Excuse me, what is this?

This is called "tombstone", which stands in front of or behind the grave and bears the names, experiences and deeds of the deceased.

A memorial carrier made by human beings for the burial place of the deceased is generally made of stone, wood, metal and other materials.

In ancient China, the "tomb instead of grave" was just buried underground, and there was no sign on the surface. Later, there was a grave with dirt on the ground and a tombstone.

If you want to build a tomb after death, most of them must have an epitaph. Epitaphs generally record the name, place of origin, achievements, year of death, name of the person who built the monument and the relationship with the deceased. Writing an inscription should be full of respect and affection for the deceased.

I. Origin

You can remember the graves of bereavement for one or two generations, but not after three generations, especially after migration and war, you don't know where the ancestral graves are. How to solve it, people have come up with many ways. At first, people buried the dead. Inspired by the wooden stakes used to maintain the coffin rope, they inserted wooden stakes and bamboo poles in front of the tomb and tied fibrous things (paper or silk, etc.) ) to indicate the date and time of birth and death of the deceased, which is called "Ming Jing" (or "Ming Jing"). But it is easy to be damaged, so people try to find another way: the rich use stone pillars instead of wooden pillars, and engrave the name, birth time and official rank of the deceased on the stone pillars.

In order to carve more characters, its shape evolved into squares and rectangles, and it began to be buried inside or outside the tomb. Referring to the architectural structure, the top of the monument is capped and decorated with animals, plants or landscape patterns, and the body of the monument is engraved with the resume of the deceased. It shows that he was buried alone with his wife, concubine, son and daughter. Geomantic geographical orientation of the inscribed Yin House (that is, the tomb) (expressed in heavenly stems and earthly branches). Middle-class families set up medium-sized tombstones, while poor families can only set up small stone tablets with names, ceramic brick tablets or plant some evergreen trees as symbols.

As a result, tombstones are gradually transformed from practical products into cultural works of art, and their functions, shapes, textures and decorative patterns are becoming more and more diversified. Celebrity tombstones pay more attention to the use of fine stones such as granite and marble, with a statue of the deceased at the top or a porcelain statue of the deceased embedded in the center of the monument. Tombstones have become "honorary certificates" and decorations to record the family background and merits of the deceased. This is in line with the social fashion of China people to honor their ancestors, benefit future generations and last forever.

In order to avoid natural erosion and man-made destruction caused by wind, rain and sun, a monument was erected outside the tomb, and the epitaph and inscription were buried in the tomb. Tombstones prevailed in Han and Tang dynasties, and later became a fixed trend.

Tombstones are rich in writing content. Including geomantic omen, native place, name, identity, date of birth, date of death, descendants, monuments, burial or reburial date.

1. Feng Shui situation, the left side of the tombstone is called Longbian, which is an important part of the monument. Write mountain direction, mountain line and gold thread here. For example, "Li Guishan divides gold into two parts: the meridian part and the meridian part." Its purpose is to inform future generations that in the event of natural disasters, floods or war damage, future generations can still find the original feng shui direction and rebuild the monument according to the feng shui situation on the monument. :: (Yuan Keli) was buried in Dingzhou on December 27th in Chongzhen, with the tomb in the south of the county seat. He walked two miles to the ancestral temple to build a tunnel with a tunnel! "

2. Native place, in the cemetery where there are many immigrants, especially those who died in other places, the names of the native provinces, cities and counties should be engraved in the most conspicuous places at the left and right corners of the tombstone, and some only engrave the names of the regions and villages. This is a nostalgia for hometown, and it also provides convenience for future generations and relatives and friends to find graves when they visit graves for sacrifice. : "According to the form: the public can stand, the word is polite, and posthumous title is awkward. My ancestors lived in Fengyang, and my ancestors were proud. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, we repeatedly strengthened the city and defended hundreds of households with military exploits, that is, today's Suiyang Ye Wei. " So he moved to Sui, but he expected something.

3. The name is written in the center of the tombstone. This is called "winning the list". When writing the name of the tomb owner, the number of words is related to the good omen of Feng Shui. In order to show respect for elders, many honorifics were added in the past, such as: father called Kao and Xiankao, mother called Cong and Xiancong, male added Gong and Jun Fu, and female added Jia and Ru. Moreover, the number of words depends on the five words "birth and death". Among them, it is lucky to fall on the words "life" and "old" in six, seven, eleven, twelve, sixteen and seventeen. It is unlucky to fall on the word "illness" or "death" or "suffering". Therefore, when drawing up the words in the table, try to use the numbers in auspicious format. For example, "Ten Jiujiang social ambassadors are tested as official doctors, and Qiu Fu is the imperial city", which is 2 1 word long, which is the most auspicious. If the names of husband and wife are written on the tablet, they will be arranged in the order of left respect and right inferiority, male left and female right. In 22 years of the Republic of China, an Interview with Suixian County, Henan Province was published: "Yuan Shangshu can be found in the tomb of Xu Lili in Wuli, south of Suizhou, and in the tomb of Yuan Jiehuan (Yuan Keli), the minister of Shangqing Ministry of War."

4. Date of birth, date of death, written on both sides of the list, or according to the male left and female right, it is best to write the date completely. It is very difficult to find out the date of birth and death of ancestors every few generations because of the long time and the cancellation of household registration. Wang Mingduo's "The Ministry of War Shangshu Festival of Prince Shaobao's tombstone in Yuan Gong": "On October 11th, in the seventh season of the emperor's imperial reign, the Ministry of War Shangshu Festival, a senior minister of Yuan Gong (Yuan Keli), finally went home."

People who set up the monument, including children, relatives and friends, and groups, should be written on the tiger face of the monument, that is, on the right. All children should write it down, and the dead children can box their names. Or according to seniority, from left to right. There are also people who don't want to be named, and they can write children's respect or worship. Ming Chongzhen was ten years old, and Ding Chou (Yuan Shu) wept blood and collected stones on December 27th.

6. The time to build or rebuild the mausoleum is engraved on the side of the tiger in the monument. There are many written records of time in China, including the AD and the lunar calendar, most of which are written on the winter solstice and Tomb-Sweeping Day. The year and date are mostly dry. A, B, C, D, E, Ji, G, Xin, Man, Ghost and Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Shu and Hai in the heavenly stems together represent the date or month of the calendar. Such as Jia Zi and Yi Chou. Some scholars divide spring, summer, autumn and winter into twelve months, and each month has another name. Such as Meng Chun in January, Midspring in February and Ji Chun in March; Xia Meng in April, midsummer in May, and late summer in June; It is called Qiu Meng in July, Mid-Autumn Festival in August and Qiu Ji in September. October is called Meng Dong, November is called Midwinter, and December is called Ji Dong. There are also flowers and trees named after twelve months, such as

January plum, February apricot, March peach, April locust, May pomegranate, June plum, July melon, August laurel, September chrysanthemum, October Tan Yue, November plum and December oak. There are also "Gu Erdan", "Ji Dan" and "auspicious day" on the tombstone, not the specific date.