What is the emphasis on burning paper in the winter clothes festival? Why do newly bereaved people not need to send winter clothes? People can't go back to their hometown in other places, how to send winter clothes to their deceased relatives? Regarding the exquisiteness of sending winter clothes and how to send winter clothes, the author briefly summarizes the following according to traditional funeral customs and current people's ritual sweeping habits.
What is the emphasis on burning paper in the winter clothes festival?
There are many exquisite paper money in the winter clothing festival, such as paper money not only to burn clean but also to keep a copy, the old and young pregnant women and the frail and sick do not participate in the winter clothing activities, the grave collapse, water, damage to the day to repair, there is also the choice of winter clothes time, etc., let's take a look at it together.
First of all, paper money should be burned clean: although the ancestor worship does not advocate burning paper money now, it cannot stand the deep-rooted traditional funeral customs, especially in rural areas and remote mountainous areas, the winter clothes festival burns paper money and burns cold clothes has become the main way for people to worship their ancestors. However, in the process of burning paper money and cold clothes, family members should pay attention to whether the cold clothes and paper money are burned out (folk saying is to burn through). Traditional customs believe that paper money and cold clothes cannot be burned, and the deceased cannot receive the winter clothes and "money" sent by their children in the yin world, so when burning cold clothes and paper money for the deceased, it is necessary to ensure that they are burned clean.
Secondly, the time of sending winter clothes: the time of folk ancestor worship, there is a saying of "early Qingming, late October 1st". "Early Qingming" means that the date of ancestor worship on the Qingming Festival can be advanced, generally about a week in advance, which not only avoids the traffic congestion caused by the peak of the festival, but also follows the traditional "early Qingming" ancestor worship customs.
So when exactly is the "late October 1st" ancestor worship? How many days late is the "late" here? In fact, the folk "late October 1st" emphasizes the ancestor worship on October 1st, which is indeed a few days late compared with "early Qingming". However, the time of the ancestor worship on October is also exquisite, generally choosing to be between 09:00-12:00 in the morning of October, the custom is that this time period is full of yang, suitable for family members to go to the cemetery to worship and sweep.
Third, the candidates who send winter clothes: The winter clothes festival is generally a children who burn paper money and burn cold clothes for their deceased parents. If the widowed party sends winter clothes to the deceased (mostly middle-aged and elderly people with grandchildren), it is recommended not to take children to the cemetery. The reason why it is not recommended to take children to the cemetery, on the one hand, children are easy to be frightened when they are young; on the other hand, the weather turns cold during the winter season, and children are prone to cold attacks and colds. In addition, pregnant women, women on menstrual leave and infirm people are not advised to go to cemeteries to participate in winter clothing activities.
Finally, regarding tomb repair: If the ancestral tomb is encountered during the winter clothing festival, if there is water, collapse or damage to the ancestral tomb, it is recommended to repair the tomb on the day of the winter clothing festival to avoid the suffering of the deceased relatives from wind and rain. Especially in this year's summer flood and autumn flood period, the rain is relatively large, and the houses, graves and other buildings in many places have been seriously damaged, so it is recommended to repair the damaged graves in time to let the deceased relatives spend the cold winter with peace of mind.
Why do newly bereaved people not need to send winter clothes?
Regarding the exquisiteness of sending cold clothes to newly bereaved people, liu tong and Yu Yizheng of the Ming Dynasty have such a record in the "Imperial Capital Scenery and Material Strategy": "The new mourning white paper is for it, and the new ghost does not dare to dress in color." The one who sent the white clothes cried, the female voice was nineteen, and the male voice was eleven. The gist of this sentence is that the winter clothes sent to the newly bereaved should be cut with white paper (those who have died for a long time can be cut with colored paper), and the people who send the winter clothes should cry in front of the tomb, the women cry nineteen times, and the men cry eleven times, which shows that the ancients attached great importance to sending cold clothes.
In some areas, the custom of sending winter clothes is to send winter clothes on the first day of the third October of the death of a loved one. On the first two Octobers after the death of a loved one, he only went to the funeral home or cemetery to burn paper offerings, but did not send winter clothes. Custom holds that a loved one wears several sets of clothes when they die, enough to wear for three years. Therefore, at the beginning of the third October, winter clothes were sent to the ancestors every year.
The methods of sending winter clothes are generally: printing clothing on paper, cutting the shape of clothes with colorful paper, folding into clothes with colorful paper, etc., as well as printing patterns of flower cloth on paper, rolling up (like a piece of cloth) to burn, thinking that this is to send winter clothes to the ancestors. (The image originates from the Internet, if there is infringement contact, delete it)