Introduction on the White & Red Rites & Rituals (紅白囍事簡介)

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Recently, our Local TV Station had come out with a new Drama Series on the White & Red Rites & Rituals – known as The New Beginnings. After watching, a lot of people had approached me on whether the Rites & Rituals being introduced in the Drama Series are “True” or not. After getting their enquiries, I was quite surprised to know that a lot of our own Chinese Fellow Friends actually don’t really know much of our own Root Culture & Customs. This really makes a lot of people “heart-shake with pain”.

First of all, I must said that our Local TV Station had done a great job on the producing of such a Drama Series on the theme of White & Red Rites & Rituals (showing the Difficulties that the People faces in the Job and also during the assisting of the related Families of the Pass-on or New Married Couples, etc) and another thing is that, the Title of this Show is really Wonderful and Straight to the Point – the New Beginnings. Cos in Taoism, there aren’t any Ending instead a lot of New Beginnings.

Till now, for those who have yet to make yourself clear on what are White & Red Rites & Rituals, in here, Jave will like to explain to you on what they are:

1 White Rites & Rituals, meaning the Pre-preparation for Pass-on (Death), Funeral Wakes & also the Post Events after Funerals (in Taoism will be until 3 Years)

2 Red Rites & Rituals, meaning Giving Birth, Wedding, Birthday Celebration, etc.

Due to Drama Series had a lot of Restrictions & Constraints, so from what know on the Drama Series - The New Beginnings, the Show won’t be going in-depth into the Individual types of Rites & Rituals and so in here, Jave had to be a nosey-poker to do the Brief intro on them.

Why in Chinese, we address White Rites & Rituals is also considered as Happiness Occasion?

For those who don’t know, actually in Taoism or Chinese Culture, Passing-on is a form of Ceasing or Ending of Suffering in the Mortal Realm. Besides that, in Taoism, we believed that being Born into this Mortal Realm, it is just a Temporary Stop for our Souls. And so, after Passing-on (crude word to use will be Death), actually we are Proceeding to the Next Stage or into the Other Realms and so, it is indeed a Joyous Event to Celebration – which is known as Happiness.

And this is also why, in Taoism, we tend to use the Term Passing-on (過往) and not Dying for a Taoist, cos what we facing is just a form of Transition, if the Passing-on to the Next Stage is a Good one, it shall not be known as Death or Dying.

PS: In the Show, many times, the Storyline actually teaches us not to be too afraid/stress while facing the Passing-on, which this is a very Good & Positive. Even though at sometimes, it is hard for us to suppress our Sadness towards the departure of our Love Ones, but still, we need to learn to accept it, if not, more issues will arise in the future, such as Physically Weak, Mentally Disorder, etc.

So in Taoism & Chinese Culture, what are the White Rites & Rituals involved?

A lot of People had mistaken that the White Rites & Rituals are only mend for the Passing-on, actually this is Wrong.

White Rites & Rituals usually started after a person celebrate his/her 60 Lunar Years Old Birthday (甲子花年).

After 60 Years Old, a person will start to look for the Best fitting Shou Yi (Shroud Clothing 壽衣), Best Location for the Burying/Ash-placing After Passing-on. For some People, they will also immediately buy an Ash-placing Position for him/herself as a form of Symbolising of the Prolonging of Life (長生祿位).

And on the Day of the Passing-on, Descendants will need to do preparation for the Funeral Wakes, such as getting the Pass-on to rest well in the chosen Coffin aka Shou Ban (壽板), engaging Religious Masters to conduct the Salvation Rituals or the Leading of Soul to the Source Ceremonies, etc.

On the 1st 7th Day after the Funeral Wake, Descendants had to observe on the Returning of the Soul of the Pass-on. And on the 49 Days/100 Days, Religious Masters had to be engaged to usher the Soul to Ascend onto the Main Altar at Home for the Life-time Honouring by the Descendants.

For some Families, on the 1st Year after the Passing-on, the Descendants will engaged Religious Masters to conduct an Official Ritual for the Pass-on as in to replenish whatever is being left out during the Funeral Wakes. After then, on the 3rd Year, another Ritual will be conducted to initialise that the 3 Years Mourning is completed (三年解孝).

For Chinese, due to Thoughts & Practise of Filial Piety and Returning Gratitude, honouring of Ancestors is a very Important & a MUST-DO action. This does not only show how much we Love our Love-Ones, this is also a form of Cultivation for Oneself on Patience, Caring & Sensitiveness.

In Chinese, how many Types of Red Rites & Rituals are there?

Due to Time has changed and everyone seems to drift off from our Own Root, many such Practises had been forgotten by a lot of People.

In the Past, when we talked about Red Issues, Old People were be able to list out a long list for you but nowadays, People will only remember those Red Issues that needed them to come out with Red Packet aka Ang Bao (賀禮紅包).

In here, Jave will list out the Major Five Red Issues that we celebrate in the Modern Era:

1 Giving Birth (誕)
2 Getting Married (婚)
3 Lunar Birthday Celebration (壽)
4 Moving into New House (遷)
5 Getting Promoted, Opening of own Business or Graduated (昇)

During the Birth Red Rites & Rituals (誕), for Taoists, after a Lady is being confirmed with Pregnancy, Honouring of the Bedroom Deities must be carried out every Month/certain Occasions. This is to request for the Blessing for the Baby and also the Safety of the Pregnant Woman. After the Baby is born, for the 1st month, the Baby shall not leave the room un-necessarily, this is not only to prevent the Baby from contacting any un-necessary Entities around, but also due to Health-issue (new born Babies tend to be weaker and easily be affected by the surrounding germs & viruses). On the Full Month (30 Days 滿月), Parent will invite Relatives & Friends to home/etc for the Celebration of the Arrival of the New Born Baby (in the past, people only celebrate on the 40th Day). On the Full Month Day, the New Born Baby must honoured the Ancestors, this is to inform the Ancestors that there is another new Member in the Family and also, to request Blessing from them for the Baby. After 1 year, Parent will also invite Relatives & Friends to home/etc for the celebration of the Baby 1st Birthday in this Mortal Realm. The purpose of doing so is to allow the Baby to get the Blessing from the Big Crowd, in-order to Prolong the Age and also, to train the Braveness of the Baby. Taboo for New Born Babies will be, going into Temples before the Age of 3.

For Wedding Rites & Rituals, for those who are interested, actually you all can refer to Jave’s Old postings (in multiply web) or watch the Drama Series of The New Beginnings, I’m sure you will be able to learn something from there.

During the Celebration of Lunar Birthdays, People shall avoid wearing Black & Blue. Try to wear Bright colors like Red, Orange, Purple, Yellow or Flowery apparel. This will assist in boosting the Prosperity Luck for the Next 1 Year and also, this will assist in gaining the necessary attention of the Deities in the other Spiritual Realms. On the Day of the Lunar Birthday, Oneself shall honoured the Deities & Ancestors 1st, especially those whose Mother had pass-on. This is an Important Day for the Remembrance of One’s Mother and also, to return One’s Gratitude to her.

For Moving in New House Pre & Post Rites & Rituals, for those who are interested, you all can also refer to my Old postings.

Last, the Rites & Rituals for Promoted, Opening of own Business or Graduated, this can considered Rare but in the Ancient Era, this can considered as One of the Most Important Practises. On the Day of Oneself’s Promotion, Opening of New Business or Graduated – this represent a New Life of a Person (the 2nd Reborn), Oneself will need to do a Spiritual Reporting at Cheng Huang Temple (City Deity 城隍尊神). Why this is needed to be done? This action is to make sure that in the Spiritual Realms, your Name is being recorded and in the future, if any mishaps will to happen, Cheng Huang will be able to assist you in doing the tracking on the mishaps like who caused it, who are involved, etc. For People who have Graduated, besides Honouring Cheng Huang, Oneself shall also honoured Wen Chang (文昌帝君) & Kui Xing (魁星帝君). This is to Thank them for the Blessing and looking-after through-out the Study Years.

Last of ALL, just an Advise. Do treasure our Own Root Culture and possible, practice them before they are Gone. Preserve such Cultures are easy, need not need much Energy, just do it when the Time needed them. Slowly, such Cultures will exist with you in & out in Everyday Life. Remember this, once these Cultures are gone, it is the same as losing our Love-Ones, forever no choice of meeting them anymore.