Why is the first seven days held on the sixth day? Why do we burn the first seven days?

Funeral customs vary from region to region, but most regions attach more importance to the custom of the first seven days. Why is the seventh day held on the sixth day? Why do people burn the first seven days?

Why is the seventh day held on the sixth day?

The first seven days actually start at the junction of the sixth and seventh days.
Because the soul returns home at midnight on the seventh day. Zi hour is the first hour of the twelve hours, which is equivalent to 23:00 to 1:00 in the morning. That is to say, the first seven days are the seventh day after death, which is now from 23:00 on the sixth day to 1:00 on the seventh day, which is "the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh day".

Why do we burn the first seven

The first seven days is the first seven days in the series of activities of burning seven days, and it is also the one that people attach the most importance to. The funeral custom of burning the seventh body to ashes is said to have originated from the "theory of the gathering and dispersion of souls" in the pre-Qin period.
In ancient times, it was believed that human spirit is divided into soul and spirit. The soul is yang energy, which constitutes human thinking ability and intelligence; the spirit is yin energy, which constitutes human sensory form. When the yin and yang of the soul and spirit are in harmony, the body is healthy.
Taoism has the concept of "three souls and seven spirits". It is said that the soul is divided into three types: heavenly soul, earthly soul and life soul; the spirit is divided into seven: the first spirit is tianchong, the second spirit is linghui, the third spirit is qi, the fourth spirit is strength, the fifth spirit is zhongshu, the sixth spirit is jing and the seventh spirit is ying.
After a person dies, there is a taboo of seven days. One taboo causes one soul to disperse. Therefore, after forty-nine days after a person's death, the seven souls will disperse. Forty-nine days are divided into seven seven-day periods, starting from the day of death of the deceased. Every seven days is a memorial day, called "the first seven", "the second seven", "the third seven", "the fourth seven", "the fifth seven", "the sixth seven" and "the last seven", totaling forty-nine days, thus forming the custom of "burning sevens".