In modern society, the way of travel is changing with each passing day, and no matter where you want to go, planes, high-speed rail, trains, automobiles and other means of transportation can meet the demand. More and more people step out of their homes, travel all over the world, appreciate the folk customs of different places, and have a strong curiosity about the differences between the clan ancestral halls between the north and the south.
Almost all villages in the south have ancestral halls, while ancestral halls in the north are relatively rare, does this mean that there are no clan traditions in the north? Not really. In fact, ancestral halls existed as early as the ancient feudal period in China, and the patriarchal family system was an important cornerstone of China's ancient social development.
In ancient times, the patriarchal family system was the cornerstone of a small individual family or an emperor-centered state. At that time, almost everyone in society deeply revered the concept of clans, and in order to concretize this concept, various rituals came into being.
In the early days, the common people were not qualified to build family temples, and the worship of ancestors could only be carried out through road sacrifices. At that time, the ancestral hall was mainly divided into three types: the emperor's temple, the prince's temple, and the scholar's family temple, which were clearly different in the level of the temple.
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the common people were granted the legal right to set up ancestral halls, but not all families could have ancestral halls. Due to the influence of social status and economic situation, poor families often have more than enough to do when it comes to ancestral halls.
With the end of feudal society and the establishment of New China, the function of the ancestral hall changed, and at one time it was changed to other uses such as schools or factories.
During that period, some ancestral halls suffered heavy losses and disappeared from the land of China permanently, and the construction of ancestral halls entered a stage of stagnation. With the gradual recovery of the social atmosphere and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the restoration and construction of ancestral halls has once again been put on the agenda.
However, this is not evident in the north of our country, on the contrary, in the south of our country, we can call it "ancestral fever". More and more southerners are investing a lot of manpower and money to restore and build their ancestral halls.
To a certain extent, this also reflects the difference in economic development between the North and the South. After all, if you don't have enough economic strength, it will undoubtedly be difficult to build an ancestral hall. Perhaps this is also a reason why there are fewer ancestral halls in the north.
After all, from an objective point of view, since the reform and opening up, the economic development of the north of China has lagged behind that of the south. If you have an ancestral hall in your family, or know something about ancestral halls, then you should know that ancestral halls often appear together with genealogies.
Genealogy is a testimony of roots, so that no matter where they go, they can find their roots. Although the genealogy seems light, it actually contains hardship and dedication behind it.
In ancient times, the degree of development in the north of our country was not unrelated to its convenient transportation. However, although convenient transportation has brought economic development, it is also easier to attract foreign invasions, coupled with frequent natural disasters, some people have become displaced and live in instability.
In this way, there are major problems in the inheritance of the clan. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty to the first period, there was a large-scale population migration in northern China - through the Guandong. Some people managed to "break through", but there were also others who died on the way.
This directly leads to differences in ancestral homes and places of life. In the difficult years of survival, it is even more difficult to establish an ancestral hall. However, even during the war years and special periods, the southern part of our country was once severely hit, but there was still the power to protect its own ancestral halls, which allowed many ancestral halls to be preserved.
Southern friends, whether they are doing business at home or away from home, usually go with their families, which makes their family cohesion even stronger. When the family has a successful person, everyone will take this person as the core and discuss the construction of the ancestral hall.
This is in stark contrast to the fact that it was difficult to form such family cohesion after the great migration of people in the north. These historical problems are also a reason for the lack of ancestral halls in the north.
First of all, we need to be clear that the concept of clan is not the same as the concept of family. In fact, the clan concept is a kinship group that is based on the family but goes beyond the family.
Sect"The word is represented in the clan"Clansmen", i.e., paternally recognized relatives. To put it simply, a clan is a group of patrilineal-approved relatives who gather together. This group has complex social relationships and rules.
The advantage of clans is obvious, that is, they can help each other through difficult times.
Regardless of the differences in surnames, the concept of clan keeps people of the same surname close. This has led to the formation of many large and powerful clan groups in the north of our country.
However, as the saying goes, there are clouds"The tree is a big move"Too large a force is often easy to arouse people's jealousy and vigilance. In particular, the people in the north are fierce, and too large a clan power may lead to an imbalance of power.
The northern clans were scattered by strong blows, while the southern clans accumulated wealth through business, became a "protective umbrella", and gradually grew. This also led to a difference in the number of ancestral halls in the north and south.
In addition to objective reasons, the establishment of the Southern Ancestral Hall also stems from the mentality of "following the trend" and "comparing".
Therefore, ancestral halls are not the only criterion for judging whether people in a region have clan values. After all, everyone's experience and situation are different, and the end result will be different.
So, it's important to stick to your original intention, but it's not limited to external manifestations, right?