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Text: Wen Shuyan
Edited by Wen Shuyan
Preface
In China's thousands of years of history and culture, "customs and culture" is the spiritual and cultural treasure of the Chinese nation, for example, the "clan culture" has been handed down to this day, and it still exudes a shining brilliance in the current society.
The most important branch of "clan culture" is the funeral culture, the Chinese nation is a nation that pays great attention to the sense of ceremony, and the life and death of individuals are major events in the cultural consciousness of the Chinese nation, which is worthy of being treated by the family with the most solemn etiquette.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, the funeral culture of the mainland has not been interrupted since the ancient source, although the middle is constantly innovating and changing with the times, but the connotation and core of the culture have been retained.
For example, a very important part of the funeral culture is the "tombstone culture", which is often engraved with honorific titles for the ancestors on the inscriptions of sacrifices.
This must not be scribbled in a solemn place like a tombstone, otherwise, in the eyes of the ancients, this is a matter of laughter and generosity.
So, what does the ancient Chinese "examination of the first appearance" mean?
First on "Manifest"
The word "xian" is one of the most special words, because it is not used as a pronoun for a certain person in funeral culture, but simply as a "honorific word" to express respect, and "xian" is generally not used alone, but in combination with other honorific titles.
For example, in the most authoritative "Ci Hai" in the mainland, the interpretation of "Xian" is that the status is noble and prominent, so the word "Xian" was only used to refer to people with fame and status in the society at the beginning, which is a kind of honorific title for literati in the ancient cultural circle.
At the same time, the word "show" originally meant boasting, so it was not something that ordinary people could afford to use in a hierarchical society.
In ancient times, if ordinary peasants used the word "xian" on their tombstones, then their families would be controlled by the government, and in ancient China, if they used the wrong word casually, they would be killed.
After all, in the eyes of the ancients, to be "prominent" is to be able to reach the level of glory and glory, and if you want to achieve the step of glory and glory, you must first be in the prosperous family of future generations, so the word "obvious" is generally the standard configuration of ancient families.
Moreover, the owner of the tomb must be knowledgeable and capable during his lifetime, and he must have a great reputation in the local area, and be admired and respected by the ten miles and eight towns during his lifetime, so as to enjoy the reputation of the word "Xian" after death.
Therefore, if it is in ancient times, the word "xian" generally appears on the tombstones of those who have a high social status, because the threshold for mentioning this word is too high, and even in ancient times, there were very few people in large families who could enjoy this treatment.
In our current society, everyone pays attention to the equality of everyone, so if you want to express your good wishes or prayers to your loved ones, it is understandable to add the word "show" to the tombstone.
First Discussion on "First"
"Xian" has the meaning of "walking ahead" in our daily life, so some euphemisms for death can also be used as Xian, that is, he died one step ahead of others.
Moreover, the word "first" is in line with the tone of ancient scholars because of its elegance, so "first" was used in a large number of sacrificial texts in ancient times, such as one of the most important sacrificial texts in the history of the mainland - Han Yu's "Sacrifice Twelve Lang Wen" written by Han Yu under his grief.
One of the sentences, "and the first", the word "first" is used as a verb, which expresses Han Yu's feelings and thoughts about the untimely death of his nephew, so "first" appears in a large number of sacrificial texts and poems, reflecting a very strong personal emotion of the author.
For example, in the current costume TV series, the protagonist will say "father" or "mother" when he mentions his parents who died early, as long as this title comes out, the person opposite can understand the fact that his parents are dead, so he will not offend the other party in interpersonal communication.
In addition, in the title of ancient cultural celebrities or historical celebrities, they are also willing to call them "sages", and for some people who died bravely in the war, they are honored as "martyrs", which expresses a school of respect.
On "Examination" and "Beauty"
An idiom that has been used by the Chinese since ancient times is called "Ru Fu Kaoyu", which means that someone is very sad because of some things, and his liver and intestines are broken, just like losing his father and mother.
In ancient times, the mainland was dominated by Confucianism, and Confucianism attached great importance to filial piety, and it can be seen that ancient China had a reverent attitude towards filial piety according to the principle of "putting filial piety first", so on the funeral of parents, Chinese Xi customs and etiquette must not be missing at all.
Generally, when parents die, children will find the most proficient person in the neighborhood to write the inscription, and will also find the most exquisite master to set up the monument, which is related to a person's filial piety, and can not tolerate a little sloppiness.
That is to say, in the study of Chinese paleographies, "Kaoyu" is a kind of pronoun for parents, but this kind of title must not be used indiscriminately, because these two words can only be used in a specific period, for example, when the parents die and need to write a tablet and set up a biography.
Usually call parents are generally "father and mother", and the title of respecting one's friends is to call each other's parents "Lingzun Lingtang", once used wrong, it is a joke in ancient times, which also shows that this person's cultural level is extremely low.
If the word "Kao" is used here, it is a great disrespect for the other party, and in the ancient period when the etiquette was strict, some more serious people could even use this as a handle to sue the other party in court.
After the death of the father or mother, in the process of erecting the monument, the words "Kao" and "妣" can be engraved on the tombstone as a pronoun, and the earliest mention of the four-character idiom of "such as the funeral examination of the concubine" is the ancient classic "Erya" book, which is basically the same as the meaning of the current such as the funeral examination.
Finally, on "Therefore"
In contrast, the character "therefore" will be easier to understand, and in the modern Chinese dictionary, "therefore" means "to leave".
In the period when medical treatment was not developed in ancient times, the ancient people were very taboo about death, so even if someone died, they should not say it directly, but mention it to others euphemistically.
Therefore, if some deceased people were addressed in ancient times, it was generally possible to add the word "first" in front of his title, but this word seemed too written and not colloquial, but it was not possible to call such taboo words as "death" or "death", so the word "therefore" was appropriate, and at the same time expressed respect.
However, in the ancient period when the legislation was strict, the word "therefore" was not easy for anyone to use, and those who were generally qualified to use the word "therefore" were people who had a head and face in society.
These people generally live in large families or have close intersections with some big families during their lifetime, or have made significant contributions to society, so that they can be honored as "deceased" after death.
At that time, the people at the bottom of the society or the people who served the big family were not qualified to use this word, so it can also be seen from this incident that under the feudal hierarchy, even the death of people is unfair.
epilogue
The completeness of funeral culture is related to the completeness of ancient Chinese culture, and it is because the mainland has 5,000 years of historical and cultural accumulation that it has a rich funeral culture, which is also a manifestation of Chinese cultural self-confidence.
In order to express their sorrows, the ancient people created so many titles and usages, which is also an expression of respect for the ancestors, after all, China has a social atmosphere of respecting the old and loving the young since ancient times, and we can only encourage future generations by remembering the ancestors.
Now, although the material conditions have changed greatly, our excellent ancient traditional culture still needs to be carried forward and inherited, after all, these excellent cultures can be left in the great waves of history, which shows that there must be specific advantages, and the most reflected is the beautiful character of our Chinese who respect their ancestors and do not forget their roots.
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