The houses in Fenghua, Zhejiang are mostly brick and wood structures, mostly single-story houses. Each building has five, seven or nine bays in depth and 2 to 9 bays in width. Most of the buildings have two floors, and occasionally three floors. Those that form a courtyard are called Changmen or Chemen, where many ethnic groups live. Most of the main rooms of the main hall face south, with the main hall or open hall in the middle and 1 to 4 side rooms on both sides. The patio in front of the main house is commendable. The corridors on both sides of the courtyard are called jiaxiang, and the one with only one room is called jutou. Each compartment is connected to the main house, and there are many corridors in the building, which is called the Zouma Building. A living room is built in front of the patio, and a small cabin is built behind the main house, forming a "three-in-a-row". The roof is gabled and covered with tiles or grass.
There are many taboos when building a house in Fenghua, such as choosing the foundation, choosing the location, and matching the zodiac sign of the owner. Construction can only begin after choosing a "good day" to offer sacrifices to the Earth God. There is a saying in Fenghua: The wife carries it with the father's hands, and the house is built with the hands of the father. This shows that building a house is very hard and expensive, and almost requires a lifetime of financial resources. Therefore, we attach great importance to it and hope that it will be safe when building a house and that it will be permanent after building.
The officiant offered three incense sticks and invited the gods of wealth from the four directions and the five directions to enjoy the sacrifice. The whole family knelt down and prayed in turn, followed by the craftsmen and others. Finally firecrackers were fired. The master in charge will hold a hoe tied with a red ribbon and excavate the foundation soil three times from the east along the south, west and north directions. Please ask the gods to bless the project for success and smooth construction. The host then walked around the homestead, poured wine three times, burned the yellow paper such as "The Book of Land" and "The Book of Peace", prayed silently for two minutes, and then the ceremony was completed.
When holding a ground-breaking ceremony, people used to pay a lot of attention to the location. First of all, the location where the ground-breaking ceremony is held should avoid the "Tai Sui position". Because the ancients believed that one should never "destroy Tai Sui's head". The so-called "Tai Sui position" refers to the direction of the earthly branches among the heavenly stems and earthly branches in the lunar calendar. For example, "Tai Sui" in the year of Zi is due north, "Tai Sui" in the year of Wu is due south, "Tai Sui" in the year of You is due west, and "Tai Sui" in the year of Mao is due west. Waiting due east.
In addition, you cannot start in the "Three Evil Positions" and "Five Yellow Positions". The "Three Evil Positions" in the Shen Zichen year are in the south, the "Three Evil Positions" in the Haimaowei year are in the west, the "Three Evil Positions" in the Siyouchou year are in the east, and the "Three Evil Positions" in the Yinwuxu year are in the north. . The annual "Five Yellow Positions" will change with time, and the calculation method is relatively simple.
"Tai Sui" is feared by people. Difficult people are often called Tai Sui. And for those who look ugly, they say they look like Tai Sui. In the past, when building houses in urban and rural areas, people had to be careful when choosing the right location to avoid Tai Sui. They also had to perform rituals to worship gods and avoid disasters to avoid accidents. For example, in Chun'an, Zhejiang, there is a "Treading Song": "Auspicious Day" On a good day, when heaven and earth open up, the evil god Tai Sui retreats into the distance, burning incense and candles, worshiping the land, and building new houses, which will last forever. "In some places in Jiangsu, fish, meat, and cakes are used to worship the Tai Sui God, the land god, and the house god before breaking the ground. Seeking peace and prosperity.