Why didn't Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang in Chaoshan get civilized cities?

Introduction of Funeral Sacrifice Activities in Chaoshan Area

According to (Xu)

(Image from the Internet)

Chaoshan area is a place full of rich folk customs, especially in ancestor worship and filial piety.

The objects of worship are mainly the distant ancestors who have achieved success and the ancestors who have close blood relations in recent generations, especially in funeral ceremonies.

When an elder dies, a monk or scribe (a disciple of Mahayana Buddhism) must be asked to recite the scriptures to the deceased. When the dead do seven (also known as "fasting seven", "burning seven" and so on. ), at the same time, I prepared a lot of patterns for daily life and burned them together, just like sending my ancestors to another world to live. I burned paper (gave money) every once in a while.

The company will also be exposed to many such services every year. Many people ask me, can these things be received by his deceased relatives? What's the point of doing these services?

What impressed me particularly at work was that once I was serving an old soldier who went south, but the children of the deceased were born and raised in Chaoshan. However, I kept my father's excellent thought, which was just a simple farewell ceremony. But when I saw another funeral ceremony next to the cemetery, there were many secular ceremonies, and the veterans' side was much colder.

Afterwards, my children came to me and asked me, "Deacon, we really never had the custom of worshipping God before. We don't know anything." Look at the rich manners around us. It seems that we are a little unfilial. Can we also worship with incense burners to show our filial piety as children? "

I meditated for a moment.

Under the background of the times before the older generation, there are several special relationships, that is, there are many children, and they work hard in different fields and regions.

Worship is actually a reason for children and grandchildren to get together in the season, so that children and grandchildren who work outside can get together in the festival. But in the past, living conditions were not sufficient. What can bring the next generation of children and grandchildren together on a specific day? There is an old saying in China that food is the most important thing for the people. Therefore, it is necessary to get together for a meal. Because people in Chaoshan area worship filial piety, they should pay homage to the deceased ancestors of the family before meals and pray for the descendants of the family to be blessed by their ancestors, so there will be sacrifices, three sacrifices, five sacrifices and offerings. With the precipitation of these customs in the years, some elders with higher cultural quality in the family will express their grief and awe in the form of eulogy.

With this in mind, I confidently told them: "In this case, you can also pay homage to your dead father in the form of eulogy, which is also in line with your father's previous achievements and style." Later, the children felt that my explanation was reasonable and adopted my opinion.

In fact, in the funeral industry, there are many kinds of services, and in the era of high construction of socialist spiritual civilization, many funeral service providers have emerged. Some service providers are eager for quick success and instant benefit, taking advantage of the filial piety of the descendants of the deceased to complicate funeral customs, publicize appearances, do great things and build graves. Therefore, with the saying that "more money and more merits", this behavior has also caused the funeral industry service to be ridiculed by public opinion and become a drawback of the industry.

As a service provider who has been in the funeral service industry for more than 20 years, I feel that to change these extravagant and wasteful pseudo-funeral services, we should not only rely on the citizens' consciousness, but also rely on compulsory legal means, and we funeral practitioners should set an example in our usual services and gradually let the civilized and green funeral concept be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Last year, I was lucky enough to participate in the public sacrifice service of Shantou's first "tree burial cemetery area". I didn't know what form to pay homage to at first. Later, through the business philosophy of precipitation for 20 years and my core understanding of tree burial-integrating the deceased with the tree, the life of the deceased can be continued and sublimated, which truly reflects the harmony between man and nature. In such a green, quiet and solemn atmosphere, it should be more appropriate to pay homage to the deceased.

On this day, the family of the deceased and I went to the tree burial cemetery area as scheduled, and read a eulogy during the memorial ceremony. The pines and cypresses on the mountain cover the sky, which is awe-inspiring There is no strong smell of paper ash here, and there is no chanting sound of "wanting to break the soul". Only the family members of the deceased stood silently in front of the monument, and they fell into a long meditation-perhaps their elder was the beautiful boy who was full of legend, talent and charm all his life? Maybe it's Rust River, a talented person who has read a lot of poems, is gentle and good at chess and calligraphy? Maybe it's the man who is full of faith and has been fighting for it all his life. He cares about the country and the people. Maybe it's the sentimental and loving father?

After the public sacrifice, a little boy asked me, "Uncle, has Grandpa really become a tree?" .

"Yes, your grandfather is still a small tree. As long as you come to play with him often, it will thrive and bear rich fruits in time. "

The little boy asked again, "Will it remember me?" .

"Yes, of course. When you are hungry, it will share the fruit with you; If you want to go out to sea to play, it will unload branches and build a boat for you; When you get married, its trunk can still build a house for you. "

The children ran to tell their parents in high spirits, and my family members also cast grateful eyes on my white lies at this time. And this vision is also the greatest wealth I have gained since I engaged in funeral services.

Perhaps it is a question of trust and loyalty; Perhaps it is the blood of Chaoshan people's worship and filial piety. After each service, I will sum up my experience, improve my self-cultivation, and set up a special folk culture industry association with some like-minded service experts in the industry, hoping to carry forward the service of the century-old Xianyou to the extreme through my meager strength. For this reason, it is my goal to establish a systematic service process, convene a professional funeral team, improve pre-sales and after-sales services, and adhere to environmentally friendly, civilized and frugal funeral services.

Although everything has not been smooth sailing since I started my career, including the incomprehension of my relatives, the indifference of my friends and secular prejudice, whenever I think of warm fragments and touching details, and think that I can let my already cold body die with superb technology and enthusiastic service, I will go all out to wait for the last stage of my life.

(End)