There are many traditional family sacrifices.

This kind of family sacrifice originated from primitive society and was originally held by clans with the same surname who were related by blood. After the Qing Dynasty, Manchu people moved to different places, and they took branch families living in the same area as units. At first, Manchu families had different god systems. After the Qing Dynasty unified the ministries of Jurchen, the rulers issued imperial edicts in Tiancong, Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties, forbidding the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners to hold private sacrifices again, and all adopted the official sacrifice procedure. From then on, the basic format of Manchu family sacrifice was formed. Manchu family sacrifice is the most important family activity and folk activity. From the Qing Dynasty to the 1930s and 1940s, Manchu folk family sacrifices never stopped and became one of the common national customs in Northeast China. Nowadays, such a large-scale family sacrifice is rare. In 2007, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces successively listed Manchu family sacrifices in the provincial intangible cultural heritage list, so it is urgent to rescue Manchu family sacrifices culture.

Spring and autumn festival

Family festivals are usually held before spring ploughing or after autumn harvest, so they are commonly called "Spring and Autumn Festival". It usually lasts for three days at a time. The location is in the clan of the patriarch or the clan with high prestige and certain economic strength, and their close relatives, except pregnant women and people with serious diseases, will attend. One or two days before family sacrifice, women should prepare offerings, mainly steamed cakes and sake made by yellow wheat, and men should prepare sacrificial utensils.

Family sacrifice steps

The first day of family sacrifice is a sacrifice to God, which is divided into two steps: morning sacrifice and evening sacrifice. The shrine of pilgrimage is located on the ancestral board of the west wall of the main room (similar to the shrine, also known as the holy board, called in Manchu: nest garage weceku). Yellow cloth (satin) curtains should be hung on the wooden frame (commonly known as lifting frame) of the shrine, and a sacrificial platform should be set up on the west kang. The table is generally divided into two floors, with cakes, cakes, flowers and candles on the upper floor. The steamed bread with tray is placed horizontally on the lower floor. Five steamed buns per plate, the same method. The three steamed buns below are tiled into a triangle, and the two steamed buns above are overlapped, with seven red dots on them. The number of trays varies according to the sacrificial habits of each family. The front of the steamed bread tray is dedicated to serving wine through wine glasses or small wine glasses. The number of wine glasses varies according to family habits, or three cups, or five cups, but basically follows the singular principle. Put a rectangular incense tray next to the drink offering, and there is "Daxiangzi" (a kind of fragrant powder mud inkstone made of annual flowers) burning in the tray. The priest is the "shaman" of the family (or Shaman), and the patriarch (Mukun Grand mukvn da in Manchu) is a person without shaman. In general, priests recite sacrificial words, burn incense, offer sacrifices and drink alcohol in Manchu, and people bow down to the throne in the order of men, women and children. If you are a shaman priest, there are a series of ceremonies such as singing hymns, drumming and jumping.

Distinctive national characteristics

Sacrificial process is the first kind, with national characteristics. According to the system, pigs should be killed to sacrifice to the gods. It should be a castrated boar, with pure black coat and no disease. Manchu people call this kind of pig dedicated to sacrifice "contention". When offering sacrifices to the gods, the pig's legs are tied and placed on the confession in front of Xikang, and the priest pours hot white wine into the pig's ears. If the pig screams and shakes his head, it means that the ancestor god has agreed to accept this sacrifice. This ceremony is called "sacrifice". At this time, people attending the festival will be very happy, otherwise they will not only continue to drink, but also kneel down and ask the gods to accept the sacrifice (if drinking for many times still fails, the sacrifice will be declared a failure, and the people can only simply put a sacrifice and pray for a thick knot, and the shaman will not perform the jumping ceremony). Of course, this phenomenon of "not accepting sacrifices" is rare. After the "sacrificial ceremony", a family chef named "Pot Head" will kill pigs in public, and the shaman will drum and sing the hymn of the sacrificial ceremony. The scene is warm and grand. After slaughter, the pig is carried back to the kitchen from the head of the pot to remove the fur, broken into several large pieces according to the parts, cooked in a large pot until it is seven or eight minutes cooked, fished out and put back on the table to make a pig shape, commonly known as "ornaments". The priest cut off a few pieces of meat and put them on the altar with the pig's head and tail for the gods to enjoy, and everyone bowed down. Then cut the meat into pieces three or four inches square, cook it in a pot and serve it on a wooden plate. Participants in the festival eat meat with their own digestive blades and are not allowed to dip in seasonings. This is called "eating blessed meat", which reflects the heritage of hunting nations.

Worship god.

Sacrifice during the day is called pilgrimage. According to the usual saying, the gods worshipped are: Afka Nduli (the god), Na Nduli (the god of the earth), the old man Wang (that is, the Qing Taizu Nurhachi) and the ancestors of this family. But the sacrifices made by families are not exactly the same. Some families attach all kinds of "mani" (that is, ghosts or elves) in the process of offering sacrifices to their ancestors, while others do not offer sacrifices to the old man and king. In addition to Zunuhachi, the Aisinggioro family also includes ancestors of earlier generations, as well as Nkulun, Suokulun and Fokulun (namely, the three fairies of Baishan). Usually, the number of incense trays placed at the ceremony is the same as the number of gods and land gods. The sacrifice at night is called evening sacrifice, and the shrine is located in the northwest corner (or north wall) of the main room. The worshippers are all traditional tribal gods and ancestral gods. Among them, there is a special "Back Lantern Festival", during which indoor lights and candles are extinguished. According to the folk saying, it is a sacrifice to the "mother of Wanli". It is said that she was killed to save the old man Wang (Nurhachi). She died naked and turned off the light to avoid shyness. When shaman worships Wanli's mother, he should make a little shoe more than an inch long with sheepskin for the goddess, which is called "no stab" in Manchu. It is said that after Wanli's mother died, her soul changed new shoes every year, and the shaman hung the little shoes on the northwest corner wall for Wanli's mother to wear. The second day of family sacrifice is to worship heaven, which is held in front of the "single pole" in the house (women are indoors), and it is also called "wishing" by the people. "Solo pole" is a wooden pole about several meters high, with a square or round iron bucket inserted at the top. Sacrifices dedicated to "Ga Ha Ha ha" (the crow god) and "Saha Ha ha" (the magpie god), meat is released in an iron bucket at the top of the pole for the sacred birds to eat, and there is a small altar under the pole with cakes, cakes, wine offerings and fragrant bowls on it.

Ritual mode

On the third day, the ceremony was called "changing rope". When offering sacrifices, the patriarch should insert willow branches in the courtyard. And pull out the "descendant rope" in the "ancestor box", one end is tied to the nest garage (ancestor board), and the other end is tied to the willow branches in the yard through purlin. If there are no willows in the courtyard, they are tied to the southeast corner of Dongfu. According to legend, at this time, the goddess "Mother Fudou", who is in charge of fertility and health, will put on the rope for future generations. Descendants' rope is a custom relic of Manchu ancestors in an age without writing. The rope marks various important events in the family history with different colors, and marks the birth and reproduction of future generations in the family with knots or hanging small bows and arrows. Sacrificing children and grandchildren is intended to hope that this family will flourish and be full of vitality like a willow. After burning incense and kowtowing to the ancestral board, take off the old "rope" (also called the "lock" made of five-color thread) around the necks and wrists of the children at home, and then take the new "rope" hanging on the willow branches for them to ensure peace and happiness. Because this ceremony thinks that Fudou Mother is the main sacrificial object, it is also called Fudou Mother Sacrifice. On this day, women in the whole family will make cakes (Manchu cakes are different from Korean cakes, which are mostly made of glutinous rice, while Manchu cakes are also made of yellow rice besides glutinous rice). ) or make small round cakes with rice noodles and steam them in a pot, so that children can eat them, commonly known as "grabbing happiness." This ceremony is mainly for the younger generation. According to some Manchu old people, during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, children who went to school in some areas of Northeast China could ask their teachers for a day off to go home to participate in the sacrifice if they held a sacrifice ceremony at home, which shows that the people still attach great importance to this.