Studies of Tujia Ancient Social System and Culture — Funeral System Culture (Part 2)
Section 2: Funeral Rites. Before 'gaitu guiliu,' Tujia funeral rites were presided over by Tima priests; afterward, by Taoist priests. Due to regional factors, the procedures and content of funeral rites in earlier historical periods showed great differences between the southern and northern regions.
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Section Two: Funeral Rites
Before the "Gaituguiliu" (replacement of native chieftains with appointed officials), Tujia funeral rites were all presided over by the Tima; after the "Gaituguiliu," they were presided over by Daoist priests instead. However, due to the influence of regional factors, in the various historical periods before the "Gaituguiliu," the procedures and content of funeral rites showed great differences between the southern and northern regions.
I. Funeral Rites in the Northern Tujia Region
Before the "Gaituguiliu," funeral rites in the Tujia region of western Hubei were complex and strict. The elaborate ritual procedures and content concerned the deceased's "salvation," "next life," and the wealth and misfortune of the living, and so they were conducted very conscientiously and strictly. Below is a brief introduction to the funeral rite procedures, whose main contents are performing salvation rituals, consulting feng shui to choose a site, and selecting an auspicious day for burial.
1. Attending the dying. Strictly speaking, funeral customs begin at the moment the deceased is on the verge of death. Especially for elders or the aged, when they are dying, all younger generations are made to kneel at the bedside as much as possible to fulfill their filial duty, and only after the breath has stopped does the whole family begin to mourn. Before being placed in the coffin, the elder in charge of the household, or a person designated by the deceased before death, washes the body of the deceased, dresses it in burial clothes, and lays it out. When washing the body, hemp cloth is used to wash the deceased's five centers (the crown of the head, the temples, the pit of the stomach, the soles of the feet, and the palms of the hands); after the cloth used for washing dries, it is burned before the funeral procession. When the body is laid out in the coffin, the coffin is not sealed; it is placed in the central hall, a lamp is lit beneath the coffin, and it burns day and night without going out.
2. Sending word, that is, informing the neighbors and clan relatives. After the deceased is placed in the coffin, people are immediately sent to deliver verbal messages to neighbors and clan relatives, informing them of the date of the "great night" so that they may come to pay their respects.
3. Opening the road. Upon death, a quantity of paper money is burned, and the Tima (in many places the Tujia have already switched to inviting Daoist priests; in the south the Linka people insist on inviting the Liuluo) is asked to choose the time for laying the body in the coffin and to chant scriptures—this is called "opening the road." As the name implies, it opens the road to the next life for the deceased.
4. Calling for tea (offering tea). After the body is laid in the coffin, the Daoist priest (Tima or Liuluo, collectively called "Tulaosi") opens the throat of the deceased and calls for tea and rice. There is a saying: "Do not drink the soul-forgetting soup of the underworld; drink only a cup of tea from the world of the living." The meaning is that after the tea is called for, the deceased will not forget the affairs of the living world by drinking the soul-forgetting soup of the underworld.
5. Hall sacrifice. On the eve of the funeral procession, a Daoist priest (Tima, Liuluo) is invited to perform rituals, or a private school teacher is invited to conduct a ceremonial rite. As society became more enlightened, the Tujia became keen on inviting school teachers to perform the rites, as the saying goes: "A Daoist priest's seven-day ritual is not as good as a scholar's one bow."
6. The funeral procession. Also called bringing out the mourning. In the early morning, Daoist priests and Buddhist monks are engaged; the Daoist priest rents pavilion decorations, communal tents, and a golden frame; the filial son holds the spirit tablet and kneels in worship before the coffin to thank the coffin bearers. The procession parades through the roads or market streets, with relatives and friends coming out to see it off, to show off—this is called sending the soul up the mountain. During the funeral procession, paper money is scattered along the way, called "road-buying money."
7. Road sacrifice. Wherever the funeral procession passes, if it is in front of the home of a relative or friend, that household prepares incense, candles, tea, and dishes, and sets up a sacrifice table by the roadside to make offerings—this is called a road sacrifice.
8. Choosing the site and burial. Before the funeral, the bereaved family invites a feng shui master to choose the grave site, and then selects an auspicious day and hour for the funeral procession and burial. After the grave pit is dug, the Daoist priest scatters rice outward from within the pit, and the filial son kneels outside the pit to receive it—this is called "receiving the salary rice," carrying the meaning of inheriting the ancestors' livelihood.
9. Revisiting the mountain. Three days after the burial, all old and young of the bereaved family, wearing mourning clothes, go to the grave to bow in worship and add earth to the grave—this is called revisiting the mountain.
10. The return of the calamity, also called "the return of the baleful spirit." The date of the return is calculated by the Daoist priest according to the sexagenary cycle: on which day and at which hour the deceased will return from which direction, and at which hour will depart in which direction. The meaning is that the deceased longs for the affairs of the living world. At that time, the bereaved family prepares tea and fruit in the room of the deceased for him to come home and enjoy.
11. Reporting the sevens. After the body is laid in the coffin, the Daoist priest calculates that thereafter sacrifices must be made on each seventh day, and seven sevens (forty-nine days) should be observed. During these "seven sevens," the wealthy also engage monks to chant scriptures to wash away the sins of the living, which is said to enable the deceased to be saved. Later generations also look at how many of these seven sevens coincide with the seventh day of the lunar calendar; if any coincide, it is believed that later generations will not lack "food."
12. Delivering the spirit. The year, month, and day of the deceased's death are written on a specially made paper tablet, called the spirit seat, which is offered to morning and evening until three years have passed, when monks are invited to burn it—this is called "delivering the spirit."
Ten li, different winds; a hundred li, different customs. Due to regional differences and differences in family composition, funeral customs in the northern Tujia region also vary. For example, in some places, for salvation, both the Tulaosi is invited to chant scriptures for salvation and a Daoist priest is invited to open the road. When the Tulaosi chants scriptures, he pretends to be the dead person, and the relatives gather around weeping. If the deceased is a woman, he carries a bedroll and shoes on his back; if the deceased is a man, he carries a tobacco pipe and a firewood knife on his back. The family members pull the Tulaosi and weep, and finally the things carried on his back are burned. At burial, the Tulaosi is invited to draw the eight trigrams in the grave pit and sprinkle realgar wine. Before the coffin enters the grave pit, the filial son first digs a hoe's worth of earth into the pit, raises the hoe over his shoulder with his left hand pointing backward, and asks: "Is there anyone behind?" The crowd answers: "Yes." The meaning is that there are descendants to carry on the family line. Afterward, someone else takes the hoe, the filial son rises—this is commonly called "settling the vein." Only after settling the vein is the body buried in the grave pit. In some places, a master is invited to chant scriptures and open the road, with the musical instruments being a bronze bell and a bamboo drum. When chanting, one hand holds the bell and the other beats the bamboo drum. When laying the body in the coffin, the coffin is placed crosswise in the main hall, with the head end of the corpse facing the fire pit and the family shrine, to show that the ancestors are not forgotten. Only after the road is opened is the coffin set straight. At the funeral, the relatives of the deceased drape cloth—the cloth is white, crossed from head to shoulder and tied at the waist. The cloth-draped person holds a long knife and cuts branches and thorns along the way; some also carry torches to light the way, to facilitate the passage of the funeral procession. Only after the coffin enters the grave pit is the coffin sealed with tung oil and lime.
In some places, funeral rites have strict grades, and the complexity of the rites is determined by the deceased's seniority and prestige. For those who died unnaturally, the corpse cannot enter the house, relatives cannot approach the corpse, others handle the laying in the coffin, the funeral rites cannot be held in the main hall, and burial cannot take place on the clan's ancestral grave mountain. For those who died young, no shoes are worn, only socks and straw sandals, and the funeral rites are simple. In ancient times, some places also had the custom of delayed burial: if the deceased died before elders or peers older than himself, the coffin had to be placed in a coffin shed built outside the house, and only after the elders and older peers died could it be taken up the mountain for burial.
II. Funeral Rites in the Southern Tujia Region
Singing funeral hall songs is an important part of the funeral rites of the southern Tujia. Beating the granary and dancing the row is a "salvation" ritual held for the deceased, close to entertaining the "gods," whereas the purpose of singing funeral hall songs is to entertain people. Among the northern Tujia, beating the funeral drum, dancing the funeral dance, and singing funeral songs are combined together, reflecting the trend of ancient funeral rites evolving toward a higher form. But the southern Tujia maintain customs of different time periods for these several segments, reflecting the primitiveness of funeral customs in the southern Tujia region.
In the southern Tujia region, during the period of lying in state, during the daytime and on the night before the funeral procession, the Liuluo leads the filial sons in beating the granary and dancing the row; on the remaining nights, the funeral hall song masters beat drums and sing entirely. This kind of song has two characteristics: First, this funeral hall song is precisely the song of the common folk from before the Qin and Han dynasties. In his reply to the King of Chu, the Chu minister Song Yu once mentioned a famous custom:
A guest was singing in Ying, and at first he sang "Xiali" and "Baren," and several thousand people in the capital joined in; when he sang "Yangling" and "Caiwei," several hundred people in the capital joined in; when he sang "Yangchun" and "Baixue," only several dozen people in the capital joined in; when he drew out the shang note and carved the yu note, mingling in the liu zhi, no more than a few people in the capital joined in. Thus, the more refined the melody, the fewer who join in.
The custom of several thousand people singing in chorus to "Xiali" and "Baren" has not been seen in records since the Han dynasty. From ancient times, although "Xiali Baren" became another byword for "vulgar," seemingly something that could not enter elegant halls, later literati and scholars, imagining the magnificent scene of "several thousand joining in," could undoubtedly produce a certain romantic emotion, and so works recalling this event and depicting this scene are numerous. But no matter who, no one could again witness in real life the grand scene of "several thousand joining in." Therefore, from ancient times, when scholars annotated this passage, they would say that this was a Baren custom, and that after the Ba state was destroyed, this custom no longer existed.
However, in the southern Tujia region, this custom has continued unchanged since ancient times. When an elder in a family dies, song masters from far and near all come uninvited and sing funeral hall songs in the mourning hall at night. When singing funeral hall songs, first one song master beats the drum to start the song. The drumbeat is one long and three short, namely: "dong—dong—dong—dong—," so it is also called the "three-stick drum." The singing follows the drumbeat at roughly seven characters per line, four lines per stanza, with the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyming (roughly rhyming). Slight variations in length are also allowed in the middle. After the song master finishes a stanza, everyone together opens their throats and joins in the last line, with the chorus being: "Ah—ah ah—ren ai—ai ai—ah sheng ah—." From the number of those joining in, one can judge the skill of the song master. If the song master sings well, several hundred join in; if he sings poorly, few join in, and before long another song master will surely take over the drumstick and lead the singing anew. At a grand occasion, song masters from various villages will surely take turns challenging each other, and all the relatives and friends, as well as people who have come from various villages especially to join the excitement, will muster their strength to sing that line "Ah—ah ah—ren ai—ai ai—ah—ah sheng ah—" so that it shakes the heavens. In the silent mountain villages, the singing often carries several li and echoes among the mountains. During the Qianlong reign, a group of literati who came from the Central Plains to serve as officials here, although they personally experienced this moving scene, did not know that this was precisely the ancient custom of "Xiali Baren," and instead ordered it strictly prohibited: "At the beginning of mourning, the family wraps white cloth around their heads... In the neighborhood hall, regardless of closeness, all come to sit up the night, with gongs and drums clamorous, singing and shouting until dawn, called 'making a funeral din.' The bereaved family sets out wine to entertain them; if slightly frugal, the crowd all condemns it... This custom is extremely rude, and it is now strictly prohibited, and recently it has gradually decreased."
It must be explained that in the funeral hall songs only drums are used and no gongs. The outsider officials who compiled the gazetteers were slightly mistaken here: in the process of beating the granary there is a row-dancing ritual in which not even the drum may be beaten, and only wood is struck to keep time.
Second, the funeral hall song combines the ethical concepts of Han culture with the romantic emotions of the Ba people, typically reflecting the trajectory of ethnic cultural fusion. This combination is reflected in content and also in form. In terms of content, funeral hall songs contain both moral and ritual teachings and artistic elaboration narrating the life deeds of the deceased. For moral and ritual teachings, ready-made lyrics are often available, and only slight improvisation on the spot is needed. But when elaborating the life of the deceased, it all depends on on-the-spot recollection and improvisation. It must both fit the characteristics of the deceased and be seven characters per line, four lines per stanza—the difficulty is no less than composing a seven-step poem. Because the song master must complete the creative task within one or two "dong—dong—dong—dong" drumbeat measures, one cannot become a song master without experience, artistic temperament, and linguistic genius. From these song masters, we also understand why the southern Tujia region has produced so many masters of art—the writer Shen Congwen, the painter Huang Yongyu, and others. In terms of form, even for lyrics of moral and ritual teachings, at the end the crowd's "chorus" must be that line lamenting "life": "Ah—ah ah—ren ai—ai ai—ah—ah sheng ah—." It expresses the helplessness or lament over life to the fullest. This mode of expression is rarely seen in Central Plains culture. It is a purely artistic expression, a combination of ethics and art. Both romantic and containing sorrow, it is the same style as the Chu ci. In the singing and chorus of the funeral hall songs, it is all perfectly embodied.
Although there are already many research works on Tujia funeral customs, it can be said with certainty that our understanding of Tujia funeral customs is still very limited. Many segments of Tujia funeral customs come from the society of remote antiquity and preserve some laws of human cultural change over the long course of history; in these customs there also remain people's long-standing interest in interpreting the customs and various forms of interpretation. Therefore, interpreting these interpretations themselves will be a theoretical research task that requires a great deal of time and is also very important.