Chapter 25 Section 5 Worship and Lianzong

In ancient social activities, the customs of "worship" and "connection" were still popular. Sworn-worship is also called sworn-worship, which means friends of different surnames want to make the relationship closer. No matter where they are from or their family backgrounds, as long as they are sworn brothers through a ceremony, they will call each other brothers and sisters.The folks are called dry brothers, brothers or dry sisters.Not only do worshipers deal with each other like brothers and sisters, but also family members of both sides deal with each other like close relatives, and they are called "dry relatives" as if they were family members.The most well-known brother-worship is probably Liu, Guan, and Zhang's "Taoyuan Heroes Trinity" described in the first episode.At that time, "the three of them burned incense and worshiped again", and they swore together: "Nian Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, although they have different surnames, have become brothers, and they will work together to save the poor and help the dangerous, report to the country, and go to Anli Shu. Don't ask for the same year and the same month. Born on the same day, I only wish to die on the same day in the same year, the same month. The empress dowagers, learn from this heart. Be ungrateful and ungrateful, heaven and man will kill each other!" Among them, "I don't want to be born on the same day in the same year, but I only want to die in the same year, the same month and the same day" has almost become Later, the mantra that worshipers must say.Although the Taoyuan knot is a story in a novel, it is a fact that sworn brothers were fashionable during the Three Kingdoms period. "Taiping Yulan" Volume 407 quotes "Wu Lu" records: "Zhang Wenying's talent is magnificent, he worships Zhonglang General, and he hired Shu and Zhuge Liang to marry Jinlan." The code comes from "Yi Xici 1": "When two people have the same heart, their sharpness can cut through gold; if they speak with one heart, their stink is like orchid."It means that two people working together can cut off the hard metal; the words of the heart-to-heart are as fragrant as orchids.This is to use "Jinlan" to describe the two people who are in love with each other.When Liu Yiqing of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties recorded the friendship between Zhong Shantao, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, among the seven sages in the bamboo forest, Zhong Shantao also said in "Shi Shuo Xin Yu Xian Yuan": "The monkey is like a golden orchid when he is with Ji and Ruan." It has been extended as a substitute for sworn brothers and sisters.

The main rituals of worship are burning incense and offering sacrifices, kneeling and kowtowing, making vows together and "exchanging posts" with each other.Tie is a kind of written deed, which is usually made of long strips of red paper folded back and forth several times to make it the size of an envelope, and then "Jinlanpu" or "Lanpu" is written on the cover.In it, there are probably two or several people who are sworn brothers, such as so-and-so, who are willing to sworn brothers or sisters with different surnames because of their deepening friendship and deep friendship; date and time), as well as the names, birthplaces, and official positions of the father, ancestor, and great-grandfather; finally, the year, month, and day of sworn worship are marked, and all sworn sworn members sign and stamp or press fingerprints.After sacrificing each other's ancestors, exchange this post with each other, and each keep a copy, which is regarded as formal sworn brothers and sisters.Sworn brothers ask to "share difficulties and share blessings".As Liang Chenyu said in "Huan Sha Ji" in the Ming Dynasty: "We formed an alliance in three years, and we celebrate a hundred years old."

Although sworn brotherhood has affection in it, it is actually a way to expand social power in ancient times.Similar to this is "Lianzong".The so-called Lianzong means that strangers and irrelevant people with the same surname recognize each other as their own family.In the sixth chapter, it talked about the connection between Wang Xifeng's grandfather and a small family, that is, the ancestor of Grandma Liu's son-in-law Wang Gou'er: "It turns out that the surname of this small family is Wang, which is a local family name, and the ancestors also did it. I used to be a small Beijing official, and I used to know the ancestor of Sister Feng and the father of Mrs. Wang. Because of the snobbery of the royal family, he joined the clan and regarded him as his nephew." The reason for this kind of connection, on the surface, often says: "It was a family five hundred years ago, and I couldn't write two characters of Wang in one stroke." In fact, the same surname may not necessarily be the same clan.As far as the Wang surname is concerned, the descendants of the emperors in the pre-Qin period were mostly called princes and grandsons, and many of their descendants were called Wang.For example, Prince Bigan in the Shang Dynasty, Prince Jin in the Zhou Dynasty, Prince Wuji, Prince Xinling in the State of Wei during the Warring States Period, and King Qi from the Tian family, etc., all have descendants called Wang.Wang's surname has different origins and many branches. If there is no genealogy record, the possibility of the same clan is very small.

If there is a family tree that can be checked, it is called "recognition of the clan".In ancient times, there was a custom of writing genealogy. Generally, large families had to set up ancestral halls and repair genealogy, which often extended to more than a dozen or even tens of generations.If they belong to the "same genealogy", that is, people of the same clan, although they have not been in touch for many years or even generations due to various reasons, as long as one party visits the other party and checks the family tree, they can be recognized as the same family.For example, Jia Yu Village in the middle of the book has the same genealogy as Rongguo Mansion, so as soon as he arrived in the capital, he immediately took the name card of "Zong Nephew" to visit Jia Zheng.After recognizing the clan, Jia Zheng became his clan uncle, and Baoyu and others became his clan brothers, which became close relatives of the same clan.

Because of the well-documented identification of the clan, it is enough to hand over a famous post stating the clan relationship.Lianzong usually holds a ceremony.Those who have an ancestral hall should go to the ancestral hall to burn incense, and the clansmen should be notified to participate. After ranking the seniority, it should be written in the family tree.Under normal circumstances, the social status and power of the two sides of the Lianzong are not equal, and some are even very different.For example, a "little family" in the capital can be connected with a prominent family of eunuchs who are included in the "official talisman" and known as "the East China Sea lacks a white jade bed, and the Dragon King invites the King of Jinling".In a feudal society with strict hierarchy, this seems difficult to understand.So what is the reason?This is because ancient society had a strong patriarchal clan concept.In the patriarchal society, the clan is an important unit of the society, and each clan group pays attention to the prosperity of people and wealth, that is, the more people the better, the more property the better, and the number of people is the first, because only A lot of people can make a lot of people.On the one hand, those small and poor families, because of their situation and isolation, in order to seek support in the society, of course they have to follow the trend and try to find ways to gain power through connecting and recognizing the clan, and then hope to develop.On the other hand, for those wealthy and powerful families, having one more family is equivalent to expanding their power a little bit. In order to strengthen the family, they are also willing to accept those who follow and seek refuge.To put it bluntly, Lianzong is essentially a means for people to connect and use each other because of power and interests in the feudal patriarchal society.