Chapter 31 Talk about red and white elements

People in the north refer to birthday ceremonies and ceremonies as red and white members; although they are given to members for weddings and funerals, there is a big difference between the complexity and simplicity.Everyone involved in funerals has always been serious, because when a family encounters a funeral, the accident is caught off guard, and all in-laws and friends should do their best to participate in the big event, so that the living can take care of it calmly, and the dead have a good morning.This is not always the case when it comes to celebrations. Whether you are marrying a daughter-in-law, marrying a daughter, celebrating a birthday, or having a full moon, you must always have a plan in advance.Your family is full of joy and happiness, so naturally you should spend money and money, and few people even make money from it.When Mr. Han Zishi celebrated his birthday in Jiangyan, northern Jiangsu, relatives and friends from far away came to congratulate him and stayed for ten days and a half months.Not to mention the food, lodging and entertainment, the single-price ferry ticket must be paid for the congratulatory guests before leaving, which is already very impressive.Life in the north is simple and simple, but there are happy events at home, and they are not stingy in entertaining relatives and friends.The author’s family friend, Qian Zilian, passed the 70th anniversary. He lived in Luodai, near Yangcun. There were only two small inns in the area, all of which were booked by him to entertain relatives and friends. It was still not enough to allocate, so he had to bother the neighbors who had rich houses. Borrowing, the quilts are not enough, so I sent a special person to Beiping to rent three new quilts from the merchants.Someone with a whole family of seven or eight came to pay their respects, and they stayed for many days. They asked him how much money they gave, but it was only one yuan.Because the idea of ​​the host and guest in the early years is quite different from that of the present: the host thinks that since it is a happy event for my family, it is only natural that I should spend a few dollars to entertain the guests; Well, favors are more valuable than gifts, so it doesn't matter if you give more or less.

Now when it comes to festive events, the ideas of the host and guests are exactly the opposite of what they used to think.The host’s family wants to have a lively wedding, and the purpose is to cast a net for fishing. After finishing the birthday celebration, there will always be a few coins left over; if you have a better conscience, you think it’s polite to do things without making money, so you can’t let me lose money!As for the congratulatory guests who are eating wedding wine and birthday wine, first plan for the host, how much will a table of wine, including cigarettes and tea tips cost, and how much should be given to the host for one person or two couples? One does not lose money.In this way, since the person hosting the festive event is open-minded and has no risk of losing money, he cares about his new friends and old friends, his birth and familiarity, and red posts are flying all over the sky.If you have money but don’t have the money, ask for a wife for New Year’s Eve; when your child is full moon, he will hold a soup and cake party; if you don’t do it on Zhuo Jing’s 30th birthday; Not stylish enough.Therefore, if you belong to in-laws, or falsely attach to close friends, the disaster will be disastrous.

I remember that when Mr. Song Mingxuan presided over the "Jicha Political Affairs Committee", the atmosphere in the political circle could be regarded as clean and honest. There was only one problem, which was that there were too many red and white elements.There was a director-level director of a financial and taxation agency who lied to his wife of origin to marry a concubine. Some people who praised him ordered five kinds of money for Fu, Lu, Shou, and wealth. There are seventy or eighty colleagues in our office. To share as much as four yuan in gold.At that time, one dollar was enough to congratulate a hundred eggs, and four dollars was a bit too heavy, let alone a concubine.So I politely thanked the friend who brought me a gold book to ask someone to write the name, and I sent someone to Yang Benxian's shop specializing in gift curtains in Dong'an Market, bought a whole bolt of scarlet printed silk, and made a payment for more than 70 people in the place. Always write and send.He was working in the Juxian Hall, and surrounded the railings on three sides with red silk curtains, which was eye-catching and generous.Our colleagues sat at six tables and had enough to eat and drink. The price per person only cost more than 40 cents.There are more than 1,000 people in the entire committee, and everyone is suffocating. We played this trick, and colleagues in all departments and departments in the meeting were all applauded. , To actually correct the bad habit of casting a net to beat the autumn wind, and the trend of posting random posts.At that time, Zhang Jianhou, the head of the Finance Department, told me that in this way, the debts of colleagues in the Finance Department were reduced a lot.This move can be regarded as a virtuous policy for colleagues.

When inviting someone to witness the marriage for a wedding, the witnesses in the mainland must present a wedding curtain. According to the rules, the host family only accepts the money for the curtain, and returns the wedding curtain, because they have already bothered them to witness the marriage and cannot accept other congratulatory gifts.The wedding was completed, and after the witnesses withdrew from the banquet, they were immediately driven back to the residence.Unless there is a special relationship, witnesses rarely sit down.The waiters in restaurants in the mainland have this training. When they see the witnesses leave the table, they must follow them to ask for their addresses.According to the rules in the early years, there must be a table of wine for the witnesses when celebrating a wedding, and then ask when the banquet will be delivered, whether it will be delivered to the house, or come to eat in the restaurant. This is a little thank you to the witnesses.Now for weddings, no matter what gifts your witnesses give you, you will accept them. After the wedding, let the witnesses, introducers, bridesmaids, bride and groom, and parents of both parties make way to the middle table, and there will be a hodgepodge. Which Zhuge Liang came up with a bad idea, and let the new couple take the first place.The ancients said: "The newlyweds enter the bridal chamber, and the matchmaker throws them over the wall." Before entering the bridal chamber, the witnesses and introducers are all ready to leave their seats.It is reasonable to say that the wedding is successful, the bride has become a daughter-in-law, and it is not appropriate to let the parents and in-laws take the lower seat. It is a bit bad when I think about it. .So some caring people appealed to the "Ministry of the Interior" to formulate the etiquette rules for weddings and funerals as soon as possible, but they have not been promulgated after many years of shouting.

Two days ago, Mr. Wen Suibo, in this newspaper, talked about that the mourning hall of the funeral home was filled with wreaths and flower baskets, and the mourning hall was full of elegiac couplets and scrolls.In my opinion, it is possible to send wreaths and flower baskets made of fresh flowers, which can also bring a charming atmosphere of scent of flowers to the mourning hall. Sending a scroll, no matter how close you were to the deceased, you should always express your condolences with a couple of words.I don’t know which clever person came up with the idea of ​​using plastic flowers to make wreaths. The sender can’t afford a penny, but the recipient is useless. In the end, he went back to the funeral parlor. The yellow chrysanthemums turned into gray chrysanthemums, and the stamens and petals fell off. It was really horrible. .After the funeral, these plastic products have been dusted off and become gifts for hundreds of families again.

In recent years, some people have invented a float car for funerals. The car has three wheels and four wheels.Of course, renting a car and tying flowers is much more expensive and costly than wreaths and flower baskets. Like sending an elegiac couplet, if it is really rich in emotion and text, although it cannot be passed down through the ages, at least it will let the hangers see how the friendship between life and death is. Plastic wreath floats are not flashy, but they are even better!I don't know what everyone thinks.