that should be done, the respect that should be there, the remembrance and politeness that should be there must also be there, which is not only a comfort to the family of the deceased, but also a part of the traditional culture of the mainland.
Chinese have attached the most importance to filial piety since ancient times, and this character can sometimes be greater than heaven, and in ancient times, even if the emperor was not filial, he would be pointed out by Wanfu. Therefore, we naturally cannot be unfaithful and unfilial.
And in most cases, the traditional culture of the mainland has been substantially upgraded a lot, and quite a lot of feudal dross has been removed. For example, at funeral ceremonies, some traditions that may not be acceptable to young people have been removed.
Nowadays, funerals are more serious, more in line with the current social situation, and have also accepted the improvement of modern culture, so in some respects they are not so dead, but there are still traditions such as basic bowing and worshipping ancestors.
As the heirs of the Chinese nation and Chinese culture, we should naturally actively accept and inherit them.
Epilogue:
The bow itself is a very important part of the ancient funeral rites in the mainland. There seems to be no difference between the second bow and the second bow, but it is just a one-word difference, but there are very profound cultural differences.
As the inheritors of the Chinese nation, we should understand and understand it, and we still have to study it. A nation that respects traditional culture and will actively inherit traditional culture can have a future.
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