In fact, the funeral in the countryside was quite complicated, especially at that time when wealthy families valued thickness as the most critical factor. What does thick mean? Thick coffins, thick shrouds and thick quilt for dead.
It is often said that the poor are buried in a thin-skinned coffin, or simply covered with Straw mats. This is a symbol of the family's lack of wealth. The great aunt's family is also wealthy in the local area, so, her coffin, of course, was exquisite: It was made of Chinese fir, and materials were also excellent: twelve pieces, three on each side, three on the bottom, three on the lid, three in the front and three at the back. Five roots, 20 pieces of Chinese fir board, the number of each for 5; this is the symbol of a wealthy family.
For shroud, wealthy people often have five collars three waists silk all the way, which means 5 top wears and 3 bottom wears, they are all made of silk. In fact, it is silk cotton. A few days ago I attended a funeral, also sent a quilt, it said: The National Unified Price, 88.8 yuan…
The ordinary people usually wore the Ming dynasty clothes, such as a round collar, square scarf and thick boots. This is the so-called "life down" refers to wearing modern clothing when live, "death does not fall" refers to wearing the Ming Dynasty clothing when passed away, as the last Han Dynasty is called the Ming Dynasty.
When people died, the rich man's face was covered with a silk towel. Ordinary people would use a large sheet of paper, that is, a piece of yellow paper burned for the dead.
The two fists of the dead shall be held slightly, and seven flatbreads shall be held in the hands of the dead, and they shall be worn with sticks. This is also called dog-beating bread. It means that the dead shall go to the Underworld, and when they meet a vicious dog or something, they can throw a flatbread at them. Then a silver dollar should be placed in the mouth of the dead, also one in each hand.
After death, the oil lamp was lit in front of the bed, incense was burned, put a bowl of upside-down rice, two eggs, the whole family had to kneel, if the family had a daughter, then the daughter has to burn a large paper of 9.4 catties for money. So they told all their relatives and friends, and then they ask someone to report the funeral. At that time, saying the funeral was muscular labour. They need to provide the person with a pair of new liberation shoes so that people in the village could wear them and go on foot to call relatives. If there was a long way to go, then the person who reported the funeral will be exhausted. Before people were buried, to dress, the dead was called a small encoffin.
It was a man from my great aunt's village who came to report the funeral. When we arrived just in time for the small encoffin. What needs to be done? They asked women of the village to firstly wipe themselves with a new towel with river water, three times on each side of the chest and back, and then comb their hair three times as well.
A bucket shall be prepared for the shroud to be changed, the oil lamp and seven wicks need to be placed in the bucket. The bamboo sieve shall be placed on top of the bucket. Then the shroud can be placed, which shall be draped over the dutiful son, that is, the son of the great-aunt. Subsequently the cover can be put on her, where the collar of his devoted son's shirt was cut off and tucked into the great aunt's collar. Her hands and feet were covered with silk-wool coverings. After all, were done, they have to wait for the coroner or the Taoist priest.
Evidently, the great aunt's family also hired a Taoist priest. This Taoist priest was an old Taoist priest in the village nearby. He used to rely on fortune-telling and doing dharma for others for a living. At that time, he had to be invited by the great aunt's family. They had to send him a red envelope, a carton of cigarettes, two bottles of white wines, two catties of sugar, a raw pig head and several cloths, then the Taoist priest will come.
The Taoist priest was already there by the time when I arrived, with a bell in one hand and a kitchen knife on the other side. On the kitchen knife, there was a bowl, then he said a mantra, which was called "breaking evil spirit." And he poured the tea from the pot into the coffin with the rice, then he shouted asked a few helpers to carry great aunt's body into the coffin.
Other people should immediately take out the straw under the bed mat and great aunt's clothes and shoes and burned quickly in the front door, commonly known as "burning down the bed grass". When the dead are in the coffin, it's called proper encoffin.
Then the Taoist priest immediately put the kitchen knife and the bowl under the coffin, lit the sleeping lamp, and the son and daughter began to cry, and we as children began to Kowtow.
In the evening, after dinner, my cousin took me to hide in the corner, to make this position to see the "Crossing the Fairy Bridge". It was not easy, because this time is forbidden to children, so we were hiding under the stairwell.
The Taoist took a chair, covered it with clothes, and at the head of the chair, he tied ahead with cotton, and covered it with a black towel, and put an apron around the edge of the chair to show that it was the dead, great aunt.
Then use 6 square tables, row into a long shape, above with bamboo build-up, make the shape of the bridge. At midnight, the dutiful son held the memorial tablet kneeling down, the Taoist chanting, then others held the dead, which is the chair across the bridge. The atmosphere was as grim as hell.
My great-aunt's oldest son, my big cousin, walked in front with the memorial tablet; my second cousin and female cousin held the chair, followed the Taoist priest, who led the way. The Taoist walking with his eyes closed and ringing the bell; the bridge was arched.
The Taoist priest passed by, and so did the big cousin. While everyone was waiting for the second cousin to pass by, he fell down at the arch of the bridge. At first, he thought the bamboo was slippery. When the Taoist priest saw it, he can only say the great aunt still didn't want to leave, she misses you all so much and asks the second cousin to go again.
Everyone with the mentality of a joke, go again, this time still the same position, yet the second cousin fell down. The Taoist priest could not bear to see it this time. He asked second cousin, his brother-in-law and his sister-in-law hold the chair together and walk the third time. Again, they fell down in the same position…
This fairy bridge cannot be crossed, which means that this person's soul cannot enter reincarnation. This upset all the people on the spot. We as children were still watching the excitement, but many adults already want to leave here, this is a sign that something is wrong.
This scene was also the first time that the old Taoist priest saw it. He was also in a panic. He found hemp rope and tied the chair directly to the body of the second cousin. At this time, no one could replace as a change of person would mean that the person who was replaced was not a dutiful son. That was very embarrassing, so, he asked many relatives to help him.
On the fourth crossing, in the same position, when the chair reached that position again, the whole bridge fell down with a crash. All people on the deck, including the Taoist priest, fell down the ground, and the chair fell into pieces.
Others hurried over to help them. Except for the chair, the others were all right, except the Taoist, whose forehead fell on the corner of the table, and was bleeding… They found a towel to cover his head and asked him what to do. At this time, the old Taoist priest was already exhausted. He kept shouting: "can't do it, can't do it, there are ghosts here. "He was already crying when he spoke, and then covered his head run out, he didn't even have time to take care of his stuff.
After saw the Taoist priest said that there was a ghost and ran out, the rest of the people immediately burst, nobody dares to stay, except great aunt's family, other people, including me, all at once ran out…
That night we were staying at my grandmother's house. Before dawn, someone was pounding on my grandmother's front door. My grandfather opened the door, the person was my big cousin, his legs trembled as he entered the house, he held grandpa tightly and shouted: "Uncle, please come over with me, nobody dares to stay there, everyone got panic, should we bury her tomorrow morning? Nobody dares to proceed the funeral any further. "
My grandfather also saw that scene on that day, although it won't take any trouble to bury great aunt first thing in the morning, however, firstly, it breaks the rules. Secondly, the Taoist priests have all been scared away, they won't dare to live in the house after this. Then grandfather thought of Wenbin, let big cousin wait and went to wake up my dad, asked my dad to went and asked Wenbin for help.
During those years, our family did not have much contact with Wenbin. He did come to my family several times, and every time he went to the Temple of Generals and then left. It was said that the time he spent at home was little, and no one knew what he was doing.
My dad rushed to Wenbin's house during the night, the one who opened the door was his youngest son, Liang Zha. He asked where his father, Liang Zha, is answered: "he was sleeping, he had just returned home from a trip and just slept for a while." He rushed over to ask Wenbin to get up. Actually, my father was also very respectful to him. If it was not an urgent matter, he wouldn't want to intrude him.
After a while, Wenbin came out and asked my father what happened. He hasn't seen him for several years, Wenbin still looked so energetic. My father said the situation once more. Wenbin grabbed the Qiankun bag and left. After told his son to look after the house, then he left with my dad to go to grandma's house.
By the time they arrived at the grandmother's house, it was already bright. Wenbin first went to the great aunt's house to have a look, and then went directly to the old Taoist home, knocked on the door, made a bow, and through the ancient Taoist, he understood the situation on that day, and then went back to grandmother's house.
After arriving at Grandma's house, he said he needs to go sleep and ask them to call him when it gets dark. He also requested grandfather to inform great aunt's family that everything would be the same as before, just don't seal up the coffin. He will go there when it gets dark.
Wenbin never explains what he said, others had to do what he told to do. There were only a few people in great aunt's family, people in the village are all afraid to go. Of course, we as young children are also told not to go there.
When it gets dark, my grandmother went cautiously to wake him up. After dinner, my father cannot hold his curiosity and asked him what was going on. Wenbin laughed and said, "I'm afraid the fake Taoist won't take the job any more, he only learnt to encoffin process from a coroner for a few years, how dare can he call himself a Taoist."