After the treat (colleagues from the unit) is over, the father's funeral is really over. Then it was time for me to start working.
According to the custom, as a filial son, he must get the "Ying Qi". If you want to figure out the meaning of "Ying Qi", you must first know the meaning of "Seven" here. The "seven" here refers to the period of time immediately after the ancestor's death, with seven days as a unit, divided into seven sevens. Counting from the moment of death, the day of the first full week is called the "first seven"; the day of the second full week is called the "second seven"; The day of the full week, that is, the day of the forty-ninth day of the seventh week. The so-called "Ying Qi" means that every "Seven" day, filial sons must go home, offer food in front of the ancestor's tablet, and then put on filial clothing and bow down. During the whole process, the yellow paper must be lit all the time to remind the deceased ancestors to come and enjoy and accept the worship of the descendants. This process is called "Ying Qi" by our people here.
It is said that as long as you answer on the "first seven" day, you must stick to the "seventh" in the future no matter what. In other words, once the behavior of "Ying Qi" starts, it is not allowed to be interrupted. As for why, I don't know, and I can't figure it out. The day my father passed away was originally a Monday afternoon. According to my calculations, every "Seventh" day after that should still be a Monday every time. However, I don't know how the yin and yang were calculated, and the days of his father's "Zhengqi" that he wrote were all Sundays. This may be similar to the calculation problem of "real age" and "imaginary age" here. The moment a baby is born, people here will regard it as "one year old". After the birthday of the second year, people here regard it as "two years old" or "one year old" (actual age one year old). And when people here report their age, they prefer to report their age falsely. Therefore, when people here generally declare how old they are, it is actually best to subtract one year from the person to get his (her) real age. Similarly, my father passed away at 5:58 p.m. on a Monday. If calculated in real terms, it would be seven days until 5:58 p.m. the next Monday. However, if counting into the virtual, then at the moment of the father's death, it was already a false day, so the father's "seven" calculated by Yin and Yang is all Sunday.
If every seventh day is Monday, then we will definitely not be free. Because those who go to work go to work, and those who go to school go to school, there is no way to talk about the "responsibility to the seventh". However, now the seventh day has become a Sunday, so our "Ying Qi" has changed from impossible to possible.
After my mother explained the situation and asked if we "should be seven", my sister and I began to think carefully. After all, once this so-called "Ying Qi" starts, it cannot be stopped, so we have to think carefully. Although we are in the unit, the unit may not completely follow the rules. For my sister and I, working overtime on Saturdays and Sundays is common, and there is no overtime pay. So, after careful consideration, my sister and I unanimously decided not to "should be seven". Fortunately, every "July" day, there are mothers at home to provide meals for the father.
Although there is no "response to seven", there is one "seven" that we have to go back to, and that is "five seven". Why do we have to go back on May 7th? Because, "May 7th" is the night of returning to the soul. On the day when the father "resurrected", as children, how could we not go back?
"Resurrection", as the name suggests, means that the soul of the deceased returns to his hometown where he has lived in the world all his life, and then he will really rush to the underworld, "drinking Meng Po soup and crossing the bridge of Naihe". The ghosts will return home at night, so we rushed back to our hometown in the afternoon.
When we got off the rented car, we saw that many people had gathered at home. They all helped more in their father's funeral. Among them are the second uncle who knows the local customs very well, and there are also pedantic old people in their octogenarians As soon as I approached the house, I greeted all the enthusiastic people with gratitude .
As I got closer, I saw that everyone was already making various preparations. We don't know much about these, so we can't get involved at all.
What is more eye-catching is the half-finished ladder. It is made of reeds and straws, very similar to the real bamboo ladders, one by one. However, such a reed ladder must not be able to bear the weight of a person. Since it is not for human use, it is supposed to be prepared for the father who comes back at night.
This day's dinner is not very early, because the time of resurgence is usually relatively late. Our family and those who came to help sat at a large round table. After dinner, the octogenarian continued to work with his second uncle. First, after my father's operation, he often lay in bed during the dayIn the place where the small bed was, a makeshift bed was erected with two benches. Then, place a pillow on the bed. Finally, put the clothes, shoes and hats worn by the father before his death on the temporary bed. Of course, the clothes, shoes and hats here are all stuffed with yellow paper or straw. Therefore, from a distance, it looks like his father is lying there after fully dressed.
After all the preparatory work is completed, the next step is to wait. Because there is a fixed time for this resurrection. The time we asked for the yin and yang calculation is ten o'clock in the evening. Of course, some people calculated the time at twelve o'clock in the evening. Perhaps, there will be more at twelve o'clock in the evening. Because, twelve o'clock in the evening is the time when the yin energy is at its peak, and it is the most suitable time for ghosts to haunt.
Wait until ten o'clock, and the ceremony officially begins. The ladder, which had been prepared long ago, was driven to the wall of the kitchen. It is said that after becoming a ghost, one cannot enter through the main gate. Because ghosts are evil things, they will be blocked by the door god or even killed in front of the door. The ladder was prepared in advance so that the dead father could climb to the eaves and then return home through the kitchen chimney.
In order to fear that the soul of the deceased will not know how to return home for the last time, relatives must call for the deceased loudly when they are resurrected. The caller is usually the eldest son of the deceased. Of course, my father was the only son, so the burden of calling my father fell on me without any suspense. Under the direction of the eighty-year-old man, I stood under the ladder and shouted loudly to the night sky: "Dad, come back!" three times in a row. Of course, some places do not believe that ghosts enter the home through the chimney, so the eldest son has to climb to the eaves and uncover three tiles, so that the returnee can enter the house. (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com