Should the offerings on the seventh day be placed in odd or even numbers? What are the rules for offering food on the seventh day?

On the seventh day after someone's death, many regions have the tradition of placing offerings to worship their ancestors. There are also many requirements for the offerings on the first seven days. So should the offerings on the first seven days be placed in an odd or even number? What are the rules for offering food on the seventh day? Find out with us!

Should the offerings on the seventh day be placed in odd or even numbers?

The first seven days of offerings are usually in odd numbers, depending on the local customs.
The ancients worshipped gods and ghosts and worshipped yin and yang. Gods are yang and ghosts are yin. Among numbers, odd numbers are yang and even numbers are yin. The offerings for the first seven days are generally divided into two categories: one is food, namely snacks and fruits, and the other is pork, beef and mutton. In terms of layout format, they are usually placed in a quantity relationship of three or multiples of three. For example, there should be at least three, six, nine, etc. pieces of fruit on a plate. Don't just put one or two at random. The number of plates for offering should also be three, or six, and so on. For example, the first seven days of offerings can be a plate of fruit, a plate of snacks, and a plate of meat. Offerings can be placed in a quiet place at home, but never in the bedroom. They should face west or south, which means paying homage to the Western Paradise from afar.

What are the rules for offering food on the seventh day?

In many local customs, beef and horse meat should not be included in the offerings on the seventh day. It is said that this is because the seventh day is brought back to the human world by the ghosts such as the Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Therefore, beef or horse meat must not be included in the offerings. This is a taboo in burning offerings on the seventh day.

In addition to the need to offer soul-returning rice on the first seven days, many areas also have the custom of burning paper money and colorful decorations on the fifth or seventh day. The fifth or seventh day refers to the thirty-fifth day after a person's death, and the seventh day refers to the forty-ninth day after a person's death. On this day, the living people will go to the grave to burn paper money and colorful decorations. In some places, some clothes of deceased relatives will be burned in front of the grave, hoping that the soul will have money to spend and clothes to wear when it goes to the underworld.