What are the main rituals in ancient China?

Ancient Chinese etiquette was formed in the era of the "Three Emperors", and by the time of Yao and Shun, there was already a written system of etiquette, which was the "Five Rites". These "Five Rites" refer to the auspicious rites, the foul rites, the guest rites, the military rites and the jia rites. The sages Tang Yao, Yu Shun, and Xia Yu, the ancestors of mankind, were themselves models of etiquette. Legend has it that when Yao was young, he greatly respected the elderly, and among his peers, courtesy was given to the three first. Whenever he shot a game, he divided it equally among all the people and took the least share for himself. Sometimes he even gave the least share of the game to the old and frail ones. His virtues were praised by all the people, so they elected him as their leader. Yu Shun was a model of etiquette for all generations. The first of our "Twenty-four Illustrations of Filial Piety", "Da Shun Ploughing the Field", is a story about his plowing the Calendar Mountain, working hard; and providing for his father, stepmother and half-brother. The rituals formulated during the Yao and Shun Dynasties have been summarized and promoted by the three slave societies of Xia, Shang and Zhou for more than 1,000 years, and have become much more refined. In the first period of the Zhou Dynasty, after three monarchs, namely King Wen, King Wu and King Cheng, the Zhou Dynasty reintroduced "corrected the rituals and music, and established a system of government, which led to harmony among the people, and the rise of the Song of Songs". The Duke of Zhou also set up a court official in charge of the world's etiquette, which pushed China's ancient etiquette system to a more complete stage. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius (551 BC-479 BC) pushed "ritual" to a supreme position. He asked all people to "restrain themselves and return to propriety", and educated his disciples to do "don't see without propriety", "don't hear without propriety" and "don't eat without propriety". ". In short, he could give up everything for the sake of "propriety". In order to promote the ancient ritual system, he traveled thousands of miles from Lu to Xizhi to learn rituals from Laozi (Li Er). To the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "to abolish the hundred schools, exclusive respect for Confucianism," the establishment of the governance strategy, etiquette as a social morality, standards of behavior, spiritual support crutches, the importance of its raised to an unprecedented height. Since then, successive dynasties have been set up in the court in charge of the world's ceremonial bureaucracy, such as the Han Dynasty, the Great Honglu, the book of Cao, Wei and Jin ancestral temple (the Northern Wei also known as Yi Cao), Sui and Tang dynasty after the Ministry of Rites of the Minister of the Shangshu (the end of the Qing Dynasty changed to the ceremonial court) and so on. At the same time, liturgical writings became more and more important. In the Han Dynasty, the Zhou Rites and Rites of Passage were listed as one of the Five Classics, which were required courses for readers. Dai Sheng, a man of the Western Han Dynasty, compiled the book "The Book of Rites" on the basis of the study of the writings of ritual books of his predecessors, which was also listed as one of the thirteen sutras. Later on, researchers of etiquette in successive generations made further studies on the basis of these books of etiquette, and thousands of volumes of works on etiquette, such as Notes and Remarks on the Rites of Zhou, Notes and Remarks on the Rites of Yi, Justice in the Records of the Rites, Sermons on the Rites, Collected Interpretations of the Records of the Rites, Collected Remarks of the Records of the Rites, General Introduction to the Book of the Rites and Outline of the Book of the Rites, etc., appeared, which has become an important discipline in Chinese history and culture, and has played a special role in the advancement of human civilization. Etiquette is rituals and ceremonies. In ancient China, there were five rituals, namely, auspicious rituals for sacrifices, auspicious rituals for crowns and marriages, auspicious rituals for guests, auspicious rituals for military affairs, and auspicious rituals for funerals and burials. Folklore circles believe that rituals include four kinds of life rituals: birth, crown, marriage and funeral. In fact, rituals can be divided into two categories: political and life. Political rituals include sacrifices to heaven, earth, temples and ancestral temples, sacrifices to ancestors and saints, honoring teachers, drinking rituals, meeting rituals, military rituals, and so on. The origin of life rituals, according to Xunzi's statement, there are "three books" that is, "the birth of heaven and earth," "the ancestor of the class of this," "the ruler of the division of this ". Among the rituals, funeral rites are the earliest. Funeral rites in the dead is to appease their ghosts, in the living has become a division of elders and children, filial piety and human rituals. In the process of establishing and implementing rituals, the Chinese patriarchal system (see Chinese Patriarchal Law) was born. The essence of rituals is the way to rule people, which is a derivative of the belief in ghosts and gods. It is believed that all things are manipulated by invisible ghosts and gods, and that the performance of rituals is a way of pleasing the ghosts and gods for good fortune. Therefore, etiquette originated from the belief in ghosts and gods, and it is also a special form of manifestation of the belief in ghosts and gods. The emergence of the "Three Rites" (Yi Li, Li Ji and Zhou Li) marked the mature stage of the development of etiquette. During the Song Dynasty, rituals were integrated with feudal ethical and moral sermons, i.e., rituals were mixed with rites and became one of the powerful tools for the implementation of rites. Rites were performed in the service of persuading virtue, and red tape was used to the best of its ability. It was not until modern times that the rituals were truly reformed, both the rituals of the political life of the country and the rituals of the people's life were changed into new contents without the theory of ghosts and gods, thus becoming the modern civilized rituals. Ancient Political Etiquette ① Sacrifice to Heaven. Beginning in the Zhou Dynasty, the sacrifice of heaven is also called the suburban sacrifice, the winter solstice in the southern suburbs of the national capital Huanqiu held. Ancient people first emphasized the entity worship, the worship of the sky is also reflected in the worship of the moon and the worship of the stars. All of these specific worship, after reaching a certain number of abstraction for the worship of the sky. The Zhou Dynasty worship of heaven, from the Yin Dynasty, "emperor" worship development, the supreme ruler for the son of heaven, the divine right of kings, sacrifices to the sky is for the supreme ruler of the service, therefore, sacrifices to the sky prevailed until the Qing Dynasty came to an end. ② Sacrifice to the ground. Summer solstice is the day of sacrifice, rituals and sacrifices to the sky is more or less the same. In the Han Dynasty, the goddess of the earth was called Earth Mother, and she was also called the Goddess of Society, the goddess who blessed mankind. The earliest sacrifice to the earth is blood sacrifice. After the Han Dynasty, the Feng Shui belief that it was inappropriate to move the earth prevailed. Sacrifice rituals and sacrifices to the mountains and rivers, sacrifices to the God of the earth, the God of the Valley, the God of God, and so on. ③ The Sacrifice of the Patriarchal Temple. The clan and temple system is a product of ancestor worship. People in the sunshine for the dead to establish the host that is the temple. The emperor's temple system is the son of seven temples, the vassals five temples, three temples of the great doctor, the scholar a temple. The common people were not allowed to set up temples. The location of the temple, the son of heaven, the vassals set up in the door on the left side, the doctor is the temple of the left and the right bedroom. The common people is the bedroom in the stove next to the ancestral shrine. Sacrifice, but also divination and selection of the body. The corpse is generally filled by the grandchildren. Temple in the God is a wooden rectangular body, the sacrifice is placed, the offerings can not be called by name. Nine rites of worship are performed during the sacrifice: "稽首", "顿首", "空首", and "振动" (vibration), "Auspicious worship", "Fierce worship", "Odd worship", "Praise worship", "Su worship". Su worship". There are also rituals for the ancestors of the emperors, according to the "Rituals - Qu Li", all the ancestors who have done something for the people, such as Emperor ?ào, Yao, Shun, Yu, Huang Di, King Wen, King Wu, etc., are to be worshipped. Since the Han Dynasty, mausoleums and shrines have been built to honor the former emperors. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu created a temple for all the emperors in Kyoto. During the Jiajing period, a temple to the emperors was established in Fuchengmen, Beijing, to worship the 36 emperors. (4) Sacrifices to the ancestors and sages. After the Han and Wei Dynasties, the Duke of Zhou was the first saint, and Confucius was the first teacher; in the Tang Dynasty, Confucius was honored as the first saint, and Yan Hui was the first teacher. After the Tang and Song Dynasty has been used "Shi Dian" ritual (set up recommended altar food and drink and sacrifice, there is no body music), as a school ritual, but also as a Confucian ritual. In the North and South Dynasties, the ceremony was held twice a year in spring and fall, and the temples of Confucius and Yan were set up in the county schools around the country. The Ming Dynasty called Confucius as "the most sacred teacher". Qing Dynasty, Shengjing (Shenyang, Liaoning Province) has a Confucian temple, after the capital of Beijing, the capital of Guozijian for the Imperial College, the establishment of the Temple of Literature, Confucius said, "Dacheng to the Sage Wenxuan Xianshi". The temple system, sacrificial vessels, musical instruments and rituals in Qufu were based on the Beijing Imperial College. The ritual of drinking wine in the township is a product of the worship of the late master and the late saint. ⑤ The ritual of meeting each other. When a subordinate pays a visit to his superior, he has to pay a visit to his superior; officials pay a visit to each other by bowing to each other; a prince, a marquis, and an extra horse harnessed by the side of a team pay two visits to each other; the subordinate pays a visit to the west first, and the superior replies to the visit by paying a visit to the east. When civilians meet each other, they salute each other according to their age and the younger ones salute each other. The youngest one will give a salute. The foreigners will make four salutes, and the near ones will make a bowing ceremony. (6) Military rites. Including conquest, taxation, hunting, camping and so on. Ancient life etiquette ① birth rites. From a woman's quest for a child when she is not pregnant to the baby's first birthday, all rituals are centered on the theme of long life. The High-requesting Sacrifice is the ritual of begging for a child. At this time, an altar was set up in the southern suburb, and all the nine concubines attended. Han Wei have high heir-requesting sacrifice, the Tang and Song dynasty developed a high heir-requesting sacrifice rituals, Jin dynasty high heir-requesting the Qing Emperor, in the imperial city of East Yong'anmen north of the wooden square platform, the platform set under the high heir-requesting god. In the Qing Dynasty, there was no sacrifice for the High Sacrifice, but there was a ceremony of "changing the rope" which had the same meaning as the High Sacrifice. Since ancient times, there has been a tendency to give preference to male children over female children in the birth ceremony. Birth rites also include "three dynasties", "full moon", "hundred days", "birthday" and so on. The "Three Rites of Passage" is when a baby is born on the third day of life and receives congratulatory gifts from all quarters. "When a baby reaches the age of one month, he or she has his or her hair shaved. "On the 100th day, the baby is recognized by his or her uncle and named. "When the baby turns one year old, the ceremony is performed to predict the fate of the child's life and career. ②The rite of passage, also known as the crown rite, is the rite of passage for a man who enters the ranks of adults. Crown ceremony from the clan society prevalent in young men and women to participate in the development of maturity into the ceremony evolved. The Han Dynasty inherited the crown ceremony system from the Zhou Dynasty. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the crown ceremony began to be accompanied by music. The Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties all practiced crown rites, which were abolished in the Qing Dynasty. Many areas of China's ethnic minorities still retain the ancient rites of passage, such as tooth extraction, tooth dyeing, wearing skirts, pants, buns and other ceremonies. ③Enjoyment of Swallows and Food Rituals. Entertainment held in the Imperial Temple, cooking Taijun to drink guests, focusing on ceremonial exchanges and not in the diet, Yan that is, the feast, Yan rituals held in the chambers, the guest of honor can be openly drink. The Yan ceremony had a profound influence on the formation of Chinese food culture. Festivals and banquets in the Chinese folk food customs to form a holiday diet rituals. The first fifteenth day of the first month to eat the Lantern Festival, the Qingming Festival to eat cold rice and cold food, May Duanyang zongzi and xionghuang wine, the Mid-Autumn Mooncake, Lapa congee, resignation dumplings and so on are festival rituals of food and drink. Eating specific foods at specific festivals is also a kind of dietary etiquette. The order of seating at banquets, the order of serving food, the etiquette of persuading and toasting, also have the requirements of the social customs of men and women, inferiority and superiority, the relationship between the eldest and the youngest, and the requirements of blessing and avoidance. ④Bin etiquette. Mainly the gift of hospitality to guests. The gift etiquette with the guest has a hierarchical difference. Shi met, the guest to see the host to the pheasant Zhi; under the doctor to meet, to the goose Zhi; on the doctor to meet, to the lamb Zhi. ⑤ Five Sacrifices. Refers to the sacrifice of doors, households, wells, stoves, and the center (center room). The Zhou Dynasty is the spring sacrifice to the household, summer sacrifice to the stove, June sacrifice in the slip, fall sacrifice to the door, winter sacrifice to the well. Han Wei five sacrifices according to the seasons, Meng winter March "wax five sacrifices", the total sacrifice once. Tang, Song, Yuan, the use of "Son of Heaven seven sacrifices," said, sacrificing life (small gods in the palace), in the country, the door, the country line, Tai Li (wild ghosts), household, stove. Ming and Qing dynasties are still sacrificing five sacrifices, after the Kangxi Qing dynasty, the strike door, household, in the well of the special sacrifices, only in December 23 sacrifices, and folklore of Zaowangjia Lunar twenty-four toward the sky to say things to the story coincides with the national rituals used in the folk form. (6) Nuo Yi. Goblet in prehistory, prevalent in the Shang and Zhou. Nuo rituals of the Zhou Dynasty is the four seasons to drive away evil spirits and epidemics. Zhou people believe that the workings of nature and personnel are closely linked to the good and bad. Seasonal transition, cold and heat variations, plague epidemic, ghosts take advantage of the situation, so must be the right time to exorcise the evil. Nuo instrument in the main God is Fang Xiangshi. Two Han, Nuo instrument appeared in the twelve beasts matched with the Fang Xiangshi. Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, Sui and Tang inherited the Han system, Nuo instrument to join the entertainment component, Fang Xiang's and the role of the twelve beasts, played by musicians. So far there are still remnants of Guizhou Tujia Nuo instrument is the most complete and typical. Chinese etiquette in Chinese culture plays a "quasi-law" role.

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