七还未尽

[sjcma]

女子死了，男人只带几根蓝辫线，有嫌难看的，连带也不带，人死还没三天，就出去偷鸡摸狗，

七还未尽，新娘子早已进门了。

Does 七还未尽 mean "seven days has yet to pass"?

[ruiskukka]

When a woman dies, the man only has to wear a blue braid. Some men find it ugly and does not even wear it. The wife hasn't been dead for three days before he's out there among ladies of ill repute. Before seven days has passed, a new wife has already entered the household.

Chinese funeral rites

旧时, 人死了要''做七'', 每七天叫一七, ''七七''四十九天.

近代以后, 灵柩一般都在''终七''以后入葬.

人们认为, 人死了七天才知道自己已经死了, 所以要举行''做七'', 每逢七天一祭, ''七七''四十九天才结束.

[sjcma]

ruiskukka, thanks for participating. It's funny that you decided to add the English translation because this particular translation was actually written by me on chineseblast.com. However, the words 七还未尽 and its tranlsation were coloured red because I wasn't absolutely sure about its meaning. Hence, I've decided to ask here.

According to your Chinese quote, the coffin is not buried until after 终七, which I take to mean the "last seven day period". This implies that the coffin is not buried until after 49 days.

So in my original question regarding 七还未尽, perhaps it means "seven weeks of mourning has yet to pass", where 七 refers to 做七. This seems to make sense as 7 days is a bit short to get a new wife given that a match has to take place and all the preparations has to be made. Seven weeks sounds a lot more probable.

Comments?

[roddy]

I haven't read it carefully so can't be sure, but I suspect the answer might be here. Got references to death and seven at least.

[againstwind]

i also saw it from Qiu Jin's speech on chineseblast.

but i wonder if you are sure it is ‘七还未尽’ in the original Chinese article.

if yes, well, i agree with you that seven weeks of mourning hasn't yet passed, where 七 refers to 做七

做七, as roddy's referrence, should be seven weeks or rather forty-nine days.

[sjcma]

I'm pretty sure 七还未尽 is in the original article as I've seen it in multiple places, both simplified and traditional.

Thanks for all your replies. I am going to change the chineseblast translation to 7 weeks instead of 7 days.

Here's another explanation of 做七 --- 依據道教說法，人死後魂魄仍生，嗣後每隔七天，會散離一魂，做七即每隔七天祭悼亡魂一次，藉道士之力而使亡者魂魄不散，並超度仙界。