Traditions of Ancestor Worship

Ancestor worship is one of the most important elements of family rituals. According to folk belief, one's ancestors should be worshipped as seriously as heaven, earth, gods and Buddha. Because the ancestors of the "spirit of heaven", all the time in the care and attention of future generations of children and grandchildren, earthly people have to pray through the rituals and to repay their shelter and blessing.

In the farming areas of the Northeast, the most important ancestor worship activities of the year are usually held at the end of the year, and most of them are held in the days from Lunar New Year's Eve to Lunar New Year's Eve. The form of worship varies according to the conditions. Some families whose ancestors were high-ranking officials and who had prosperous families and strong financial resources often built their own clan temples, commonly known as "family temples," where they concentrated their ancestor worship activities. On the day of ancestor worship, the main male members of each branch of the local family gathered in the family temple, beforehand, has been applied to scrub clean, offerings ready, the generations of the ancestors of the gods and portraits according to the order of the generations to be hung. Then, under the auspices of the head of the family, all the people according to the seniority, in batches to the ancestors incense salute.

The ancestor worship of each family is a different form. In many places, it is done before dinner. First, to their own gravesite worship, some just kowtow, some also use the kang table to carry a table of food and wine, known as "to the old ancestors to send the seat". The order of worship begins with the highest-ranking person in the graveyard. The kang table in front of the grave, kowtow, and then pour a cup of wine on the ground, according to the order of sacrifice, after the meal buried in the soil, it is to the ancestors "sent", but also in front of the grave to burn paper, as a filial piety to the ancestors during the New Year's "pocket money".

The main rituals are carried out in the home, the time is mostly in the New Year's Eve dinner before and after, folk called "pick up the old ancestors home for the New Year". Because of the legend of the soul of the dead can not act in the daytime, so we have to wait until after dark, to the Manchu family practice is more typical. First incense burners, incense tubes, candlesticks or wooden incense plates, placed on the west bed or on the lid of the box, usually placed in the "ancestor box" in the genealogy of the "genealogy list" please open and hang on the west wall, some people are not the main branch of the long house without a genealogy list, according to the genealogy of the book of records The direct ancestors of their own generations of "name" written on a long strip of paper hanging, commonly known as "ancestor strips" or "genealogy strips", there are also placed on the wooden tablets. After hanging a good start on incense offerings, the whole family in order to kowtow and salute. The offerings are usually noodles and fruits. Many people specializing in New Year's Eve ancestor steamed white bread, each above a red dot, every two planes together stacked together for a group, generally three to five levels, each served on a white porcelain plate. These offerings have been set up to the first five days of the first month, and from the first to the first five every morning and evening twice in front of the ancestor god incense, until the first five nights, only by the rituals after the "old ancestors" to send away, that is, the genealogy of the single or the tablets back to the original place.

There are also some areas in the evening of New Year's Eve for the death of a short time grandparents or parents to hold some ceremonies. More characteristic of the clothes worn in their lifetime folded on the kang, and then the younger generation kneeled down and kowtowed, the mouth also said "xx (on the elders of the name) come home to spend the New Year it". There is also a "floor-type" smoke pipe at the head of the house to burn paper to pay homage to the roots, because folklore has it that this is where the souls of the deceased often reside. Burning paper mouth but also "mutter" some thoughts and ask for blessing words, and believe that the ancestors will hear, to bring happiness and well-being of the family.