What does the ancestral temple mean?

What does the ancestral temple mean? Everyone is no stranger. Almost every big family has an ancestral temple. The ancestral temple is a place where future generations sacrifice and mourn their ancestors, and it is also a place where the family inherits the fine spirit. Let's see what the ancestral temple means.

What does the ancestral temple mean? 1 The ancestral hall is a place where Confucianism worships ancestors or sages. Ancestral temples have many uses, mainly for offering sacrifices to ancestors. In addition, it is also used as a place for weddings, funerals, birthdays and celebrations. It is worth noting that clan relatives sometimes discuss important affairs within the clan, and often in the ancestral hall.

Ancestral temples are places where people worship their ancestors or sages. Ancestral temples have many uses. Apart from worshipping ancestors, grandchildren of different families are often used as places for activities when they are dealing with things such as marriage, funeral, longevity and happiness. In addition, the clansmen sometimes use the ancestral hall as a meeting place to discuss important affairs within the clan.

In ancient Confucian ethics in China, the concept of family is quite profound. Often a family or several families with the same surname live in a village, and most of them build their own temples to worship their ancestors.

Family temples are generally called ancestral temples. Ancestral halls can be divided into ancestral halls, branch halls and family halls. The name of the ancestral temple first appeared in the Han Dynasty. At that time, ancestral halls were built in tombs, called tombs. The book Family Rites written by Zhu, an outstanding philosopher in the Southern Song Dynasty, began to establish the ancestral temple system, and from then on he called the family ancestral temple the ancestral temple. At that time, the construction level of ancestral halls was limited, and people were not allowed to set up ancestral halls. By the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1522- 1566), all Xu people had joined the temple. Later, when you became an emperor or gave Hou a surname, you could call it a family temple, and the rest were called ancestral temples.

Ancestral temples have many uses besides offering sacrifices to ancestors. The ancestral hall is also the place where clan leaders exercise clan rights. Anyone who violates clan rules will be educated, dealt with and even expelled from the ancestral hall, so it can also be said to be a moral court in feudal times. Ancestral temples can also be used as social places for families. Some ancestral temples have affiliated schools where children of ethnic minorities go to school.

Because of this, ancestral temple buildings are generally larger and of better quality than residential buildings. The more powerful and wealthy families, the more exquisite their ancestral halls are. The tall hall, exquisite carvings and excellent materials have become the symbol of this family's glory.

Most ancestral halls have hall numbers. The hall number, written by the great calligrapher surnamed Zong, was made into a gold plaque and hung high in the main hall; Next to it are plaques on the origin of surnames, ethnic pride and female chastity, and exquisite couplets.

If it is sealed by the emperor, you can make a straight plaque. The specifications and quantity of plaques in the ancestral hall are the capital that the people show off. Some ancestral halls have flagpole stones in front of them, indicating that the people have won fame. Generally speaking, ancestral halls have surnames and shrines. In the old society, clan rules were very strict, not to mention foreign surnames, that is, women or underage children in the clan were not allowed to enter without authorization, otherwise they would be severely punished.

What does the ancestral temple mean? Two important things in China are very important in the family. One is to build an ancestral temple, and the other is to build a genealogy.

The function of genealogy is to record the existence of each family member. In the past, whether a person had a name in the genealogy directly decided whether he and his descendants could be recognized by the family, and even more decided whether he could enter the ancestral temple with a place after his death. Today, let's talk about what the ancestral temple looks like.

Ancestral hall-the place where future generations worship and mourn their ancestors, and it is also the place where the family inherits the fine spirit. The ancestral hall records the family's glory and tradition, and has the functions of seeking roots and ancestors, contacting relatives and strengthening family cohesion. The ancestral temple is the holy land of the family.

We often say that leaves fall to their roots, so what is this root and where is it? It is said that the root of one side is where you were born and raised. Many people, even strangers in a foreign land, will return to the afterlife to raise themselves when they are old. They don't simply come back to support the elderly, but also return to their origins. After death, their tablets can enter the ancestral hall, which is the ancestor of generations. The inheritance of life, the long river of the family, is passed down in this way.

The development and progress of the times have greatly changed everyone's life, including some traditional customs, and the ritual of sacrifice has gradually declined. I think we need ancestral halls. Ancestral temples are not feudal superstitions, but descendants can remember, respect and thank their ancestors, inherit the existence of fine spirit and strengthen the unity of ethnic groups. Ancestral temples are also a part of traditional culture and history, with unparalleled influence and cultural value.

Worth inheriting. The ancestral temple has long since got rid of the old rules and regulations, and now it is more of a symbol of culture and spirit. Sacrifice in China is not as frequent as in some religions, and it is obviously more humane.

Now, the transformation of the old city and the construction of the new countryside have been well built, and ancestral temples have been rebuilt in many places. Hundreds of years of ancestral temples have become a thing of the past. Without everyone's support, the new ancestral hall can't be built. Basically, it can only be built if the clan and all the forces in the village raise money. Everyone is contributing to a better home. Individuals should do what they can and don't hold back. Group activities, such as promotion, career, etc. , are involved as much as possible.

The existence of ancestral halls embodies many essences of China culture, such as exquisite architecture, family inheritance and culture of weddings and funerals. The heritage left by these ancestors should be protected, and the construction of many ancestral temples is precisely the revival of local culture.

What does the ancestral temple mean? 3 1. The ancestral hall is the ancestral hall, the place where the Han people worship their ancestors and the symbol of the clan. The ancestral temple system came into being in the Zhou Dynasty. Ancient literati dared not build ancestral halls, which were exclusively owned by the emperor. In Song Dynasty, Zhu advocated family ancestral temple: every family should build an ancestral temple and four shrines to worship the four gods of Gao, Zeng, Zu and You. The ancestral temple is the center of the interweaving of clan power and theocracy. The chief priest in the ancestral hall is called Zongzi, who is in charge of the affairs of the whole family, as well as Yan Hong and Zong Zhi.

The ancestral hall embodies the characteristics of patriarchal clan system and national integration, and is a place of national unity. It is often the largest and most magnificent architectural group in urban and rural areas. It is not only magnificent, but also infused with the essence of the traditional culture of the Han nationality. It contrasts with ancient pagodas, ancient bridges and ancient temples and becomes a unique local cultural landscape, representing the local economic development level and the folk culture of the Han nationality. The ancestral hall records the family's glory and tradition, and it is the temple of the family. As a symbol and symbol of the long history and traditional culture of the Han nationality, it has unparalleled influence and historical value.

2. The historical position of ancestral temple:

In the traditional national culture of China, ancestral temple culture is a surname clan culture that cannot be underestimated. Due to the deep-rooted idea of carrying on the family line left over from feudal society, the Chinese nation has produced surname culture, and the surname culture of any country in the world has not lasted for thousands of years like China.

Although during the Cultural Revolution, the destruction of capitalism hindered its development to some extent, and even was severely criticized, as a family cultural tradition rooted in people's bone marrow, it still spread rapidly in China, and the most concrete manifestation was ancestral temple culture.

Ancestral temples, customarily called family temples and ancestral temples, are places where ancestors (commonly known as memorial tablets) and clans are sacrificed, and have always been regarded as symbols of clans.

The phenomenon of offering sacrifices to ancestors and temples existed in the late primitive society. Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty adopted the advice of Xia Yan, a great scholar, and officially allowed all Han people to establish a joint ancestral temple. Since then, ancestral temples have been established everywhere, and ancestral temple buildings can be seen everywhere. The ancestral hall was originally built for the purpose of "chasing distant books", so it should be respectful and strict in building regulations. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, ancestral temples were generally family temples. Especially since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, ancestral temples have become an important place for clans to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, hold clan affairs, revise genealogy and decide major affairs.

The ancestral hall is not only a place for offering sacrifices, but also a place for implementing family rules and laws. The coronation ceremony, wedding and funeral of the clansmen are basically held in the ancestral hall. Some clans stipulate that disputes between clans or clans' families must be decided in ancestral halls. Therefore, in the feudal era, the ancestral temple became a yamen in a sense, with the nature of the "imperial court" family.

China people are the nation with the most ancestral worship tradition in the world. In every family, there is often a place to worship the memorial tablet of the deceased ancestors. Therefore, in the past, every family had its own ancestral temple and named it "Tang Hao". The purpose of this is to let future generations know the origin of this family every time they mention their own Tang Hao and to commemorate the achievements of their ancestors.

As the saying goes, a tree attracts the wind. With the transmission and reproduction of life, the family will continue to expand. As a result of expansion, some families will move from their ancestral homes to other places, start new inheritance, and form new branches and new clans. Naturally, many families will go overseas and settle overseas. These newly formed clans and branches often set up new ancestral halls to worship their closest ancestors. As a result, a new ancestral temple was derived from a ancestral temple.

Although ancestral temple is a product left over from feudal society, it has new significance and social function today.

3. With the reform and opening up and the rise of the global Chinese root-seeking craze, many ancestral halls have been built and restored, and their genealogy has been updated, while overseas Chinese are constantly turning over the old ancestral halls and keeping in touch with the old ones. It can be said that today's ancestral temple no longer has the negative effect of "clan doctrine", but only has the positive significance of helping people find their roots, remembering their ancestors, inspiring future generations and helping each other in the same boat, which has a great role in strengthening the cohesion and unity of the Chinese nation.