How to write family god tablets
In the long-standing cultural inheritance, our country has formed a rich and colorful national folk culture. This cultural form was first manifested in the household god tablets in thousands of households, especially in rural areas, which are commonly known as "incense offerings."
Due to several large-scale population migrations in history, the surnames and clans are very complex. In addition, in most places in our country, people advocate the custom of worshiping ancestors in family temples. Therefore, the immigrants moved to Later, when the population multiplied in large numbers and production and life became stable and developed, some famous and large families successively established ancestral halls, ancestral halls and other sacrificial places. Even some common people and poor families also paid great attention to family sacrifices. When building a house, they almost invariably turn the main room into a main room (the middle of the three rooms is called the main room, and urban residents call it the living room. The left and right rooms are called rooms, and urban residents call them bedrooms). Set up an incense shrine on the back eaves of the hall.
1. Components of the family god’s tablet
The family god’s tablet consists of five parts: the hall number, the shrine, the hall couplet, the shrine, and the message.
The first part is "the hall number". Various surnames with different origins, in order to put a historical mark on their surnames, have given their names. Tang Hao refers to the title of a certain branch of a certain surname. After a certain branch of a certain surname becomes a prominent family, due to continuous reproduction, development and migration, many branches and factions are often separated. In order to distinguish each other, these branches and factions have their own names. This name is The so-called "hall number" or "room number" is reported.
There are also a few people who write the three characters "XX Hall" into the four characters "XX Shi Di". The two characters in front of the hall remain unchanged, and only the word "Tang" is written as "Shi Di".
For families that do not have a family tree due to various reasons, and whose origins in taking their names from the above hall have been lost, the text of the hall name will be written as "Fu Lu Zhen Xiang" or "Zude Liu Fang" instead.
The second part is the "God's Table", which is the center and main body of the family god's tablet, located in the middle of the family god's tablet. Regardless of the surname, branch, faction, or hall name, the textual content of the "divine throne" is the same. Use a piece of half-big red or Zhenghong paper to connect it vertically. Use a brush to write the six characters "Heaven, Earth, Lord, Relative, and Master" in the middle from top to bottom. The left and right sides are written with the god's position.
The third part, the family culture closely related to the hall name is the "tang couplet". The contents of some hall couplets mostly reflect the worship of ancestors, inheriting ancestral customs, and shining a bright light on the family. Common ones include "the ancestors have a long history, and the grandson Zhiyi worships the elder"; "the ancestors will always support the prosperity of the family, and the ancestral light will always shine on the descendants and virtuous people"; "the treasure tripod is decorated with auspicious incense and colors, and the silver platform announces the good news and the candles grow flowers"; "the sun shines on the incense burner. Purple smoke, oil lamps are lit at night to form colorful flowers"; "The virtues of the world are long and the flowers are hanging, and the sound of the family will forever resonate in the Shaoqin Hall"; "The clothes and hats of the succeeding generations are all ancestors' virtues, and the orchid and osmanthus in the courtyard is the spring light"; "Sacrifice to the ancestors and pray to the gods for blessings" "Lu, Wei Gang Shao Ji Tong Jing Lun" and so on. All surnames can be used in common.
There are also some couplets, whose content reflects the historical origins of the surname, the moral articles of family celebrities, and their cultural and political achievements, etc., which can only be used for a specific surname and have great characteristics and cultural connotations.
The fourth part is the "report", which is posted on the right side of the family god's tablet, aligned with the upper end of the "hall number", and is an auxiliary part of the family god's tablet. The content of the newspaper: "Good news for the People's Republic of China in the year AD ~~~, the whole family of a certain house is in good health, and everything is going east and west, from south to north, good people meet, and noble people meet, and three stars shine brightly, and the four seasons are prosperous, and the harvest is good and good luck. ”
The fifth part is the “shrine”, which is located at the lower end of the “divine throne” and the couplet. The top of the shrine was originally used to place gods and ancestors' tablets.
2. The meaning of the divine position
The main body of the family god tablet is the divine position of "heaven, earth, king, relative and teacher". Our country's folk beliefs, influenced by the great moral and ethical concepts of Confucianism, formed the belief and worship sequence of "the king of heaven and earth, his relatives and his master".
1. "Heaven" here mainly refers to material and objective nature, such as the replacement of the sun and the moon, the rotation of the stars, the rotation of the four seasons and the natural phenomena such as light, air, wind and clouds, thunder and lightning, frost and dew, etc. . The worship of natural gods, namely the Emperor of Heaven, is an important part of Chinese folk beliefs.
2. "Earth" is relative to the sky, here it refers to the surface of the earth. The earth is the basis for the survival of human beings and all living things. The worship of earth is mainly reflected in the worship of mountains, rivers and earth.
3. "Jun" is the general name for rulers at all levels who owned land in ancient times.
Later, a few people in some places changed the word "Jun" in the divine title to the word "国". They did not know the specific meaning of "Jun" and made it up as they pleased. They knew it but did not know why, so they changed it arbitrarily. The original meaning of "Jun" has been lost.
3. The pro-traditional writing style "qin" here is the collective name and general name for ancestors. Ancestor worship is the most influential folk belief in ancient China. The "Ancestral Temple" of the emperor's family enshrines the tablets of the royal ancestors for sacrifice. The "ancestral halls" of prominent families and the tablets of family gods in ordinary people's homes also enshrine the tablets of their ancestors for sacrifice. .
4. "Shi" is written in traditional Chinese style, which refers specifically to the person who imparts knowledge and technology. For example, a teacher is commonly known as a teacher or a master. Confucius is the sage teacher of ancient Chinese intellectuals. In China's long feudal society, Confucianism, which evolved from Confucius's thoughts, was the dominant theory. Therefore, while rulers of all dynasties offered sacrifices to heaven, earth, sun, moon, and ancestors, a very grand ceremony was added. ----Sacrifice to Confucius. Confucius became the representative and symbol of "teacher".
3. Writing requirements and format specifications for family god tablets
Family god tablets are the most sacred in people’s minds, so writing is a very serious and grand event, and it has Very strict requirements and format specifications. If you don't write it, it's enough. If you write it, you must not be careless or sloppy. If the person who knows how to calligraphy is not moral and respectable, he should be careful when writing the family god's tablet.
Anyone who wants to write incense must first look at the auspicious date, buy new brushes, ink, and red paper, prepare the incense table, and invite the person with the best calligraphy and high moral character within dozens of miles to come to his home. After the warm hospitality, the incense table was placed, and the gentleman only took up writing after washing his hands. According to the established habits and rules, the husband can help others write Spring Festival couplets, wedding couplets, etc. for free, but writing incense must be paid. The husband decides the amount, and the host does not need to bargain.
The writing requirements for "Tanghao" must be in calligraphy and regular script, and running script and cursive script are not allowed. Horizontal writing and reading from right to left. The "tang name" must be recorded based on the family tree of the host family and is a hall name that has been passed down from generation to generation, and no name can be chosen at will. The "hall number" must be written with black characters on a red background or yellow characters on a black background. White, blue, green or other color backgrounds or characters are not allowed. The dimensions of the paper or plaque are two feet four inches wide and four feet five inches long.
The writing requirements for "divine position" are more specific, standardized and strict. There are five major taboos and five musts and five musts. The five taboos are:
When writing "Heaven", it is required that "one does not suppress the larger one", and the taboo is to connect two horizontal lines; when writing "Earth", it is required that "the earth is not separated", and it is taboo that the earth is also separated; when writing "Jun", it is forbidden to separate the earth. ", requesting "You will not shut up." It is forbidden for Yin's words to be sealed tightly and to be rewritten as "lord" or "guo" at will to avoid ambiguity; when writing "ki", one must write "ki" in traditional Chinese, and "ki is not allowed". "Close your eyes"; when writing "Shi", you must not leave the position of "Shi", that is, the vertical line of the word "Shi" must be elongated and next to the word "position". On the one hand, these five taboos are taboos and concerns, on the other hand, they are aesthetic requirements from the perspective of calligraphy.
The five musts and five musts are: write in block letters, and do not use line, cursive, or other fonts; the brush ink must be applied appropriately, without dripping, splashing, flowing, or smearing, and the writing must be clean and tidy; the strokes must be It is round and plump, with no hair or forks; after writing the character, it should be carefully placed flat in a remote, clean place to dry naturally in the shade. Do not use other objects to absorb, wipe the remaining ink on the word, or bake it with fire. Prevent damage to the calligraphy paper; when pasting it on the wall after it dries, apply glue or paste to the edge of the paper one finger wide, and do not apply it all over to prevent the calligraphy paper from wrinkling and discoloring after the glue or paste dries.
The specifications of the "God's Table" are the same as those of the hall, that is, one and a half pieces of red paper connected vertically are the length and the width of one piece of paper, written vertically from top to bottom, must be red paper with black characters. .
The basic requirements for writing "Tang Lian" are black characters on a red background or yellow characters on a red background. The font should be smaller than the six characters "God's Position". The font can be regular script, cursive, official, seal or Song. It can be Wei, but children's bodies and other deformed bodies cannot be used to prevent them from being unserious or solemn. The content of the couplets has been introduced before, and it is not allowed to be written as Spring Festival couplets or other contents; the couplets are posted with the two sides of the altar corresponding to each other, with the upper couplet facing to the right and the lower couplet facing to the left aligned with the upper end of the altar. If two or more couplets are to be posted, the two sides of the altar should still correspond to each other, and the content and font of the couplet should be distinguished. It is taboo to post a couplet on one side.
The "newspaper" is also written on red paper from top to bottom. The width of the paper is 1/4, 1/5 or 1/6 of a piece of red paper folded vertically. It is new every year. The important thing is that each year is longer than the previous year. In the first year of setting up the incense, the notice should not be too long. Leave room for the future until the last notice covers the wall and reaches the ground. The upper end of the newspaper banner shall not exceed the upper edge of the hall number plaque.
After the wall to the right of the incense is covered with newspaper posters, the damage to the paper with the word "incense" will determine whether it should be updated or not. If it is intact, just tear off the old newspaper posters that have been posted all over before and start writing and pasting the newspaper again.