China's funerary culture has a long history, and over the years has formed a unique culture, and each local custom is different. The "weeping spirit" is the most common funeral culture, expressing grief and mourning for the death of relatives in the form of crying.
However, the culture of weeping and mourning has evolved to today, but there have also been some changes, such as inviting professional "weeping mourners" to help cry mourning and tell the thoughts of relatives. The performances of these mourners are very "hard", and they often cry heart-rending, which makes people feel sad after listening to them.
However, this custom has been condemned by many netizens, believing that it is a bad habit and should be banned as soon as possible. But in the eyes of rural people, "professional mourning" is not a big deal, there is no need to discuss its right and wrong, it is a process in the middle of funeral culture, if the "weeping mourning" is omitted, it will be regarded as "filial piety".
So, is mourning a vice? Should it be banned? Let's take a look at what the professional mourner Wu Jie said.
Wu Jie, a native of Henan, is in her 50s and has been in the industry for as many as 9 years. Talking about crying and mourning, Sister Wu always has a lot of heartache and grievances, one is mental torture, being pointed out; the other is physical pain, crying is not easy, not only need to tear the heart and lungs of the cry, but also need to kneel on the ground for a long time, and the rural roads are full of potholes, and the knees will bleed at every turn.
After a few hours of crying, after the end of the voice was too dumb to speak, tired and unable to move, but in order to make a living, Sister Wu could only endure.
Sister Wu said that she only entered the industry in her 40s, mainly because her family was too poor, her husband worked in the family farm, 3 children needed to be taken care of, and her mother, who was bedridden for many years, made the family's life pressure increase.
In order to make money, she persuaded her husband and participated in a mourning audition, which was approved by the person in charge. But the first official mourning, she was still nervous, the day before the whole night did not sleep well, got up early in the morning, familiar with the deceased's birthday and mourning lines.
After arriving at the venue, she had to wear "blood and tears" makeup on her face, wear a white costume, and wear a white aya on her head, which even Wu Jie herself did not dare to look at directly. But in order to make a living, she can only overcome psychological obstacles.
However, after playing, she showed her solid skills, and her tearful performance made everyone around her move and shed tears. After that, she cried even more bitterly in the coffin and prostrated more than 600 heads.
Because of his hard work, he was affirmed by the main family, and in addition to paying more than 700 yuan of weeping spirit fees, he also gave additional rewards. With this success, Sister Wu's confidence increased greatly, and she officially began her career as a professional mourner.
Wu Jie said that she has to cry more than 70 times a year, one can earn seven or eight hundred yuan, so that she can earn 50,000 yuan a year, such an income she is very satisfied, after all, in previous years, she only earned more than 3,000 yuan a year by farming, even if she was looked down upon, she would continue to insist.
Today, the husband has also joined the industry, and the couple's life has obviously changed.
As for whether the "weeping" culture is a bad habit, Wu Jie believes that since the "professional mourning" market is so large, it shows that most people support the "weeping" culture, how can this be a bad habit?
In fact, there is no official certainty as to whether "weeping and mourning" is a vice, some people think it is a vice, and some people think it is a folk form that should be carried forward.
Weeping and mourning originated from the Zhou Li, which is a Confucian ritual that expresses one's mourning and filial piety to one's ancestors through crying, and lists the deeds of one's ancestors in the form of singing.
And professional mourning, in fact, in order to avoid the embarrassment of children, after all, for children, the death of relatives, their inner pain, there is no heart to interpret their own inner grief, let alone express in the form of crying and singing, at this time, you need the help of "professional mourners", maintain their own filial piety, but also let the people present feel empathy, create an atmosphere of grief, so this has the inheritance of "professional mourners".
In fact, in ancient times, "professional mourning" has also experienced many crackdowns, but there are too many folk needs, and many times they can be revived and popular, so in the eyes of many people, professional mourning is a demand and the development of folk culture.
In the eyes of many young people, weeping and mourning is a bad habit, rather than using a solemn "funeral culture" to show filial piety to parents, it is better to be filial piety before the elderly are born, and there is no need to pay attention to these customs after death, so that they can also be ashamed.
And professional mourning, in the final analysis, is a kind of "performance", and does not reflect the "filial piety" of children to their ancestors, which sounds very sad, but in the end it is still acting, which is disrespectful to the ancestors.
From the perspective of "thick burial and thin support", "professional weeping spirit" is also a manifestation of rural people's love of face, in order to make the funeral more solemn, which invites weeping spirits to "sell misery". Nowadays, the state advocates funerals from Jane, instead of spending thousands of yuan to invite people to cry and mourn, it is better to honor the elderly before they die.
Of course, after all, the "weeping spirit" culture has been passed down for thousands of years, and naturally has its own meaning, so we should also respect the choices of those villagers. In fact, in Rome, there is also the profession of "weeping spirit". Since 2013, the United Kingdom has risen the professional "weeping spirit", which is deeply loved by the British.
Regardless of whether it is said that the "weeping spirit person" is the soul ferryman of the deceased, and it is also a manifestation of rural filial piety, as to whether it is a bad habit or not, everyone has their own opinions and attitudes.