A Textual Research On The Rites Of Music Of The Worship Of God And Its Totem Culture In The Official System Of Zhou

During the Western Zhou Dynasty,the Duke of Zhou carried out a series of social reforms starting from establishing rules for ceremonies and composing appropriate music for different occasions to overcome “The crisis of ancestors worship system in Shang Dynasty”.Among them,the earliest ancestor was promoted to god.The emperor at that time became the son of god.Blood identification was replaced by god identification and the state system was guided by the worship of god.Therefore,the study of totem worship activities during the Shang Dynasty and before this dynasty and the evolution of this totem culture in the Western Zhou Dynasty become a key part of the study of civilization of rites and music.Among them,the official System of Zhou investigates the relevant original religious ideas and the existing forms as an important literature on state system of the Western Zhou Dynasty.It is related to the understanding of the system of rites and music in the Western Zhou Dynasty and also has important significance for us today to understand the existing forms of ancient music today.Based on the theory of "totem of music" put forward by scholars today,we will further explore the issue of the worship of god in the official System of Zhou.In this way,we can not only prove the expressive form of the concept of "totem of music" in the Shang Dynasty culture,but also reveal positively the inheritance and development of the concept of "totem of music" under the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty.The rites of music during the worship of god in the official System of Zhou contain a wealth of information about the rites of music.By studying on the rites of music during the worship of god in the official System of Zhou,the author finds that the rites of music is mainly composed of the prelude,the main part of music and the end of music.The main part of music can be divided into song,tube,the middle of song and dance with song.Through further research on the process of the rites of music and musical condition involved in the worship of god,the author finds that the music,dance,five voices and sacrificial utensils and others contain rich information of totem culture.For example,the dance with music Yunmen is for the worship of cloud totem.The dance with music Dashao is for the worship of phoenix totem.Five voices originated from the five clan totems of cows,sheep,birds,pigs,horses.There is also the idea of totem worship,fear and praying blessing of totems in the official System of Zhou.After the research,they are actually the traditional transformation,inheritance and development of the totems during the Shang Dynasty and before this dynasty.At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty,Zhou's royal family created a positive effect by making rites and music to stabilize the people and the government.The system of rites and music during the Western Zhou Dynasty causes important inheritance and change on totem culture during the Shang Dynasty and before this dynasty:First of all,because the concept of totem was affected by ritual system during the Shang Dynasty and before this dynasty,totem worship and related ritual activities with primitive religious nature in the past were reorganized and cleaned and the concept of God worship and related ritual activities become the state system,the development road of primitive religion was completely cut off.Secondly,the Duke of Zhou established rules for ceremonies and composed appropriate music for different occasions so that the ritual of national worship is independent from the music of the totem of the Shang Dynasty.A national ceremony of sacrifice established a complete ritual system.The art of “music” with "etiquette" began to appear."Music" was not only for the ritual occasions,but also the temple and other occasions gradually.Then it began to develop independently.Thirdly,the music of rites and music in Western Zhou Dynasty embodied the solemn national paradigm,with lofty behavior "harmony" as the ideal.The music of rites and music became a tool to safeguard the ritual system and became an important way to shape the national identity at this time.Fourthly,in the so-called modern music's standpoint,because the gods and ancestors were united as one god,the worship of god occupied the most important position of the whole system of national sacrifices.ritual music single gradually,and is exclusive.The related rites is gradually becoming simplistic and exclusive.To some extent,This kind of music used in the worship of god has leaded in the ritualization of music and has restrained or hindered the freedom of music and diversified development.Finally,the significance of "established rules for ceremonies and composed appropriate music for different occasions" by the Duke of Zhou in the history of thought is mainly that it established our national educational ideas and norms ancient times.Rites is objectively the system and norm of humane civilization.Subjectively,it uses blood,kinship and moral ethics to educate people to make people incorporate consciously their thoughts and behaviors into such systems and norms.In this way,the entire social system was civilized.And “music” and “etiquette” supplement each other,having the effect of “transforming social traditions” and “leading people to be kind”.“Etiquette” and “music” restrain and cultivate people,forming ethic and penalty &education.Confucian scholars later developed this kind of ethical politics,and created the Confucian thought of rites and music such as “Review knows politics”,“Prostitution corrupts politics” and so on.