A Study On The Son Of Heaven Sacrifice At Ancestral Temple In Zhou Li

The son of heaven sacrifice at ancestral temple in Zhou Li means the son of heaven participates ancestral rites with chief ritualist’s identity in the ancestral temple, it is an important part of the ritual culture of the Zhou Dynasty, including four aspects: ritual objects and types, preparation before official ceremony, ceremony of ritual date and the social functions. This paper aims to have in-depth exploration of ancestral worship of the emperor’s cultural structure, moral, social function and its operational mechanism based on the above examination and textual research of Zhou Li.Here are main contents of each chapter are summarized as follows:The introduction includes three parts, first describes the origin and significance of the topic, then the research overview and analysis of the current situation and last determine the ideas and methods of the study.In general, I’ll gradually research depth according to the paradigm: Described in the facts- Analysis of meaning- Explore function. Both sort out and have a textual research of emperor worship ancestral temple in Zhou Li, but also pay attention to explore the elucidation of its meaning, social function and its operational mechanism, trying to dig out cultural elements behind those beliefs and rituals. About research methods, not only the traditional historical literature research and analytical methods, but also carefully choose to learn from materials, theories and methods related to archeology, religious sociology and cultural anthropology.The first chapter reviews the objects and type of emperor ancestral worship in Zhou Li. Worship regards deceased monarch as main ritual objects, in addition to worship with the deceased mother and hero. Worship can be divided into regular worship and unconventional worship, regular worship includes seasons worship and interval worship, unconventional worship includes prayer for any disaster, worship for the funeral, worship for army, worship for hunting and worship for the general.The second and third chapters explore the preparation ritual before worship. Including preparation of service and sacrifice, divination, preparation of music and dance, publish and execute prohibition, Li Shi and duration. There is a gradual strengthening process of constant in people worship ritual consciousness as the date approaching. Preparation of the festival is to continue to emphasize the ritual matters purport and pave the way for the formal ritual process, it can be seen as a transition ceremony. The artifacts, vestments, sacrifice and ritualists were completely isolated from the world, and brought to the sacred time(worship time) and the sacred space(ancestral temple) which being realized a series of state transition from the mundane to the sacred state.The fourth chapter examines the daily ritual ceremony. There are some temporary program before the official ceremony, such as Ji Ren to call and Jin Che to ring in the morning, which means a caveat for ministers, Xiao Zongbo to tell the king time, the wives of the ministers to display of sacrificial offerings, Si Shi tells people sacrificial offerings are clean and complete, and Da Shi to arrange the ministers proper positions for worship. Official ceremony including six steps: welcoming God, Guan Li, welcoming animals and the slaughter of animals, presented food in the bian and dou, the sacrifice, wine and animals, give wine to deacons and the quit.The fifth chapter analyzes social functions and operational mechanism ancestral worship of the emperor in Zhou Li. Preset functions of emperor ancestral worship are mainly as followed: missing ancestors, praying to ancestors and strengthening the clan cohesion, consolidating the relationship between monarch and his subjects, offering filial example for people, putting the propriety into popular feeling, confirming and showing ritualists’ identity and status, also aesthetic and entertainment features associated with political. These functions are not only the logical result of the normal operation of the emperor ancestral worship system, but also the spiritual pillars of its existence.The article also gives judgment on material properties of the elements contained in ancestral worship of emperor in Zhou Li and reflection on the use of western theories of academic research methods. About the material properties, due to the sacrificial system in general has a strong stability, although we can not launch entirely consistent conclusions between ancestral worship of the emperor records in Zhou Li and Zhou Dynasty ceremony society, but also have reasons to believe that overall these records which reflection of cultural structure, meaning and social functions with the actual situation are not far from the real Zhou Dynasty ritual music society, so Zhou Dynasty emperor ancestral worship is a structural source of ancestral worship contained in Zhou Li. On research methods, there is no doubt that the introduction of western theory offers a new perspective and principle for our understanding of the ritual culture of the Zhou Dynasty, but what can not be denied is its role is only limited to this, the ritual culture of the Zhou Dynasty has its own cultural system, we must continue digging deep into its cultural system if we want to make a reasonable explanation.