Taboo is called taboo in Shanxi folklore. It is forbidden to approach with "sacred" or "illegal" things to avoid incurring punishment, that is, for some mysterious power to generate fear and take negative precautions. With the law and moral norms is different, taboo is built on the basis of people *** with the same beliefs, is the worship of gods and witchcraft beliefs based on folk beliefs, people use to regulate their own beliefs and behavior.
Taboos are generally passed down through oral tradition and behavioral demonstrations in folklore for thousands of years.
Taboo matters are various and strange, can be said to be strange. It permeates all aspects of people's production and life . From the ancient records of the situation, some have now passed with the passage of time, some are still residual, in today's cultural and scientific underdeveloped rural areas, in the depths of people's minds, it still has a certain market. Here, we will only list the taboo customs that have been widely spread in the real life of rural Shanxi as follows.
Housing taboos
Housing is the place where people settle down, and it is also the place where people live for nearly half of their lives. Especially in the countryside, the residence as a part of personal property, the number of houses, good or bad, the size of the compound, is a measure of a family rich or poor and the family members of the sign of competence. Therefore, building a house is a top priority for both married youths and old and young families.
Like urban housing, choosing a house in the natural environment should be in line with the rules of "nature". Of course, a rural house must also conform to the rules of traditional customs. As part of the whole village, the construction of any house should also be considered with other people's houses to maintain a kind of shape and other aspects of harmony. Therefore, residential architecture should not only deal with the relationship between people and nature, but also deal with the social relationship between people and families. It also has to be consistent with customs and beliefs. Harmony is the key to the problem, folk thought, only in this way can the family prosper, the descendants prosper, otherwise, the decline of the family, heirless, disaster is inevitable. As a result, a series of folklore taboos, rules, and instructions have been formed in the long history of the dust.
There are two main types of housing in rural Shanxi, one is the kiln type residence, the other is the building type premises. According to the Chinese rules for building houses, the choice of land should follow the natural terrain and sit in the north and face the south, which is designed according to the geographic and climatic environment in order to avoid the wind and face the sun. Leaning on the mountain and facing the water is the general rule of house building. Avoid building houses in the dry waterless place, or the back of the damp place, but also to avoid the choice of those who do not grow grass and trees and the right place to flow. Where in the valley shot, the entrance to the city, outside the prison gate, Baichuan mouth of the place, is never a good site for building houses.
In short, the choice of home base on the one hand in accordance with the requirements of nature, that is, water and sunshine, on the other hand, also reflects the myth of the people, avoid ghosts and Chong, avoid war, figure quiet, free from disaster, more reproduction, fear of litigation of the social psychology.
Since the population density is relatively sparse, and perhaps also by the influence of the northern ethnic minorities, Shanxi folk like to live in the diaspora, Shanxi is also a mountainous region with few plains, and thus the rules of sitting in the north and facing the south of the mountainous areas are also some variations.
In the mountainous areas of northern Shanxi and Lvliang, the direction of the main house is based on the type of land, not necessarily north-south. Such as in Lingqiu, general east-west and north-south which side of the mountain is high, that side is the direction of the earth room, the rest of the side is the house, which may reflect the people's lofty mentality. This is of course the choice in the case of mountains on all sides.
Some places, such as Linxian, building houses pay attention to the mountain not to the ditch, that is, the back of the ditch face the mountain, in order to show good luck. But some places are not, many mountain houses are forbidden to have high mountains and deep ditches in front of the house, which are considered to be demons blocking the way and unfavorable to the owner.
Some places in Jinnan house building taboo "by empty", if the house behind the cliffs, cellars, pits, ditches, etc. will be guilty of "empty", and even wells are taboo. But there are laws to break the taboo, if you want to clear this phenomenon, repair a road across the house with the jinx between, you can turn the "empty" into reality, clear disaster avoidance. Many villages in the Pinglu area, careful observation can be found in each village, the four corners of the house is often a slight change of direction, is the result of this taboo, which reflects the people seeking "real", seeking "stability" of the mentality.
"Dwelling not close to the market," is a Shanxi folk custom, which is a twisted reflection of the traditional Chinese mainstream values of shame in business. But farmers are also very jealous of the front of their compound is empty and uncovered, it often gives people a sense of loneliness, thin.
In the Jinzhong area, we conducted field research to see a lot of interesting phenomena, some villages, those built on the edge of the village and the periphery of the courtyard, in order to avoid the straight to the empty field, they take the approach is to turn the courtyard door in the direction of the village to open, do not open towards the outside of the village. If you have to open towards the outside, there is a remedy, that is, on the top of the door put a bottle, called "Feng Shui bottle", the bottle mouth towards the open door, according to the owner said that this can be blown from the wild evil in the bottle inside, so as not to affect the peace of the people in the house.
Today, interested people in many rural areas in Shanxi can be found, those stores, schools and other public **** building are often built on the outskirts of the village, backed by the barren mountains and wild land, people will be built on the outskirts of the village, is to be the original in the village side of the compound surrounded by the inside, the role of the taboo here is obvious.
In the rural areas of Shanxi, the building premises are very concerned about the pattern, generally to a courtyard four houses for the fixed frame, the main room, the side room, the courtyard door, the toilet has its own positioning, not to be dislocated, or else unlucky. Among them, it is especially taboo to build the compound into a knife handle shape, knife handle kills people without a knife, signs of family failure and death.
When building a house, the door of the set belongs to the "gateway" of the big event, in the building is very important. The door is considered to be the face of the family as much as the face of the person, "gateway" has even become a synonym for the establishment of a family, so there are also many taboos.
Generally speaking, the rural courtyard door avoided rushing rivers, wells, fear of being shot by the water and disasters. Yard door directly to the mouth of the alley is also not allowed, the mouth of the alley is a clay arrow, shot to the home is ominous. In Jinnan, it is said that "the street door does not go to the northwest door, high in the northwest and low in the southeast, facing the northwest to go to the pulse gas. Rich people do not live in the southeast room, winter is not warm, summer is not cool." If you can not avoid, we must set a mirror in the courtyard door, that is, referred to as "gossip mirror", "Demon Mirror" to crack, this phenomenon is extremely common in rural areas in Jinnan.
In addition, the two households straight relative to the door is also taboo, yard door, such as the neighboring relative to the taboo, the taboo is charged, also taboo door small. Common thought that the two doors opposite, both sides are unlucky, especially the door is small more harm. Therefore, in rural areas, the phenomenon of two doors connected to the relative extremely rare, even if there is a relative is only diagonal to each other, staggered.
For a compound, generally to the east of the courtyard door for the good, to the west of the so-called Yinmen, unless you have to generally do not open the west door, otherwise you must be in the doorway and a barrier, or in the hutong mouth of the wall directly across from the set of stone tablets, above the engraving of "Tarzan Shi Dare Dang" and so on the words to avoid the evil winds of ghosts and demons of the harassment.
Yard door directly opposite the door and window is also need to avoid. Playing against the door and window fronts to install mirrors to crack. In addition, the general farmhouse courtyard door must be broken wall to block it. In the Lvliang area, the courtyard door after building up to hang on the mahogany bow, willow arrows to suppress evil spirits.
All in all, this kind of building a house to build a yard in the door, the orientation of the taboo, on the one hand, with the "open the door to divine the bad luck" of the common beliefs, on the other hand, is also due to the "door for the family defense," are trying to avoid the bad luck and tend to be lucky. Of course, it is also the most important in the positioning of the pattern of building houses.
After the house is repaired, the owners like to decorate some flowers and trees in the empty yard. For the mountainous areas of the small farmhouse , it is best to plant a few trees, in the Lishi area, it is best not to plant flowering trees, and in the Jiaocheng area and avoid planting mulberry trees, in addition to the local legend of the mulberry fairy tree "sad", as a taboo, mulberry and funeral resonance, people believe that this is with some kind of contagious, inauspicious, mulberry is often harmonized by the people to lose the population, not able to retain future generations. Population, can not keep offspring, so do not plant. Some villages in Jinnan are taboo in the yard planting vines, considered unlucky.
In the same gathering of neighbors, the height of the building should be generally consistent according to custom, avoiding the south and west neighbors of the house higher than their own house. In Jinnan, it is said that "the high north is not high, high pressure in the south to break the waist, high east is not high, high pressure in the west to break the waist". If a house is lower than the other house, then it is necessary to build a brick in the middle of the house on top of the high, or build a small temple-like pavilion to maintain the balance. Those who are not allowed to stand taller obviously have a condescending attitude and use their power to oppress others, which is said to suppress their luck and good fortune, and even feng shui. Major illnesses and minor disasters are attributed to this. This situation can lead to neighborhood disputes in the countryside, and even generations of grudges.
The location of the toilet is also to be carefully considered; generally placed in the southwest corner, there are "five ghosts on the head of the thatched cottage," said, the drainage ditch can not pass through other people's homes, and even less directly across from other people's doors. Neighboring eaves of the water is also taboo dripping in the yard, that is sewage, Bean water, affecting their own luck. In addition, the top of the house, such as the construction of auspicious beasts and beasts, but also can not let the ridge overlooking the kissing beasts open their mouths to face the people, it is suspected of eating others. This kind of taboo in Shanxi Fenhe ancient densely populated villages in the more common, not only with witchcraft colors, but also some of the shadow of the old era of etiquette.