"Tracing the source is more important than the temple", "No temple, no clan, no ancestor". In ancient Huizhou in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, these two folk proverbs were widely circulated. Ancestral temple, regarded as a symbol of family integrity, has great cohesion and appeal. ...
Among dozens of existing ancestral temples in Huizhou, Xidi Hu's ancestral temple is undoubtedly the most representative. It not only has a long history and clear branches, but also has the best preservation and the largest scale.
The Historical Origin of the Sidihu Family
Ancient salamanders always lived in groups. "The family must have a genealogy and the family must have a shrine." Genealogy and ancestral temple are the "ties" and "roots" between clan members.
According to Hu Huisheng, an old man in the village, Xidihu originally came from Ye Li, Tang Zhaozong. According to "yi county County Records" records: "Xichuan Hu people, whose predecessor is Li, are the sons of people. Because of the rebellion in Zhu Wen, the nanny and her husband took him to Wuyuan to test the water, and then followed the nanny's husband's surname Hu. In the Five Dynasties, the study of Confucian classics in Ming Dynasty was split in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Children and grandchildren are called "Hu" because they are different from what they are called. "
Since then, Hu's descendants have been living in Wuyuan near the water. Until one day, Hu Shiliang, the fifth generation descendant of Hu Changyi, came to Nanjing from Wuyuan, and was moved by this school of green mountains and green waters when passing through Xiguan. Subsequently, the Hu family moved from Wuyuan to Xidi. At present, more than half of the families living in Xidi are surnamed Hu, who has been learning to carry on the family line and gradually drifted away from the nobles after the emperor.
When it comes to the historical origin of the Hu family in Xidi, we have to say chase. The Falling Wooden Hall is a ancestral hall built by the Hu family in Xidi. The ancestor of the Hu family is Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong. Li Shimin, which once created the prosperous Tang Dynasty, is gone. His calligraphy "taking copper as a mirror can make people dress properly, taking history as a mirror, making people know the ups and downs, putting people first, and making people know the gains and losses" is still engraved on the beams and columns of the ancestral temple. Standing in the middle of the colonnade is a statue of an enlightened monarch.
After Hu moved to Xidi, the population has not been very rich. According to local legends, at first, the door gods "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" were pasted on the ancestral hall. Hu's family moved to Xidi, after more than 270 years and 37 generations, all of them were single-handedly and their families were ordinary. After the emperor, it was a land of feng shui. Why are people not rich or prosperous? Therefore, the Hu family found a prestigious Mr. Feng Shui, and the old man was puzzled. When he happened to see the door god in front of the ancestral temple, he suddenly realized: Now, Qin and Weichi Gong were painted on the door, but now you are painting harmony, so the feng shui atmosphere is naturally bad.
It is said that after the door keeper in front of Tom changed, the Xidi Hu family began to flourish. In fact, this legend shows more that the Hu family still wants Xidi buried in their hearts.
Subsequently, the reporter saw from the Hu family tree in Xidi Village that the Hu family ended the situation of an only child and an only child since the twelfth ancestor Yu Sigong. In the 16th generation, there were branches of "Jiufangtou" (that is, nine sons) and "Four Families" (that is, four uncles each gave birth to one). Each house is row by row, independent in groups and surrounded by pieces, forming an ancient village with strong exclusiveness and typical feudal patriarchal clan system.
Ancestor worship
"The ancestral hall, in a sense, is a condensed nucleus of the people in the family and a place where the descendants of the same family seek their roots and ask their ancestors." Zhai Tunjian, deputy editor-in-chief of Huangshan Local Records Office, said in an interview: "The Hu ancestral hall in Xidi is typical in this respect. It broke through the traditional concept of clan power and diluted the patriarchal order. It is a place of admonition for educating future generations within a family. "
Dear Hall, originally the official residence of Shi Heng, the 14th ancestor of Xidi Hu family, was built in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty and was later destroyed by fire. During the reign of Qing Qianlong, it was rebuilt and gradually flourished because of the reproduction of Hu descendants, and it was expanded into an ancestral temple with an area of 1800 square meters. The stream flows around the hall. Dear hall is now "Xidi Folk Exhibition Hall".
Dear hall, the eaves of the gatehouse are upturned and the style is extraordinary. As soon as you enter the gate, it is a rectangular lighting courtyard. Colored lights are hung on the upper court beam. The "Dear Hall" plaque hanging high on Zhongmen Sakura Workshop is very eye-catching. The name "Dear Tang" has far-reaching implications. It not only inspires future generations to respect the old and love the young, but also sends a signal of mutual respect, love and harmony. Therefore, as a ancestral temple, it has always been a room for discussing business, and it is also a place where people hold wedding ceremonies, teach and reprimand bad children.
"All evils come first, and filial piety comes first." This is the couplet that the reporter saw in Hu Ancestral Hall. The Hu family has always listed "filial piety" as the first of human relations. There is a big word "filial piety" hanging in the back hall of Dear Hall, which was written by Zhu, a Dali scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty. Take a closer look at this word, which is a combination of calligraphy and painting. There are pictures in the words, and there are words in the pictures. The upper part is like a handsome young man kneeling on his back to respect his elders, followed by a monkey's face. Being able to respect your elders is to compete with your children and grandchildren, and vice versa, to return to your ancestors and degenerate into monkeys. Its educational significance is extremely far-reaching, hanging in the temple of love, and it is extremely appropriate and in line with the environment.
In addition to educating and admonishing children and grandchildren, the most important thing of Hu clan is of course offering sacrifices to ancestors. This year, there is a 90-year-old Hu Zongnai, and the scene of sacrificing in Hu's ancestral hall is still vivid: "The sacrifice in Hu's ancestral hall is very solemn and grand. On the fifth day of the first month, Hu (including 16-year-old teenagers who moved to other villages) gathered in the "Benshitang" and was led by the patriarch to worship their ancestors.
On the fifth day of the first month, the ancestor Hu San was worshipped (Ming and Qing Dynasties); On the seventh day of the first month, the ancestors of the Hu family in Ming Dynasty often offered sacrifices in the "Benshitang"; On the ninth day of the first month, Shi Lianggong, the ancestor of Emperor Hu Xi in Ming Dynasty, was sacrificed. On the 13th day of the first month, representatives were elected from the Hu family in the Ming Dynasty, and the heads of households gathered in the "Hall of Seven Philosophers" to offer sacrifices to seven celebrities in the Ming Dynasty, including Hu Huaigu.
As for the ancestor worship activities of householders, householders will arrange them separately, or they can invite householders and householders to participate. Folklore, as time goes by. At present, the ancestor worship activities in Xidi are carried out three times a year, that is, Tomb-Sweeping Day sweeps graves and worships ancestors on July 30 of the lunar calendar and the 24th of the twelfth lunar month (parents and grandfathers are the sacrificial objects, and ancestors above great-grandfather generally do not worship).
If there are important events in the clan, such as meeting the gods and offering sacrifices to ancestors, all the housekeepers should lead the clan 16-year-old branch to hold centralized ancestral hall discussions, and the elders, well-educated and respected chiefs will preside over the clan meeting and make decisions. If any unfilial descendants do evil and violate family rules, they will be criticized in public, ordered to check, and severely expelled from the ancestral temple. They won't be surnamed Hu, but they will take the idols of grandpa and dad out of the enjoyment hall and burn them on the spot. Later, the patriarch publicly announced that their married daughters were not allowed to get on the sedan chair in the ancestral hall, nor were they allowed to beg their daughters to get off the sedan chair in the ancestral hall.
According to the family rules of the Hu family, the children of the Hu family, regardless of their wealth, should study. If there is any difficulty, the owner should give assistance from the income of the family field. Whether you are an official or a businessman, you should put culture first and take "filial piety and honesty" as the lifelong standard of being a man.
Family museum
"More than 30 ancestral temples originally handed over to the West have been well preserved after hundreds of years of historical changes." Hu Huisheng, an old man who has been studying the ancestral temple, is full of emotion when he talks about the great changes in the ancestral temple.
The ancestral temple was once regarded as a symbol of family integrity. Hu ancestral hall, which is used to worship ancestors and discuss family affairs, is now open as a tourist attraction. When the reporter visited Xidi, he saw three Hu ancestral halls that have survived several historical disasters. Now there are only empty picture frames and some preserved couplets and ancestral portraits. Nothing is quiet, but no longer solemn.
"Living in the same village everywhere, the respect and inferiority can be seen in an orderly manner", "The ancestral hall has been ancient for hundreds of generations, and the clansmen in all villages are harmonious", all of which are the portrayal of Huizhou's powerful clan society. As a Huizhou ancestral temple in the modern sense, people have given it new connotations. The ancestral hall is the national emblem of the family and the spiritual bond that maintains the whole family.
"The ancient ancestral temple is a museum of Huizhou family and a microcosm of local folk culture," said Xu, director of Yixian Local Records Office.
Ancestral temples maintain families. Numerous ancestral temples show that Huizhou's root-seeking culture is very rich. Root-seekers are only looking for a period of history, a kind of homesickness and a kind of spirit, which is by no means a nightmare of seeking patriarchal clan system again.