Ancient funeral rituals include two major principles: one is the treatment of the body (soul) of the deceased, and the other is the treatment of the spirit (soul) of the deceased. From the bathing and grooming to the burial of the coffin, it is all the processing of the body; and the drink offering that begins at this time is the beginning of serving the spirit of the deceased. What is a drink offering? In ancient times, people placed utensils on the ground and called them "dense offerings." During the funeral, the sacrifices placed on the ground as food and wine are called drink offerings, or simply "libations". Why use this form of sacrifice? There are three reasons. First, the ancients believed that even though the soul of the deceased has left the body, the soul still needs to enjoy food. As long as relatives offer food and wine, the soul will come to possess them. Therefore, offerings are the refuge of ghosts and gods; second, the death of one's family is sudden. During a big funeral, people are grief-stricken and everything has to be done in a hurry, so the sacrificial rituals are simplified. Thirdly, the ancients regarded the deceased as ghosts and gods. For formal sacrifices to ghosts and gods, a "corpse" must be set up, and underage children would serve as the corpse during the sacrifice. Represents the victim. However, the family members of the deceased could not accept this cruel reality for a while, and could not bear to offer sacrifices to ghosts and gods right away, so they brought the wine and food that the deceased had eaten before his death and placed them on the right side of the deceased, with the intention of still serving him for meals. .
The ancients collectively called the sacrifices from the time of death to the coffin burial "dian". During the funeral period, whenever there are new rituals or special days, drink offerings must be held, so there are first and last libations, small coffin libations, large coffin libations, day and night libations, new moon libations, new libations, and coffin moving. The titles of paying homage to the temple, paying homage to the ancestors, paying homage to the emperor, etc. are introduced below.
Xiao Lian Dian is a drink offering held indoors during the Xiao Lian period. The sacrifices are wine, preserved meat and meat. The meat is placed on the zu. The two ends of the zu are the left and right thighs of the animal, the inside is the left and right shoulders, and further inward are the two flanks. The lungs with the backbone are placed in the middle. The meat is placed upside down, with the bones The roots are facing forward.
Da Lian Dian is a drink offering held during the Great Lian period. The sacrificial banquet is placed in the southwest corner of the room, with the banquet facing east. The food on the table should be placed with the fish head to the left and the fins forward, in three rows, with three fish in each row; the bones of the bacon should be facing forward. Beans are placed in front of the banquet. On the far right is a bean for holding sweet potatoes, on the left is a bean for meat sauce, to the south of the sweet beans is a bean for holding chestnuts, and to the east of the chestnuts is a bean for dried meat. The Douzu is to the east of Dou, and further east is the Yuzu. The bacon is placed alone on the north side of the two pots, and the sweet wine and wine are placed on the south side of the chestnut head.
Shuo Yue Dian, also known as Shuo Yue Dian, is a sacrifice held after the Spring Festival if it happens to be the first day of the new lunar month. The sacrifices include a piglet, fish and dried rabbit meat, which are all placed on the altar. In addition, there are also glutinous rice, wine, glutinous rice, glutinous rice, millet, millet, etc. The position of the display is: the beans for meat sauce are in the north, the beans for oyster sauce are in the south, the pork belly is to the east of the two beans, the fish turtle is to the east, and the bacon is placed alone to the north of the beans. The dun for holding millet and millet is placed in the position where the bamboo flute is placed during the harvest period. The positions of Li and wine are the same as those in Da Lian. Cover the meat with a towel.
Cremation in modern society is equivalent to burial in ancient times, and memorial services are usually held before cremation. The living place a wreath around the body of the deceased with the word "libation" written on it, which is a relic of ancient drink offerings. "Modern Chinese Dictionary" (Revised Edition) The definition of "die" is: "to offer sacrifices to the deceased."
"Cihai" The meaning of "die" is: "to offer sacrifices; to offer sacrifices to ghosts and gods" "
"Chinese Dictionary" explains "dian" as: "It means setting sacrifices to worship ghosts or spirits."