Ritualism In The Spring And Autumn Period

Rituals normally refer to the criterion of conduct practiced in the Western Zhou Dynasty when we speak of the ritualism of pre-Qin period.However,the extant historical materials before the Spring and Autumn Period are not complete,and rituals had already been changed in the original direction during the Warring States Period.It was only in the Spring and Autumn Period that the rituals of Zhou were followed in general,and comparatively systematical historical data have been preserved,which makes this period suitable for a profound research on the rituals.The ancients realized long ago that the most important part of rituals was theoretical ideas,which were not only embodied in the ceremonies recorded in the books of rites,but also in people’s statements and actions.Analogy and deduction based on the integration of a maximum of historical materials in the Spring and Autumn Period will give rise to some values pursued with reference to the concept of ritual,such as respect,justice,consistency,honesty,equity,grade,faithfulness,bravery,interaction,harmony,dutifulness,benevolence,study,modesty and reward and punishment,etc.Although the meanings of ritual was conveyed by rites under normal conditions,the two could be inconsistent in practice,when rites were altered to present ritual ideas or ritual ideas were displayed even without rites.The operational purpose of ritual was to make society a state of high level of harmony.When rituals were practiced,it was necessary to pay attention to the proper expression of emotions,and it was also necessary to take the concrete circumstances into consideration.The operation of rituals through an ideal multi-standard composition was to determine the rises and falls of the social members’ status.The operational track of the ritual observed the following rules:small scope submitted to the large scope,and low status to high status;earlier misbehavior was wrong while later misbehavior was forgiven;theoretical ideas were more important than the rites;the objective factors were considered first in the expression of ritual ideas;rites could be adopted after comprehensive consideration of multiple factors.