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271 Adapting the Ancient System

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    When everyone was busy carrying the coffin, someone had already loaded all the wreaths, flower baskets, yellow paper and other things brought by relatives and friends when they paid homage with a three-wheeled battery car.  Because, after the burial is completed, all of these need to be incinerated for the father.

    When the eight people who carried the coffin were finishing the father's new grave almost, one of them took the mourning sticks of my wife, sister, and brother-in-law and stuck them on the grave.  Then, he asked me to take off the shoes on my feet.  Naturally, I did my best to cooperate.  Fortunately, before I came, I was reminded by a kind person, and I changed into a pair of old shoes that I didn't wear, and I also brought with me the white sneakers that I need to wear when I wear sackcloth and mourning.  After I put on my white sneakers, the man hung the shoes I took off on two of the mourning sticks.  This is also one of our customs here.  This should contain the meaning of "replacing a filial son with shoes".  After all, in ancient times, under normal circumstances, one had to observe filial piety for three years.

    Confucius believes that regardless of the subsequent twenty years of upbringing, you have been snuggling in the arms of your parents during the three years from birth to the time you can walk independently.  Just because of the three years of kindness in your arms, after your parents pass away, you must at least "keep filial piety for three years".  Therefore, for a long time, "three years of filial piety" was a very important part of the ancient political system.  If an official does not immediately ask for leave and return to his hometown when his parents are bereaved, he will inevitably be impeached by the supervisory censor.  After impeachment, the punishment will even reach the severity of never being hired.

    It's a pity that such an ancient system of etiquette has been labeled feudal and ruthlessly banned.  People nowadays do not place as much emphasis on keeping filial piety as the ancients did.  Conversely, even if people are now required to "keep filial piety for three years", not many people will be able to do it, let alone live in a hut.  Of course, even if I want to "keep mourning for three years", it is impossible to ask for such a long leave.  During the whole process from my father coughing up blood to the emergency treatment in the hospital to the burial, I was only at home for two weeks.  Perhaps, the time for Yin Yang to show his father seemed a bit rushed, but I think, under the current system, because of "keeping filial piety", I can only ask for a month's leave at most.

    It is precisely because most people nowadays are unwilling to add that the reality does not allow it, so they think of using shoes instead of such a symbolic method.  The shoes of the filial son represent the filial son himself, and the shoes have been hung on the mourning stick and left on the grave, which means that the filial son is always by the side of the dead souls of his parents.  If shoes can really turn into people, then it really has the meaning of "living together in a hut".  Although this method seems a bit hypocritical, in any case, the idea of ??"keeping filial piety" revealed in it is still a kind of traditional virtue of the Chinese nation.  I think this is better than completely ignoring the etiquette of "keeping filial piety".

    At this point, the preparations for the burial are considered complete.  The next thing to do is the most solemn part of the burial ceremony.  Under the signal of everyone who carried the coffin, firecrackers, fireworks and firecrackers were fired together.  In the sound of "cracking" and "rumbling" firecrackers, all the people attending the funeral began to kneel in front of the grave in order.  Of course, I was still the first to kneel.  During the entire funeral process, my role is the most important, and no one can replace it.

    While we were kneeling down, my cousin had arranged for someone to light all the mountains of sacrifices that had been transported over.  All of a sudden, the flames soared upwards, straight into the sky.  However, it was daytime at that time, so far away, except for the billowing smoke, the fire was not so obvious.  Of course, for safety reasons, the place where the sacrifices are burned is still some distance away from our place of worship.  But, even so, we can still feel the heat waves coming.

    After a round of kneeling, most of them returned to my house.  But some people need to stay for a while.  These people all wear white coats, that is, they need to "wear filial piety".  Since there is "wearing filial piety", there is also a corresponding "losing filial piety".  The so-called "take off filial piety" means to take off filial piety.  However, taking off the filial piety clothes here is not as easy as taking off clothes normally.  Strictly speaking, it needs to be taken off at a special time and through a specific ceremony.  But, now, these rules have gradually weakened.  People have gradually changed and simplified these ancient rituals for everyday convenience.

    Why do we have to "get rid of filial piety"?  That's because people who wear filial piety are generally considered to be ominous.  As I mentioned before, let alone those wearing filial piety, even those wearing white hats or white armbands are not allowed to enter other people's homes casually.  Of course, since they are not considered filial piety, they only need to take off their white hats or white armbands.  But those who wear school uniforms can't do it. As long as they don't "take off their filial piety", they will always have an ominous air, and they will never be able to enter other people's homes casually, especially not to participate in festive and other activities.

      Me, my wife, sister, and brother-in-law are better off. After all, our father is our closest person. It is completely tolerable for him not to visit other people's homes or participate in festive activities for a period of time.  Compared with the "three years of filial piety" of the ancients, I don't know how much better it is.  However, it is not only the four of us who wear filial piety, but also my father's nephew, nephew, godson, mother's nephew, and so on.  Although they don't wear sackcloth and filial piety like us, they are still wearing filial piety after all.  Their relationship with their father has gone far.  This time to participate in the funeral ceremony of their father, even if they took the time to come, if they really follow the old rules, they have to wait until the day when the father returns home or dies before they can "take off their filial piety".  As a result, they have to find time to come again, and their lives are subject to many restrictions before "breaking off their filial piety".  In order not to waste time, in order not to add trouble to their own lives, they chose to "take off their filial piety on the spot".

    The so-called "taking off filial piety on the spot" refers to "breaking off filial piety" while participating in the funeral ceremony.  This can be regarded as a kind of lazy and helpless move of today's people.  After all, people with normal jobs are unlikely to go to the countryside every three days.  Not to mention that they are not close relatives, even if they are their own biological parents, many people will choose to "get rid of filial piety on the spot", which is a simple and convenient method that saves time and trouble.

    Of course, my wife and I still chose to follow the old rules, so, except for my wife and me, other people who "wear filial piety" knelt down in front of their father's grave after a round of prostration, and at the same time they were fighting with him in their hearts.  Greeting (that is, explaining the reason for "taking off filial piety on the spot").  Then, he took off his white coat and white sneakers in front of the grave.  Finally, tie the pre-prepared red headband symbolically on the hair.  So far, the simple ceremony of "taking off filial piety" has been completed.  It's just that some people failed to prepare as early as I did. Therefore, after throwing the white hat and white sneakers on the grave, they had no choice but to walk barefoot.  (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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