老会,是专门帮助丧主家治办和料理丧事的一种群众性自发组织。至今,在胶东蓬莱、龙口、莱州、莱阳、海阳等县市的广大农村中,仍有这种组织存在(如今称治丧帮会或治丧委员会)。下面仅谈谈莱阳市前淳于乡河马崖村的老会情况。该村有六百三十户,两千多口人。据农民薛凤祥(现年七十六岁)和宋玉亭(女,现年八十五岁)介绍,这个村的老会,从老辈传说就有这个组织,具体年代没记载。 The old society is a kind of mass spontaneous organization dedicated to helping the mourning host to cure and funeral expenses. So far, there are still such organizations in the vast rural areas of the Jiaodong Penglai, Longkou, Laizhou, Laiyang, Haiyang and other counties (now known as the Funeral Gang or the Funeral Committee). The following only talk about Laiyang City before Chun Yu Hema Cliff Village, the old situation. The village has 630 families and more than 2000 people. According to peasants Xue Fengxiang (aged 76) and Song Yuting (female, aged 85), the old society in this village has been told from the older generation that the organization did not record the specific age.