Chapter 10 Section 2 Burial

A burial in which the body is buried in the ground.It began in the middle Paleolithic period of primitive society.It is popular among peoples all over the world.Among the ethnic minorities in China, burial is adopted or mainly burial: 10 ethnic groups that believe in Islam: Hui, Dongxiang, Salar, Baoan, Uyghur, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kirgiz, Tajik, Tatar and Manchu, Korean, Hezhe, Daur, Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Buyi, Tujia, Dong, Shui, Li, Mulao, Gelao, Maonan, She, Jing, Gaoshan, Dai, Bai, Hani, Lisu, Jinuo, Jingpo, Achang, Wa, Brown, De'ang, Nu, Dulong, Qiang, Lhoba, Xibe, Russia and other ethnic groups.The Oroqen, Ewenki, Yi, Naxi, Tu, Yugu, Mongolian, Lahu, Pumi and other ethnic groups also mostly or partially adopt burial.That is to say, burial is the most common burial method for ethnic minorities in my country.Of course, some ethnic groups diverted to burial due to the influence of Han burial.Although all burials are done in the ground, there are many specific burial methods, such as those that use coffins [guo fruit] and those that don’t; some pay attention to thick burials, and some advocate quick burials; Yes, wait.

Among the many burial customs, the nation that believes in Islam is unique.Most of the 10 ethnic groups that believe in Islam in my country are concentrated in the northwest region.Because of the influence of the same religion, their funeral customs have many things in common. The more obvious ones are: they don’t use coffins for burial; Three days; the corpse needs to be cleansed (washed) by relatives of the same sex and wrapped in a white cloth; when put into the tomb, the corpse should face north, feet south, and face west (because the holy place of Islam is in the west of China) ;Women are not allowed to go to the funeral; from death to burial, and even a series of activities such as various memorial days, hundred days, and anniversaries, imams must be invited to preside over a series of activities.Now take the Hui nationality as an example:

When a relative dies, the imam is invited to recite scriptures, and the corpse is placed on the corpse bed with its head facing north, feet facing south, and facing west.Then cleanse the body and put on "Kaifan" (shroud) for it.Put some spices on the mouth, nose, ears, eyes, etc. of the corpse, and then move the corpse into the long box for sending corpses in the mosque - "Tabuti". The imam and all relatives and friends stand facing "Tabuti". At the end of the ceremony, the imam chanted and held a "standing salute" ceremony (similar to saying goodbye to the body). After the ceremony, it was carried to the cemetery for burial.

The tomb pit is about two meters deep. On the west wall of the pit, dig a hole that is round on the top and flat on the bottom, about one meter high, and long enough to accommodate a body. Place the head of the corpse on the north side and south, facing the west side in the hole, seal the hole, and then fill it up. Go up to the grave pit, and the grave mound is made into a fish ridge shape.After the funeral, the imam recited another sentence, and the funeral was over. Relatives and friends are not allowed to cry during the whole funeral, it is said that crying is not good for the deceased.Women are not allowed to be buried.

Three days after the burial, the grave was worshipped, and the imam was invited to chant sutras at the grave.Every Juma day within a month, family members have to go to the cemetery to chant scriptures and pray. On the 40th, 100th, and anniversary, the imam is also invited to the cemetery to chant sutras.After that, the imam is only invited to recite scriptures on birthdays and memorial days. Hui people in different regions have different burial customs, let alone several other ethnic groups.For example, the Hui people advocate that they should be buried where they died, and they are opposed to transporting the body back to their hometown. It is commonly known as "the land of the world, the Hui Hui who is buried in the world".However, the Tajik people will transport the dead back to their hometown for burial no matter how far or near they are.The Kyrgyz people have the custom of crying and singing mourning songs.After the dead were cleaned up, the bereaved women in black clothes and black gauze sat facing west, crying and singing mourning songs.Most of the lyrics praise the deceased's good deeds and his life deeds.When relatives and friends come to express their condolences, women also welcome guests with crying and singing mourning songs. Within one year of the death of the deceased, guests or relatives and friends who come to the house will cry and sing mourning songs;

Kazakh funerals are not only in accordance with Islamic rules, but also have the characteristics of nomadic peoples, and generally include the following procedures. Mortuary When a relative dies, the corpse is placed on the upper right side of the yurt, surrounded by a tent and covered with a white cloth, with the face of the deceased facing the west.The body only stayed at home for a day or two, and the relatives lit lamps to keep watch. To report the funeral, ask the close relatives or neighbors who are good at words to report the funeral to the relatives.In the end, they did not tell each other directly, but told some adages and proverbs, and told the news of the death tactfully, so as to avoid the sudden and panic of the relatives of the deceased.For example:

Once Zhuan Tianyang was interrupted, the gold could not be picked up. A river that is muddy at its source will not be cleared by pouring mercury into it. One cannot die with the dead, nor can the dead be brought back to life. After saying this, tell who died and how.When the relatives and friends of the deceased cry bitterly, repeat the above words to comfort them. condolences If the husband dies, the wife immediately wears a white cloth and sings dirge while crying, and the daughter-in-law and daughter also mourn with the mother.The elegy has a fixed tune, and the content is composed by the relatives themselves to express the pain of losing their loved ones.It is mainly to tell the life of the deceased and praise his noble character, and to tell the grief brought to the family by the death of the deceased.Its sad appearance makes people cry.Close relatives came to mourn and cried loudly when they were about one kilometer away from the funeral home.When the family members of the deceased heard the cries, the women sat in the room according to their age, while the men went outside the yurt and lined up according to senior and young, crying and singing dirges to welcome the deceased.The visitors first embraced the men one by one, cried and sang, and then went into the house to hug the women (the daughter-in-law does not hug the father-in-law) and cry bitterly, and bid farewell to the dead body.After crying for a while, the mourners ask the relatives of the deceased to express their condolences, cheer up and handle the funeral affairs.

cleanse Immediately after the person dies.If the deceased is a man, his cousins ​​and friends will cleanse himself; if the deceased is a woman, he will ask his relatives and friends to cleanse himself.Generally, the whole body is showered with clean water three times, wiped dry and wrapped up with a new white cloth in three layers for males and five layers for females, and the nails are cut off for the deceased, and the hair is tidied up. The males even shave.Then wrap it with felt and put it in the coffin. Please pray for the deceased during the Atonement Ceremony, and help him complete his unfinished worship obligations during his lifetime.In order to atone for the dead, some livestock must be given to the lonely and the mullahs must be rewarded.After the atonement, the coffin is moved out of the yurt, and the curtain of the yurt is turned outwards and placed on the yurt, indicating that someone has just died.Then the mullah recites the scriptures, the main content is to ask Allah to bless and wish the dead rest in peace.After reading the scriptures, the relatives of the deceased asked everyone: "What kind of person was this person before?" Everyone replied in unison: "He is a good person. May he (she) go to heaven!"

funeral After a person dies, someone is sent to dig a grave next to his father or grandfather's cemetery.Family members, relatives and friends of the deceased mourned the funeral together.Coffins are often pulled by horse-drawn carts in agricultural areas, and carried by camels in pastoral areas.When the corpse enters the cave, the head should face west and the feet should face east, facing the direction of Mecca.After the burial, the mullah reads scriptures and prays, and then lays branches on the log for the tomb. Brothers, sons and relatives sprinkle soil on it, and then other mourners sprinkle soil, and then fill the tomb.There are many shapes of tombs, some are piled with sand and stones on top of the tomb, and some have wooden plaques or stone tablets in front of rectangular tombs, on which the name, age, year, month and day of death are written.

to mourn After a person dies, a flag is erected on the right side of the house of the deceased in condolence, and the color of the flag varies with age.If the deceased is a young person, hang a red flag; for a middle-aged person, hang a half red and half white flag; for an old person, hang a white or black flag, which are not taken down until the anniversary.During the anniversary sacrifice, the mount of the deceased should be killed and buried, and the tomb of the deceased should be rebuilt.There are many kinds of tombs in the shape of yurt, coffin and tower, with the latter being the most.

The single wooden coffin is a kind of primitive burial utensil, which is made by cutting and hollowing out a thick tree trunk.Put the corpse in when it is used, and close the two halves so that it is still in the shape of a log.Those who use single wooden coffins include Jinuo, Li and Dulong. Before the 1950s, they were all at the level of productivity of slash-and-burn farming, so their beliefs were relatively primitive, which was particularly prominent in their funeral activities.When a relative dies, the Jino people put an egg in each of the deceased's hands, so that when he encounters a wild ghost on the way to find his ancestors, he breaks it and feeds it to the ghost in order to escape.They believe that nighttime is the time for ghosts to be active, so funerals are often chosen at dusk, thinking that it is better to send away the soul of the deceased at this time.Before the coffin went out, a man with a machete slashed and roared at the front and rear gates, expressing to drive away ghosts.During the funeral, rice is sprinkled and guns fired to scare away ghosts.The cemetery is shared by the village community.The grave was dug only a meter deep.After the single wooden coffin was buried in the ground, a dog was knocked to death on the spot and buried, the purpose is to let the dog lead the way for the dead.After burial, fill the pit without leaving the grave head, and only build a small bamboo house on it to worship the soul.A small bamboo house is different from a living person's house, with the bamboo tips pointing down and the bamboo roots rushing up.When returning from the cemetery, in order to prevent ghosts from following home and bringing ominousness to the living, the footprints must be swept away.When you get home, you don't enter directly, but walk around the house before entering.The mourning family puts food on the special altar twice a day in the morning and evening to express their condolences to the deceased and respect for their souls, and then deliver the food to the small bamboo hut.The payment period can range from a few months to as long as three years.The Li people also bury their dead in public cemeteries.The Dulong people have no fixed cemetery, and most of them are buried near their houses after death.In order to make the dead live in the underworld as in the yang world, the Jinuo and Dulong people put the production tools and living utensils used by the dead in the coffin and bury them together, while the Li people put them on the grave for the use of the dead. .Interestingly, although these peoples fear ghosts and gods, they limit the scope of action of the dead in order to ensure the safety and life of the living.For example, in order to prevent the dead and the living from going out of the same door, which would bring bad luck to the family, the Dulong people specially opened another door during the funeral, and used the grave of the dead as arable land in the second year.The Jinuo people are not allowed to expand the cemetery arbitrarily, and believe that expanding the cemetery is to expand the territory of ghosts, which is not good for living people.Therefore, before each burial, they have to clear the cemetery, dig out the coffins that have been buried for many years and put them aside (they think these dead souls have already been reincarnated), so as to make room for the new dead. It is to dig out the remains that have been buried in the coffin for several years, put them in jars and rebury them.This kind of burial is called secondary burial, also known as "bone washing burial".People who adopt this method of burial believe that flesh and blood belong to the world, and only after the body decays and the bones are officially buried can the dead enter the world of ghosts.There are quite a few ethnic groups with this kind of burial in our country. The Zhuang people in Guangxi and Guangxi have the custom of re-burial.After a person dies, Mr. Feng Shui is asked to select a cemetery, and the coffin is buried in the soil. The tomb is elongated.After three or five years, dig out the bones and put them in an altar half the height of the corpse, and ask Mr. Feng Shui to choose another cemetery for reburial.This time the tombs will be piled up in a circle.After another five years, the altar was dug up and inspected. If water and soil seeped into the altar, it was considered ominous, and another place had to be reburied.If there is no foreign matter in the altar, it can be used as a "big burial" (permanent burial).Some were reburied as many as four or five times. The Yao people in Xilin County also pick up bones for burial.A few years after the coffin was buried in the earth, the bones were dug up and buried in the pottery and returned to the original place. Only when the Jing people think that the original burial place is inauspicious will they adopt the remedial method of opening the grave and picking up the bones for reburial.But it is also forbidden for the bones to see the sky, so when opening the grave, you have to hold an umbrella, pick up the bones into a bottle, and store them in the grass shed by the forest, and then bury them again after choosing a new cemetery. In the history of the She nationality, cremation was used, but later they were buried in the ground.The person is buried on the day after death.Two or three years later, during the Qingming Festival or the Winter Solstice, the bones were taken out and placed in urns, and buried in tomb holes or caves on hillsides. The Nu people used to perform cremation, but due to the influence of the surrounding ethnic groups who practiced burial, they changed to burial.The idea that men are superior to women is reflected in the funeral customs of the Nu people.When burying, first of all, the corpses should be placed differently according to gender.Males lie on their backs, while females lie on their sides.If husband and wife are buried together, the woman must bend her limbs facing the man, while the man should face up flat.This burial reflects the subordination of women to their husbands under the patriarchal system.After a person dies, the Nu people sound the bamboo horn to report the funeral.Blowing bamboo horns for the deceased is a respect for him, and how many bamboo horns to blow depends on the social status and life experience of the deceased.Generally, an unmarried man plays one bamboo horn; a married man without children blows two bamboo horns; a married man with children blows three; a wizard plays four; and a headman plays six to seven bamboo horns.But women are not entitled to this courtesy after death.The Nu people don't use coffins, the corpses are put directly into the tomb, and then the corpses are surrounded by wooden boards and then buried.The necessities of the deceased are hung in front of the tomb for his use in the underworld. The Jingpo people regard life and death as natural phenomena.When a loved one dies, it is not so much mourning as it is full of respect for the dead.Especially for the deceased elders, they are regarded as returning to their hometown with great respect.In order to express this feeling, it is often necessary to dance around the deceased in the home of the deceased.People beat the deep big mango gong, followed the four leading dancers, and expressed the ancestors of Jingpo overcoming obstacles and pioneering hard work with simple and bold dance postures.Dancers vividly represent a series of productive labor and hunting activities such as sharpening knives, chopping ground, burning ground, digging grain, harvesting, flattening ground, and beating monkeys.And danced and sang mourning songs: "You go first, don't be sad, don't be sad. Everything will die, the sun will set, the moon will set, the stars will set, the cows will shrink their horns, and the trees will die. Old man, when you were alive in this world, you taught us labor and production, we will remember you firmly, and future generations will praise you, your name shines like gold, and we will continue to do what you have not done." After the funeral, they think that only the body of the deceased has been sent away, but the soul has not yet left, so the second step is to send the soul.Jingpo people attach great importance to the activity of sending souls. They send souls to prestigious people in the village, and they dance the dance of sending souls to exorcise ghosts - "Jin Zai Zai".Its movements are rough and unrestrained, full of national characteristics.Those who participate in the soul sending first dance the "Dragon Cave Ge" dance in the courtyard of the bereaved master: some people hold long knives, some dance branches, and dance and sing; sometimes they shout, sometimes they fire guns, which is majestic and disturbs the ghosts.Suddenly, two burly men in disguise who looked like humans but not humans jumped into the whirling dance circle. Their naked bodies were painted with white and black patterns, and they were dressed as male and female birds and animals.Their dance steps are different from others, and they are more free and easy.They shuttle back and forth in the dance circle, their purpose is to guard and monitor and prevent evil spirits from mixing in.If the dead were warriors, they would hold shields and sticks made of bark and jump out of various exciting fighting actions to express their respect for the dead. The Blang people in Xishuangbanna practice coffin burial, and only eminent monks or elderly people use cremation. Every village in Brown has a public cemetery - Baxiao, which is usually near the Buddhist temple.The cemetery is divided into multiple cemeteries from high to low: the top one buries the elderly in their 70s and 80s; the next one buries the 50s and 60s; Young men and women; unmarried people are buried in the next one; children are buried in another; people who have recently moved into the village are buried in the last one after death.This burial method is in line with the strict concept of age in Brown society; and the public cemetery is consistent with the rural commune system of the Brown people.It can be said that this is an ancient burial system under the village community system. In addition, there are some more distinctive burial customs: For example, the Oroqen people who live on hunting, in addition to putting the saddle, bows and arrows, etc. of the deceased in the coffin to accompany the deceased, they also buried the deceased with the horse for his death in the underworld. Galloping for hunting.In order to show filial piety to their parents, the Gelao tribe in Sanchong, Guangxi, their own sons knocked out their own teeth and put them in the coffin for burial.The Gelao people used sarcophagus in history, but later changed to wooden coffins. The burial usually does not choose a date, but a Fengshui tree—pine, cypress or maple is planted next to the tomb to commemorate it.The Dong people in Gaozeng, Congjiang County, Guizhou Province have the custom of laying coffins for burial, that is, when a relative dies, the coffins are placed outside the village first, and when all the same generation in the village have passed away, they will be buried at the same time at the same time. The Gaoshan people in some areas of Taiwan have the custom of burial in the ground out of special memory of the deceased.That is to dig a deep pit in the living room of the deceased, bury him on the spot, cover it with a stone slab, and then fill it with soil to restore the ground to its original state.In this way, the deceased is "retained" in the home forever. Some ethnic groups regard burial as a special burial method, that is, suicide, homicide, falling to death and other accidental deaths, as well as those suffering from certain serious diseases and infectious diseases.This is the case for Tibetans and Monbas.

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