The Sacrificial Rituals Of The Monthly Guidance For The Four Classes Of People —A Comparative Study With The Rechords Of Rites And Music Of History Of Latter-Han Dynasty

The book of’Monthly Guidance for the Four Classes of People", which was written by Cui Shi of Eastern Han Dynasty, is one of the earliest gronomy monographs in ancient China that shows some kind of very high historical document value and gronomy value.It mainly introduces to us in specific about the local gentry’s daily planning and arrangement of a whole year in their manors and in addition to this it also reflects the basic situation of its then manor economy and clan’s life,which does provide us a new perspective to know the economic structure and social life of Han Dynasty.It’s known to us that offerings is an important activity in ancient Chinese traditional agriculture society.Official sacrifice is a kind of religious activity which is carried out by the central government for the maintenance of the political power. Compared with the official sacrifice, the folk sacrifice is a social activity which is held by the people in order to strengthen the ancestor’s identification.The book of "Monthly Guidance for the Four Classes of People"combined with the book of "Records of Rites and Music of History of Latter-Han Dynasty" respectively shows the outline of Eastern Han Dynasty’s folk sacrifice and offical sacrifice to us.So by the comparative research of the two books,it can be a favor to summarize the content, object and folk sacrificial rites, and analysis the characteristics of folk sacrificial activities and its social function.Ancestor worship is the core content of folk sacrifice, those associated with the life of God is easier to get the welcome of people.compared to the conventional official sacrifice to the gods, folk sacrifice highlights clan ethics and pragmatism. The embodiment of social functions of folk sacrifice is based on the development of gods concept and Confucian filial piety.By offering sacrifice to ancestors and spirits, the aim of normalizing moral education and strengthening the clan cohesion is achieved.Folk sacrifice activities show more about the social function, such as strengthening agriculture-oriented ideology,inspiring moralization, achieving spiritual comfort and integrating the society.