What are the customs of worshiping ancestors during the Qingming Festival in Shanwei?

Chaoshan has a dense population, many ethnic groups live together, and there are many ancestral halls in urban and rural areas. According to old records, when building a palace, one must first build an ancestral hall, clarify the clan system, inherit the heirs, and focus on worshiping fields. Most of the major surnames built large ancestral halls to worship their distant ancestors. The rich also mostly built ancestral halls for their recent ancestors from the four generations of Gao, Zang, Zu, and Fu. Ancestral halls, a few still build ancestral halls for themselves.

The ancestral hall is the place where clan ethics are enforced. Worshiping ancestors' birthdays, birthdays, and annual festivals is a regular and powerful way to unite the clan.

There are two types of ancestor worship: clan sacrifice and family sacrifice. Clan sacrifices are held to pay homage to distant ancestors. Two sacrifices in spring and autumn or one sacrifice and tomb sweeping are very grand. Clan clans in various parts of Chaoshan have many public industries, mainly sacrificial fields and academic fields, which are mostly used for sacrifices. Clan sacrifices are mostly held in ancestral halls during the Spring Equinox or Winter Festival, and tomb sweeping is mostly held during the Qingming Festival. Tribe troupes or paper shadow troupes are often invited to perform during clan festivals. On the day of the sacrifice, the elders of the clan or the male adult descendants of the clan, or representatives of each family clan, neatly dressed, gather in the ancestral temple to worship. The gifts for the clan sacrifice are rich, including whole pigs and whole sheep, five animals and three meals, sugar cakes and cakes, and all kinds of things. In addition to the gifts given to distant ancestors publicly, the ancestors of the descendants of each house are worshiped in the same niche. The descendants of each house also have sacrifices arranged on both sides to worship both distant ancestors and recent ancestors. Formal sacrificial ceremonies are mostly held in the early morning, at midnight. In fact, sacrificial activities are carried out from the first half of the night to the evening. First, at night, a slaughtering ceremony is held, that is, a pig or a sheep is slaughtered, a few drops of blood are taken from the pig's ears and put into a wine glass, and then a few wool fibers are mixed in and buried along the wall of the courtyard of the ancestral hall. This is called "blood blood", which means Tell the ancestors that the sacrifices are "clean animals" to show piety. In addition, an incense table should be set up in the courtyard to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. After night falls, the ancestral hall is brightly lit, and the sacrifices on each table are neatly displayed. The theater troupe and paper shadows in front of the ancestral hall have already performed, and there are performances such as offering auspicious gifts (commonly known as "Four Outcomes", now known as "Five Blessings"). Company"), already paying tribute to the ancestors of the victim. At Zishi, the ceremony began, with firecrackers blasting in unison, three blasts of ground cannons (commonly known as big guns) moving the ground, suonas playing loudly, gongs and drums noisy, and the deacons Tong, Yin, Lisheng, and Zongzi taking their places. Tong is the chief ceremonial officer; Yin is the one who leads the sacrifice; the eldest son is the presiding priest; and the Lisheng is the one who recites the exegesis of the sacrifice. The master of ceremonies sings the ceremony, and the attendees line up in order of generation. The leader of the ceremony first leads the officiant to "wash his head and clean the towel" (wash his face and hands), and then he takes his place and burns incense. First, the food is recommended, and the officiant offers wine. He holds the wine glass with both hands and performs the movement of the word "heart". The first three points and the second half arc represent offering sacrifices to heaven, earth and ancestors, expressing his sincerity. Afterwards, the officiant kowtowed three times, and then all the attendees knelt down to listen to the priest read the sacrificial texts and exegesis. The sacrificial text is a text that describes the name of the person who presided over the sacrifice, the time, object, reason for the sacrifice, the content of the sacrifice, and the piety; the exegesis is a text that instructs the descendants from the ancestors.

After the ceremony is over, the meat is divided and lunch is served (commonly known as the Shizu Gong Table) after dawn. The meat is graded according to fame, education, status, generation and age. During the Republic of China, the number of famous people such as Jinshi, Juren, and Xiucai gradually decreased, and they were often distributed according to university, high school, junior high school, elementary school graduation, and military and political ranks. The remaining people without famous ranks were also distributed according to age and seniority, and some were evenly distributed to each household. , commonly known as "Shi Xing Deng (Ding)". Some ethnic groups with big surnames have built large ancestral halls or joint ancestral halls in cities. For example, Shantou City built many large ancestral halls with many surnames in the 1920s and 1930s. Such large-scale poems, if ancestor worship was performed, would be on a larger scale, with large theatrical troupes often performing on multiple stages. Many dignitaries would come to "glorify the ancestors", and the military and police would also support them, which became a unique social phenomenon at that time.

Family sacrifices are generally small in scale. Because they are recent ancestors and have not many descendants. Those who have ancestral halls and public halls often do not hold large sacrifices, but worship on birthdays, deaths and annual festivals. This is called setting sacrifices. for. During family sacrifices, both male and female descendants and daughters-in-law can come to worship, and they do not wear ordinary clothes. Poor people, those living alone in a single house, with dim lights and dim candles, still kneel down and worship in the same way. This is what the old records say: "The sacrifices are abundant and the sacrifices are measured according to their ability. There is no one who will not use them."

Visiting ancestors is a temporary sacrifice. Although there are differences between large and small ones, whole pigs and whole sheep are indispensable. Because this temporary visit to the ancestors is usually a major happy event to be reported to the ancestors and to express gratitude for the kindness of the ancestors. Those who get married and have children are mostly small; those who get promoted or become a member of the imperial family are mostly large. During the Republic of China period after the abolition of the imperial examination, some places followed the old custom of comparing "xiucai" to higher primary school graduates. For the sake of reputation and practical benefits, many people were willing to obtain the same academic title. Overseas Chinese who have become rich and returned to their hometowns often pay homage to their ancestors, entertain their relatives, and perform plays to celebrate, which is called Shunfeng Opera. Some clans have disputes with foreign clans, they may win lawsuits, they may win armed fights, they may sever ties with them, or there may be "unworthy descendants" in the clan, these are all regarded as important events that require a temporary visit to the ancestors.

At this time, the ancestral hall is the headquarters of the clan and the meeting hall for decision-making. The clan concept radiates to the descendants of the whole clan, and the banner of the surname covers the small sky of the whole clan.