| Abstract |
In ancient times, offering sacrifices to ghosts was the sublime performance of humanity. Human beings used to live as a group, where people tended to take care of each other. Based on such intimacy, people could not bear to see the corporeal remains of their beloved to be exposed in the wilderness, so they buried those bodies, which was the origin of funerals. Notwithstanding people had buried the bodies of their beloved, they still could not stop missing them. Furthermore, they offered sacrifices to worship the deceased. From then on, the ceremonial of sacrifices originally based on human sentiment had been integrated into political purposed, and became rulers′ powerful weapons to control and to cultivate their people. In addition to the ordinary sacrifices to worship ancestors (as for the regular worships and sacrifices caused for special reasons, which were held in the ancestral temples, please refer to other article), there were imperial sacrifices held in the countryside with specific rites. By emphasizing the supreme worship to certain subjects, people had shown their greatest esteem to the rulers. In this article, I will introduce four kinds of sacrifices in specific ceremonials, and then discuss their meanings respectively. The detailed sections are listed as follows: * The arrangement of imperial sacrifices to ancestors held in the countryside connotes the enlightenment of humanity, * The system of imperial sacrifices connects the interaction between human beings and Gods; * Worshipping ancestors is based on the admiration of heroes; and * The admiration of heroes is originated from the experiences of realistic life. |
