What are the etiquette of folk architecture?

Folk customs and etiquette of building houses:

Building a house has always been regarded as a major event among the people. From the initial groundbreaking to the final completion, there are various ceremonies and activities. When you decide to build a house, start preparing materials, pull stones, transport sediment, and tie handles, your relatives and friends will definitely come to help. This is called "helping others".

The first thing to do in building a house is site selection and positioning. When choosing a housing base, Mr. Geography or Mr. Yin and Yang are usually invited to see Feng Shui. Most of the Neolithic housing sites discovered in China showed the concept of orientation, and most of them formed the shape of facing south, which became the fixed basic orientation of China buildings in later generations. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he was called the "Southern Emperor". Seeing Feng Shui is a systematic belief activity that was formed later. It must have a primitive source, and this source is divination. Dulong people in slash-and-burn stage will hold a ceremony of "divination and site selection" before building houses. The owner took a few grains in his hand and put them on the hot slate on the fireplace. The grains were heated and fried. If they don't jump to the ground, they can build a house here.

At the latest, the Han people have recorded geography books about rural villages in the documents of the Han Dynasty. As for the activities of Yin and Yang warlocks, it should be earlier. In the category of five elements in History of Han, Yi Wen Zhi, Xu Shen noted: "Its nature is like the sky, and its nature is authentic." Later generations regarded it as the originator of Feng Shui books. The original book has long been lost, and its content is unknown. Hanshu Xingfa has 20 volumes and lost articles, but it can be confirmed that it is a work on the geography of Yangzhai. In the Sui Dynasty, there were books such as geography, stories of good and bad houses, and pictures of houses, which were not handed down. After the Song Dynasty, Feng Shui thought has developed greatly, and there are more and more such books. There are 88 kinds of books, with a total of 252 volumes, in Xiangzhai Xiangmu, the history museum of literature and art in the Qing Dynasty. Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), yin and yang topography prevailed in building houses in rural areas, because Feng Shui was related to the fate of families and future generations.

After seeing the place, please ask the mason to measure and "start laying the foundation" on auspicious day, that is, break ground. When the foundation is opened, firecrackers will be set off, and the owner will give the "ruler" a reward. At the same time, carpenters are invited to make door and window frames and cut them into house frames (beams and rafters). After laying the foundation and installing the door frame, the wall was built and the window frame was installed. Red papers such as "Anmen Street" and "Anchuang Street" were pasted in advance, and some even posted couplets on the door frame. Commonly used couplets include "Taigong passed away today, and he said it is good to have a safe door today", "Taigong passed away today, and it is lucky to have an open door today" and "it is lucky to have an open door when opening an account". The foundation stone laying is a universal ceremony, even in contemporary cities, it remains as a symbolic ceremony. The initial foundation was to make sacrifices with others. In the Longshan cultural site in the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin, the tombs of babies were found under houses, walls and columns. This custom still had many reservations in Shang Dynasty. During the excavation of Yin Ruins, people found that when building a palace, people or animals should be sacrificed from the foundation stone laying to the final completion of Anmen. Later generations generally use livestock instead. Modern customs are still reserved. After the completion of the cave in northern Shaanxi, there was a ceremony to seal the dragon's mouth (the last stone was built in the center of the cave), and the hearts of three small animals (rabbits, chickens and pheasants) were embedded in the holes of the dragon stone.

When building a house, the most important thing is to "beam". Usually, the bricklayer will inform the "owner" (the owner) of the date and specific time of girder erection in advance. The choice of time varies from place to place. Generally speaking, it chooses "noon" or "sunrise and stone spear". It is located on Long Island, and it is auspicious at high tide. When the erection time of the beam is determined, the owner will tell his relatives and friends all over the country. On the day of girder erection, relatives and friends will take gifts to attend the girder erection ceremony, which is called "He Fang", and some people will bring red cloth as a gift to congratulate them, which is called "hanging red". When placing beams, first stick horizontal batch and vertical connection on beams and purlins. Commonly used horizontal couplets and vertical couplets include: Lucky Fortune, Lucky Fortune, Ann 'ao Lucky Fortune, Prince and Actress Lucky Fortune, Golden Beam in Spring, and golden phoenix Red. In the middle of the purlin, two pairs of red chopsticks are tied horizontally. On the top pair, there are three copper coins arranged horizontally. A red rope hangs from the center of two pairs of chopsticks. On the red rope, first tie five vertically arranged copper coins into a money string, and then tie a square foot red cloth under the money string. A copper coin is sewn on each corner of the lower end of the red cloth. The copper coins used to make money are preferably castings with the words "Taiping" and "Kangxi". The ridge purlin was covered with firecrackers in advance. Chopsticks, money-making, red rope and red cloth constitute a set of decorations, which is homophonic "get rich quickly", and its folk significance lies in praying for blessings; Chopsticks, ropes and cloth are all red, plus firecrackers, which also means exorcism.

On the day of Liang Liang, before dawn, the owner put four "magic insects" (also Xiaoyan painted with dough sculptures) on the four "horseheads" of the house frame. When the auspicious time comes, the host first asks people to set off firecrackers around the house frame. At the same time, all the carpenters and masons and people who came to help began to pull the beams on the shelf and nail the rafters together, leaving only the roof purlin without nails. At this time, the owner put a pair of dough-sculpted tigers in the niche between the two walls, and then carried a square table in the middle. A pair of red candles were lit on the table, with fish, meat, vegetables and ten big cakes as offerings, with incense burners and three pillars of high incense in the middle. After the master bowed down, he removed the altar and worshipped the sacrifice again. After these ceremonies were completed, the two masters of the ruler, carpenters and masons, went to the house while reading happy songs. On the roof, the carpenter is in the east and the bricklayer is in the west. Red rope hung in the room, and the roof purlin was hung by the owner himself. After the ridge purlin left the ground, the firecrackers wrapped in advance were lit, and the ridge purlin rose to the roof in the festive firecrackers. After installing the purlin, the two masters put down the red rope again, the carpenter pulled the bucket (dialect, "hanging it with a rope or a pole") and the bricklayer pulled the wine. The wine should be red wine, and the barrel should be willow barrel. The barrel is filled with eight knives of straw (straw from a straw cutter is used as a straw festival, and eight knives are used * * *), eight red dates, six copper coins, eight chestnuts, eight pieces of sugar, eight pieces of dough and eight pieces of cakes. In addition, small cakes in the shape of tigers, dragons, phoenixes, flowers, bergamot, peaches and butterflies are made. Put two big bugs made of flour on the barrel mouth and tie them with red cloth. When the two monsters were pulled onto the roof, one belonged to the carpenter and the other to the bricklayer. After the wine and barrels were pulled out from the roof, the bricklayer opened the bottle and spilled it along the roof purlin. The carpenter opened the red cloth that sealed the bucket, singing happy songs and sprinkling cakes. People who had been waiting below scrambled to grab the cake, and there was a lively scene. This was the climax of the ceremony to commemorate Liang, and joyful songs were sung enthusiastically.

At noon that day, the owners, relatives and friends, craftsmen and helpers gathered under the new house to celebrate and get drunk.

I hope I can help you!