In the funerary culture of the mainland, there is such a custom, when a person dies, the person's death day, Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and other festivals, the living relatives will burn paper for him. For the custom of burning paper, some people believe that burning paper can become a coin circulating in the underworld, which can make the deceased relatives live more carefree in the underworld. Therefore, the custom of burning paper has been passed down for thousands of years. Of course, this is just a superstitious statement.
So the question arises, after a person dies, what happens if future generations do not burn paper? Before answering this question, we must first figure out the origin of the burning paper. It is rumored that after Cai Lun invented papermaking, due to the relatively good quality of paper, the business boomed and made a lot of money. Seeing that his brother had made a fortune, Cai Lun's brother also learned papermaking with his younger brother, and also opened a façade.
Although he learned the art of papermaking with his younger brother, Cai Lun's brother's papermaking skills were 108,000 miles behind, so the quality of the paper was very poor, so bad that it could not be sold at all. This also made Cai Lun's brother very distressed. Later, Cai Lun's brother thought of a good way. That is, pretending to die and leaving his wife to cry in the yard.
The neighbors heard someone in Cai Lun's brother's house wailing and came to join in the fun to see what was going on. As the crowd gathered more and more, Cai Lun's brother saw that the time had come, so he suddenly stood up from the coffin, claiming that the king of Hades hated him for being too poor, and asked him to return to yang to tell his relatives to burn more paper money for him. In this way, it is possible to bribe the officials of Hades and thus live a good life.
We all know that in feudal society, the common people are more superstitious, and they all believe it when they hear Cai Lun's brother say this. Although Cai Lun's brother's paper was not very good at that time, the price was relatively cheap, so people came to buy Cai Lun's paper and then burned it. Thus, there is the custom of burning paper.
From the origin of burning paper, we can see that burning paper is just a means of selling paper by Cai Lun's brother. Later, over time, it gradually evolved into a custom. Therefore, even if a person dies, it will not be good if future generations do not burn paper for him. Today, however, burning paper has become a custom that expresses the feeling of missing a deceased loved one. If you do not burn paper for your deceased relatives during the Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and other festivals, you may be pointed out. What do you think about that?