On April 4th, Qingming, keep in mind that "there are only three generations of ancestors, and it is not time to go to the grave", and the old rules must be followed
Seeing that the Qingming Festival is coming, on the occasion of the Qingming Festival, sweeping the tomb and worshiping the ancestors has also become the hottest topic at present. Due to the difference between the north and south regions, there are also various ways to worship ancestors, but no matter which way, it reflects the respect and nostalgia for the ancestors.
Some people think: Qingming tomb is a very simple thing, only need to take the tribute to the ancestral tomb to sacrifice and sweep the tomb. But in fact, going to the tomb during the Qingming Festival is not as simple as everyone imagines, there are still many old rules, as the saying goes: "Worship the ancestors but three generations, and go to the grave is not the time", what does this sentence mean? Why does this rule exist? Let's continue to look down.
As we all know, the Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in the mainland, whenever the Qingming Festival comes, we also need to go to the ancestors' graves in accordance with the local rules to sacrifice, through sacrifices, tomb sweeping and other behaviors, we can let the ancestors see the filial piety of the descendants, so as to obtain the protection of the ancestors. But there is also a special emphasis on ancestor worship, as the old saying goes: "Ancestor worship is only three generations", which means that when worshipping ancestors, it refers to worshipping ancestors within three generations, and there is no need to worship further up.
Some people may refute this: after all, in the traditional concept, it is believed that worshipping ancestors is an act of respect and remembrance for ancestors, so why is there an algebraic limit? A large part of the reason for this statement is that ancient people attached great importance to blood relations. You must know that the ancient people attached almost strict importance to blood relations, and they had to maintain the purity of blood relations between their children and grandchildren, especially the royal family.
After all, the emperor will inherit the world in the future, and these princes and grandsons naturally bear important responsibilities. But the blood relationship is already relatively distant after three generations, and in this case, the emotional connection will gradually decrease, even as good as strangers. In fact, it's not just the royal family, it's also the same for ordinary people, if you don't believe it, ask the people around you, see if they know more than three generations of ancestors, not to mention their appearance, some can't even remember their names.
Those ancestors who are more than three generations are basically just a name that stays in the family tree, and future generations will rarely remember them. Under the influence of this concept, many people will think that there is no need to worship their ancestors for more than three generations, and only worship those closest to them. In fact, this is also understandable, after all, human nature is like this, they will be more inclined to people who are more emotionally connected with them.
Now that we have understood the meaning of the phrase "worshipping ancestors for only three generations," let's take a look at what it means to "go to the grave but not yet"? Literally, this sentence refers to the fact that the time to go to the grave cannot exceed the time of the future, so which hour does the time refer to? First of all, we must understand that the division of time between ancient people and modern people is different, and the ancient people divided the day into 12 hours, and the time before refers to the afternoon.
The reason why this time was chosen is because in the eyes of ancient people, the yang energy will gradually weaken from time to time, and if you go to the grave after the time, it will affect the health and fortune of the individual, which is not conducive to future development.