Today is the traditional culture of the lunar winter solstice festival, we here in Guangfeng District, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, and most places in the Pan-Jiangnan region of China and many places in Shaanxi Province (other provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government of China have not been to the research), will hold a variety of forms of sacrificial activities, different contents, as large as the organization of a grand ceremony to worship the sky, as shown in the figure below
As small as the home Zhang Luo, to dedicate himself to the main, as shown in the figure below
But in the Shaoxing area of Zhejiang, he went to the cemetery to sweep the tomb, as shown in the figure below
This is really a difference in land and a different folk style!
Needless to say, in recent years, a growing number of young people have disagreed with this practice. In their opinion, there is no real practical point in doing so, and it is even a bit stupid and self-deceptive. In the words of a netizen: "If you really want to be filial, you should do more things that are practical for the health and ordinary life of the ancestors when ......they are still alive."”
At the moment of social and cultural pluralism, many secular and traditional cultures have indeed been increasingly impacted and baptized, and at the same time, they will collide and condense new and practical social cultures.
However, the vast majority of traditional culture in our country needs us to treat and discard the dross correctly and retain the essence, just like the sacrifice of the Winter Solstice Festival, not to be beaten to death with a stick.
First of all, China's sacrificial culture has a long history, and the word "li" in the oracle bone inscription is written in the shape of "feng", which symbolizes the jade in the sacrificial bean plate to worship the ancestors and gods. This is shown in the figure below
Most people know that the oracle bone inscription was formed at least in the Yin Shang era and has a history of more than 3,000 years. In other words, sacrifice should have basically become the mainstream culture of the society at that time as early as the Yin Shang era. This point can be corroborated by the relevant records in the most important cultural classic "Zhou Li" in ancient China - "the endowment of the state capital, waiting for sacrifice" and "Tianguan Dafu".
At present, the mainstream culture believes that one of the most important historical values of the classic "Zhou Li" is to unify and standardize the behavior and etiquette of the whole society, which undoubtedly plays a positive role in promoting the stability and development of society.
In fact, it is not only the "Zhou Li" that attaches importance to sacrifice, but also the important historical works that later emphasize it
The Book of Rites and Rituals - Where the way to govern people, don't be in a hurry to give rites. There are five scriptures for rituals, and nothing is more important than sacrifices.
On the Balance and Sacrifice Rites - Ceremony, the king sacrifices heaven and earth, the princes sacrifice mountains and rivers, the Qing doctor sacrifices the five rituals, and the Tushu people sacrifice their ancestors;The worship of the temple community is from the Son of Heaven to the Shuren. "Shangshu" said: "It is like God, it is like the six sects, it looks at the mountains and rivers, and it is all over the ministers." "Li" said: "There is the Yellow Emperor of the Yu family and the suburbs, and the ancestors are separated from Zongyao." The Xia Hou clan also had the Yellow Emperor and the suburbs, and the ancestors were Zong Yu. Yin people are in the suburbs, and the ancestors are in the soup. The Zhou people are in the suburbs, and the king of Zuwen is the king of Zongwu. Burnt wood on the altar and sacrifice to the heavens;The scab is buried in the big fold, and the sacrifice ground is also, with a calf. Buried in the Jokhang, sacrifice time;It is close to the altar, and it is also sacrificed to the cold and heat. The royal palace, the festival day also. The night is bright, and the moon is also worshipped;Youzong, sacrificing stars also. Pheasant sect, sacrifice water and drought also. Four altars, sacrifice to the four directions. Mountains, forests, rivers, valleys and hills can come out of the clouds, for the wind and rain, see monsters, all say gods. There are people under heaven who sacrifice to the gods. The princes sacrificed in their land, but not in their land. "This is the ritual of the law, and the ritual is also the norm. The king's father is in charge of the sky, the mother is in charge of the earth, and the people are in charge of the parents, so there is also a sacrifice to heaven and earth. Below the mountains and rivers, the righteousness of retribution. The fate of the living people is rewarded, and the ghosts and gods are also worshipped. The mountains are out of the clouds and the rain moistens all things, and the six sects live between the six together, helping the heaven and the earth to change, and the king respects and sacrifices to them. Therefore, it is called the Six Sects. The work of social reporting for all things: social reporting for all things, reporting for grains. Five rituals report the work of the portal well stove in the clouds: the door people go in and out, the well stove people eat, and the people in the middle of the stove entrust the place. The five are meritorious, so they are all enshrined.
For sacrifices, "Zhou Li" cloud: and in another important historical book in our country, "Zuo Chuan", it is also solemnly proposed: "Worship is a major event of the country." This means that the taxes levied by the state at that time were mainly used for sacrifices, which was a major event of the state. And now taxes are mainly to feed people ......But this is a digression, so I won't expand on it here.
At present, the mainstream culture of China unanimously agrees that the sacrificial activities originated from the reverence of the ancients for nature and the remembrance of the sages, and gradually formed a set of ritualized forms of worshiping the heavens and ancestors, which have become a custom and have been passed down from generation to generation.
Personally, I believe that the culture of sacrificing is ostensibly to respect the ancestors of heaven and earth - to commemorate the heaven and earth to provide us with living space, and to commemorate the ancestors to create a foundation for us to live. In fact, people who truly identify with the culture of sacrifice expect future generations to respect their ancestors and themselves as they do, because the other purpose of sacrifice is to sacrifice blessings. As Professor Yang Hua, director of the Center for Traditional Chinese Culture at Wuhan University, said, Chinese have been ambivalent about their ancestors since ancient times. Caution and fear, trembling, and devotion and purityAt the same time, various methods are adopted to make the utensils, gods, and directions of the deceased diametrically opposed to those of us in reality, so that he will not return to the world to "seek each other" and "defend against each other" and harm us. Perhaps, this is the preciousness of ancestor worship, which gives us a sense of awe and self-motivation, so that our children and grandchildren can strive to do good and eliminate evil, and achieve meritorious deeds.
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