The Book of Rites·Jiyi" says: "All living beings must die, and they must return to the earth." All living beings will die, including human beings, and their bodies must return to the earth after death.
In my country, burial first appeared in primitive society, and it is still popular in some rural areas that do not have the conditions for cremation.
Burial means placing the deceased in a coffin prepared in advance, and then carrying the coffin containing the deceased to a designated burial place, which is commonly known as a grave mountain. Then buried in the pre-dug tomb, and then piled with lime and loess tomb, and then choose to erect a monument.
There is a fixed pattern of funeral etiquette in China. Among them, the process of carrying the coffin out of the funeral is very particular, that is, the coffin cannot fall to the ground. What is the reason?
01
When the soul returns, it is safe to enter the earth
First, let's analyze the reasons for the burial.
"Lu's Spring and Autumn Festival Funeral" pointed out: "The ravages that are dearly loved are abandoned by death. People's feelings cannot bear to do so, so there is the meaning of burying the dead. The buried person should be hidden, and the filial piety should be careful."
It means: those whom I respect and love, abandon them in pits and ravines after death. Human beings cannot bear to do this, so the custom of burying the dead has arisen. The so-called burial is to hide, to hide in the soil. This is something that loving parents and filial sons should consider carefully.
Die well, and feel at ease. After a person dies, there must always be a suitable destination. It is a good choice to bury it in the soil, just like the leaves return to the roots, the leaves grow from the roots, and eventually return to the roots after they wither.
Human beings themselves are part of the nature of the universe and come from nature. Of course, the best place to go after death is to return to nature.
In Chinese folklore, there is still a soul after death. If the coffin falls to the ground in the process of carrying the coffin, it means that the deceased is unwilling, has unfulfilled wishes, and is very reluctant to leave the world, and the soul wants to stay in the place where it fell.
But the living relatives still hope that "the deceased will be buried in peace", and are unwilling to let the soul of the deceased wander around, for fear of scaring the faint-hearted and causing trouble. Second, it is unlucky and the omen is not good, which is not conducive to the future development of the family.
Furthermore, after death, people cannot be buried anywhere, and they must obey the secular rules. For example, if a professional is invited to look at the location of the tomb in advance, and then a strong man is asked to dig it out, it will consume a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. .
Therefore, on the way to the funeral, the person carrying the coffin would never let the coffin fall to the ground. In order to prevent this from happening, the number of "gang fu" (people carrying coffins) is also strictly regulated, generally a total of 16 people, divided into two shifts.
The first group of 8 people carried the coffin. When changing shifts in the middle, the coffin could not fall to the ground. The tool "bar" for carrying the coffin could be moved from one person's shoulder to another person's shoulder, commonly known as "shoulder change".
