Why do relatives wear sackcloth and show mourning after death? What is the meaning?

China is a big cultural country with a very rich cultural heritage, especially the etiquette tradition with many years of history. When talking about Chinese traditional culture and etiquette, we have to talk about Chinese funeral rituals. In China, after a person dies, his relatives wear sackcloth and wear mourning to express their condolences. So what does wearing mourning for relatives mean? In fact, this mainly comes from a story.

According to legend, there was an old woman at the foot of the Taihang Mountains. Because her husband died early, she could only depend on her two sons. However, after their two sons grew up, they never took care of the old woman again. Although he often said that he would hold a big funeral for the old woman after a hundred years, the old woman knew like a mirror in her heart that the two sons were just talking. If he really died, he would never be treated like this.

So the old woman said to the two sons: "After I die, you don't have to hold a big funeral. Just wrap me up in a straw mat and throw me into the mountain or into the river." That’s it. This way, it won’t cost you a penny. However, I have a request, that is, you should observe the lives of crows and owls every day.”

The two of them heard this. I agreed without saying a word. After that, the two brothers went to observe crows and owls every day.

The little crow grew up under the careful care of its mother, but the mother crow could no longer fly, so the little crow would go out to find food every day to feed her mother. But the owl is different. When the little owl grew up and saw that its mother could not fly, it ate her mother directly. What is even more tragic is that when the little owl gets old, it will be eaten by its own next generation.

When the two brothers saw this, they decided to treat their mother well. However, the good times did not last long, and the old woman passed away soon. The two brothers were very sad. To show their filial piety, they imitated crows and wore sackcloth to see the old woman off.

Since then, the custom of wearing hemp and wearing mourning has been passed down in the world.