Anthropological and archaeological data show that funeral customs did not exist when human beings were born, but only appeared when human society developed to a certain stage. In early humans, people were not buried after death, but abandoned their bodies on the spot and ignored them. For example, Mencius Teng Wengong said, "There are always people who don't bury their relatives. If their relatives die, they will be entrusted to the valley. " The original funeral activities of human beings were to protect the bodies. With the continuous development of social productive forces, human intelligence has gradually improved, resulting in the concept of soul, which holds that people have two parts: soul and body. When people die, the soul leaves the body, so the body has no consciousness. In the future, "soul" will return to "body". So the living should protect the "body" of the dead. This protection of the "body" is the early funeral activities.
The funeral custom in China appeared in the late Paleolithic period. Archaeologists found the remains of tombs in the lower chamber of Zhoukoudian cave site in Beijing. In the late Neolithic period, with the further differentiation among clan members, religious ceremonies were gradually added to funeral ceremonies. By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the funeral etiquette in ancient China was basically available.
In ancient China, after death, due to different regions, funeral customs were different, and there were three burials and four burials. Volume II of the Records of the Western Regions of Datang said: "There are three devices for final burial: one is cremation, and the other is accumulation of salary and burning; Second, water burial, sinking and drifting; The third is to bury it in the wild and abandon the forest to feed the livestock. " "Funeral in China" said: "In ancient times, the formation or choice of burial methods was often closely related to people's living environment. Most people who carry out tree burial are ethnic groups living in forests, such as the ancient Khitans in China. They hang their bodies on trees and burn their bones three years later. People who live in water, such as Dulong, throw their bodies into the river and let them wander; The frontier strongman in northwest China lives in a cold area, so the importance of fire in life is particularly prominent, and cremation is also prevalent in funerals. With fire as the medium, let the souls of the deceased float into heaven with the rising smoke. " (Wan Jianzhong, Beijing Library Press, 1998, 1 version)
Due to historical, geographical and ethnic reasons, in Longnan, Gansu Province, where Dangchang, Canlang, Baima, Deng and Qiang people lived together in ancient times, cremation, sarcophagus burial, stone shed burial, hanging coffin burial and other burial methods were widespread and have been inherited to modern times. Now it is divided into the following categories:
First, the sarcophagus was buried. Tombs made of stone have a long history and are very popular. They are found in the southwest, northwest, northeast and southeast of China. There is such a record in Huayang Guozhi Shuzhi: "When Zhou loses discipline, Shu comes first."
There was a Duke of Shu named Can Cong, who was the king from the beginning. Death, as a sarcophagus, is followed by China people, so it is customary to take the sarcophagus as the tomb. Today, Dangchang, Zhouqu, Wudu and Wenxian in the middle and upper reaches of Bailong River and Baishui River, and Songpan, Mao Wen and Pingwu in Sichuan in the upper reaches of Minjiang River belong to the "stone cultural circle" of the ancient Qiang people. In the cultural relics survey in 1970s, it was found that most of Majiayao cultural sites and Siwa cultural sites in Zhouqu and Dangchang today have earthen pits and sarcophagus burial tombs. In other words, this burial method is covered with huge rock slabs or gneiss all around and up and down. It belongs to the same period and type as the sarcophagus burial culture of the early frontier strongman in the upper reaches of Minjiang River. The funerary objects collected from tombs include slate knives, grain grinders, scrapers and cutting tools. Hard texture, regular shape and fine grinding. It can be seen that the ancient Qiang people's stone-making technology is high.
Second, the stone shed burial, also known as the stone table tomb. This is a tomb composed of four stone slabs standing on the ground, covered with a slate. Popular in the late Neolithic Age and Bronze Age, widely distributed in western Europe. Archaeological findings such tombs have also been found in Liaodong Peninsula and other places in Northeast China. According to archaeological research, this stone shed has a history of 9000 years.
This burial method still exists in Nanyang area of Dangchang County in 1970s. Preliminary research shows that it was a burial ceremony brought by Tuguhun tribe who migrated from Liaodong to the west in Sui and Tang Dynasties and once ruled Dangzhou from their hometown. It was later accepted by descendants of Qiang people and passed down to future generations.
Third, cremation. That is, a way of burial in which the corpse is burned with fire, the ashes are put into containers, and then buried or preserved. The real cremation in China can be traced back to primitive society. In recent years, archaeologists have provided a lot of evidence to prove that the cremation custom in China originated from primitive society. Archaeologists in Gansu discovered a pottery jar containing human ashes when excavating the prehistoric cultural site of Siwashan in Lintao County, Gansu Province. Swa culture belongs to a bronze culture in the late primitive society. This fully proves that the custom of cremation in China can be traced back to the late primitive society.
According to ancient documents in China, China had the custom of cremation as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Such as Gansu and Qinghai in the west of China. This is recorded in Liezi, Lu Chunqiu and Xunzi Outline. "Mozi Festival Funeral" records: "There are countries and canals in the west of Qin, and their new Qi dies, and firewood is collected and burned." The canal is in Qingyang, Gansu today, which shows that it existed in the northwest at the latest in the pre-Qin period.
Cremation is very popular
The site of Siwashan in the upper reaches of the Yellow River basin belongs to the primitive cultural layer of the frontier ethnic groups, and now the indigenous culture in Longnan area belongs to the category of Siwa culture. Therefore, in many ancient tombs unearthed in the last century, piles of human bone remains were found, which proved the record of the cremation custom of "Qiang people burn their ashes when they die" quoted from Zhuangzi in Taiping Siyibu. Tibetans (descendants of Qiang nationality) in Wudu, Dangchang and Zhouqu still use this custom, but its method is much more progressive and civilized than in the past.
Fourth, hanging coffin burial, also known as "wind burial". In the early 1970s, this burial custom was found in many places along the Minjiang River (ancient Qiangshui) in Tanchang County. As a newcomer, I feel quite strange. When you ask the local people, it is called "dry burial". You only know why, but you don't know why. Later, I read Guo Moruo's Reading Notes on Poetry with the Garden: The sarcophagus and Hongqiao, which solved the mystery in my heart for many years.
It turns out that this kind of "dry burial" is "hanging coffin burial", also called "wind burial", which is essentially a kind of bone washing burial, in other words, every kind of burial method of secondary burial. The method and steps are as follows: put the dead, uncorrupted corpse in a "canoe" and "boat coffin" made of a whole piece of wood, hang it on the cliff, let the skin, muscles and hair of the corpse decompose rapidly, leaving only bones, then take it out, put it in a special wooden box or pottery jar, hide it in a natural or artificial cave, and cut a hole next to it. This burial style, like the "balustrade" residential building style, has become a unique cultural factor among the ethnic minorities in southern China, both of which are usually "* * *". This kind of tomb has been widely distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and other places in China, and its northern edge even extends to Weishui in Shaanxi, Qiangshui in Gansu and Luoshui in Henan.
According to the biography of the Northern History of Dangchang, "Dangchang Qiang people, first cover three Miao silver." "Historical Records of Five Emperors: The First Chronicle" records that the primitive tribe of Yao and Shun Sanmiao revolted many times and suffered repeated defeats, so Yao ordered Shun to "escape Sanmiao from three dangers to become Xirong". Up to now, Tibetans living in Pingya Township of Wudu County, Guan 'e Township of Tanchang County, Arch Dam of Zhouqu County and Apollo Township have three Miao lineages. Therefore, the burial method of their ancestors inherited the "hanging coffin burial" method of Miao and Ba people. The places and methods of hanging coffin burial can be divided into "rock pile burial" (that is, putting the coffin on a stake inserted into a cliff), "cave burial" (inserting the coffin into a natural cave on a cliff or putting it into a rock cavity) and "worship the pier burial" (putting the coffin on a protruding part of a rock). Its location is generally on the cliff near the river. Coffins are mostly hung from the top of the mountain with ropes and placed in pre-arranged rock piles or caves. The higher their position is from the ground, the more filial their children are. The so-called "changing customs" is actually an inheritance of the ancient cremation tradition.
In addition, among the descendants of Dang Changqiang, the custom of "entertaining corpses" is also inherited. It is human nature to cry when a loved one dies. However, some ethnic groups sang Long song, cried, danced and even sang operas at funerals, and the lively atmosphere was the same as that at weddings. This is what scholars call "entertaining corpses". There are many records about "entertaining corpses" in historical documents. For example, Yao Xian Lu said: "When Miao people die, they gather their relatives to laugh and dance, which is called" disturbing corpses ". Yunnan Maguan County Records refers to the funeral of Miao people. " When people die, they knock on the reed to entertain ghosts, day and night, until they are buried. Volume 5 of "Records of Wenchuan County and Local Records" compiled in the Republic of China 1933 said that the funeral of Qiang people was "mourning songs ... dancing with each other to show sadness and joy". Some scholars even praised the customs of the Qiang nationality with the touching poem "Farming and weaving are bitter and refined, and weddings and funerals sing the ancient songs". Up to now, in the funeral ceremonies of Qiang people in some villages in Mao Wen, especially the "big night" (the night before burial, the Dangchang minority is now Tibetan, please "Ben Ben" (religious professionals) read the "Ben Ben Jing" and dance "Qiang Ba Dance" (also known as "Ben Ben Dance"), commonly known as "Niutou Horse Face Dance" (because in the dance team, Three days after "Amusing the Corpse", on the way to the funeral, the whole dance team rang the bell and beat the drum, suddenly advanced and retreated, and suddenly left and right. Following the steps of "Gamba Road", they used the ancient, rough and solemn primitive dance to bid farewell to their old friends on Mindie Mountain, pinning their grief and expectations on their loved ones.