Ancestor Worship

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Ancestor Worship

Lineage Clans. The term Zongfa refers to the “descent-line” system of categorizing the shrines from the Zong (recent ancestors) to the Tiao (remote ancestors). The Zongzu (lineage clans) were organized along the lines of patrilineal kinsmen, who were honored by such shrines. The Zongzu were groups of people who had the same sur-name and shared the same descent line; they were organized along the generation-age hierarchy. The veneration of ancestors had a long tradition dating back to antiquity, as described in the Zhu Zi Jia Li (Book of Family Rites): “’The way of humanity is to treat the kin in the way appropriate to kin. Because the kin are treated in the way appropriate to kin, the ancestors are venerated. Because the ancestors are venerated, the descent-line is respected. Because the descent-line is respected, the lineage is united.”

Descent Lines. The association of ancestral worship with the continuity of descent lines became the bonding force of Zongzu in China up to the present time. However, prior to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), the right to ritualize ancestral worship had been considered a right of distinction, a privilege reserved only for the rulers and nobility; ordinary people were not permitted to install shrines for their ancestors. After the Han dynasty the hereditary dominance of the nobility declined and so did their privileged rights for erecting ancestral shrines. The obvious change took place during the Song dynasty (960-1279) when neo-Confucian scholars strongly advocated removing the status barrier between commoners and aristocrats for conducting ancestral rites. For example, Chen Yi argued that “the great-great-grandfather falls within the mourning grades, so it would be extremely wrong not to worship him in sacrificial rites. From the son of Heaven down to the common people, there should be no distinctions in the mourning grades.” This demand was justified by “righteousness.” Another eminent Song scholar, Zhu Xi, even elaborated on how an ancestral hall should be designed in a common household. He wrote in Zhu Zijia Li: “When a man starts building a house, his first task should always be setting up an offering hall to the east of the main chamber of his house. Four altars should be installed to hold the ancestral tablets of his ancestors.” The flourishing of ancestral shrines during the Song period established a common family practice throughout society. This change paved the way for the thriving of Zongzu in succeeding dynasties such as the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912).

Specifying Lineage. Further development was made in the Ming dynasty in terms of the specifications of ancestral lines. In the Song dynasty an ancestral hall was commonly used to hold the tablets of five generations, as stipulated clearly in Zhu Xi’s Zhu Zi Jia Li. When the time came, each generation was required to add the most recent ancestor by removing the tablet of the fifth generation previous. During the Ming dynasty, when lineage organizations were getting stronger, the need to trace the roots and unite kinsmen broke through the limitation of ritualized worship of only five generations. The emergence of dedicated shrines to distant ancestors in the ancestral hall or temple became a social phenomenon, greatly strengthening the organizational power of kinship clans. From the mid-Ming period onward the installation of altars to distant ancestors became standard family practice;

it became more popular during the succeeding Qing dynasty, when the power of the kinship organization reached its peak as the result of distant ancestral worship that effectively bound kinsmen together. As it turned out, the kinship clans played a significant role in the social control of local communities.

Two Cults. Ancestor worship ceremonies played an integral part in the Chinese family and kinship systems. There were two cults for ancestor worship. In the family cult, worship was given to immediate ancestors who had passed away in the past five or six generations. The family altar held wooden tablets carved with the names of those people; in some regions a list of names was written on a sheet of paper. The altar was the center of all household worship rituals that took place in designated times of the year. Associated with the family cult was the lineage cult, which focused on generalized ancestors that could be traced back dozens of generations. Particularly in southern parts of China, a visible symbol of the lineage cult was an ancestral hall, a temple-like building with a large chamber and beautiful decorations. Standing on a huge altar were rows of carved wooden tablets, bearing the full names, titles, and wives’ surnames of past generations, around which the rituals of filial respect were usually carried out under the leadership of men aged sixty-one years or older in the kin-group.

QING MING FESTIVAL

The following passage is a detailed depiction of a sacrificial ceremony held at the ancestral graveyard of one kinship clan during the festival of Qing Ming.

After all things are in readiness, the whole party stands until the director gives the word. He first cries with a loud voice, “Let the official persons take their places”; this is immediately done and the ceremonies proceed.

Director: “Strike up the softer music.” Here the smaller instruments begin to play.

Director: “Kneel.” The priest then kneels in a central place fronting the grave, and behind him, arranged in order, the aged and honorable, the children and grandchildren all kneel down.

Director: “Present the incense.” Here stewards take three sticks of incense, and present them to the priest. He arises, makes a bow towards the grave, and then plants one of the sticks in an incense vase in front of the tombstone. The same form is repeated a second and a third time.

Director: “Rise up.” Here the priest and party stand up.

Director: “Kneel.” Again the priest and all the people kneel.

Director: “Knock head.” Here all bending forward and leaning on their hands, knock their foreheads against the ground.

Director: “Again knock head.” This is forthwith done.

Director: “Knock head a third time.” This is also done. Then he calls out: “Rise up, Kneel, Knock head,” till the three kneelings and the nine knockings are completed. And all this is done in the same manner as the highest act of homage is paid to the emperor, or of worship to the supreme powers, heaven and earth. This being ended, the ceremonies proceed.

Director: “Fall prostrate.” This is done by touching the ground with knees, hands and forehead.

Director: “Read a prayer.” Here the reader approaches the front of the tomb holding in his hands a piece of white paper on which is written one of the sacrificial forms of the prayer. He read: “... I Lin Kwang, the second son of the third generation, presume to come before the grave of my ancestor, Lin Kung. Revolving years have brought again the season of Spring. Cherishing sentiments of veneration, I look up and sweep your tomb. Prostrate, I pray that you will come and be present; that you will grant to your posterity, that they may be prosperous and illustrious; at this season of genial showers and gentle breezes, I desire to recompense the root of my existence, and exert myself sincerely. Always grant your safe protection. My trust is in your divine spirit. Reverently I present the fivefold sacrifice of a pig, a fowl, a duck, a goose, and a fish; also, an offering of five plates of fruit; with oblations of spirituous liquors; earnestly entreating that you will come and view them. With the most attentive respect, this annunciation is presented on high.”

Director: “Offer up the gold and precious things.” Here one of the stewards presents gilt papers to the priest, and he, bowing towards the grave, lays them down before it.

Director: “Strike up the grand music.” Here gongs, drums, trumpets and flutes are beaten and blown to make as great a noise as possible.

Director: “Burn the gold, and silver, and precious things.” Here all the young men and children burn the gilt papers, fire off firecrackers....

Such is the sum of a grand sacrifice. .. . But to many the best part of the ceremony is to come, which is the feast upon the sacrifice. The roast pigs, rice, fowls, fish, fruits and liquors are carried back to the ancestral hall.”

Source: Leon E. Stover, The Cultural Ecology of Chinese Civilization: Peas-ants and Elites in the Last of the Agrarian States (New York: PICA Press, 1974), pp. 207-208.

Social Role. The lineage cult played a significant social role in village life. The lineage elders often assumed considerable moral authority that directed the values and norms of kinship as an integrated community, because the elders were believed to serve as the living link between the deceased and younger generations. In addition, a lineage ancestral hah1 was a center of socialization for a kin-group; social gatherings and public services often took place there. For example, a marriage became legitimate only after a newlywed male showed respect before the ancestral altar. In doing so, the

descent line, as well as spiritual communication between living and dead, could continue without disruption.

Customs. Two customs that originated in the Tang and Song dynasties, and prevailed thereafter, became a standard practice of ancestor worship in the Chinese family. One was the ceremony held at the grave site, and the other was the rite performed before the ancestral tablets at home. The principal occasion each year for grave visiting was during the Qing Ming Festival, sometimes known as the “Grave-Sweeping Festival,” when it was the duty of the living to clean up grave sites—weeding, sweeping, repainting, and repairing. Sacrifices were made to the ancestors, who were worshiped by the whole family, and the ceremonial foods were eaten afterward at a picnic held beside the graves. Yet another ceremony was held at home, where an “ancestor tablet” was placed in a position of prominence; it was a permanent presence, and the ancestors were considered to be watching over their descendants. The ancestor tablet could take several forms. The most common was a narrow wooden block, about one foot in height, sunk into a wooden base. The name, generation number, and attainments of the ancestor were written or carved on the front. Every day, tea and incense would be offered to the ancestors, and an eternal light of some kind was often kept burning before the altar to ensure that the ancestors were constantly borne in mind.

Worship Days. On the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month the ancestors would be given offerings of food, fruit, or money in addition to tea and incense. During the lunar New Year the ancestors were provided even more elaborate offerings; on the anniversaries of their birth dates and/or death dates they were again remembered. Any event of importance to the household was reported to the ancestors, and they ritually partook of all special foods that were prepared by the family for weddings, the month-long feast for a newborn, or other ceremonies and festivals. They were a significant part of everyday life. Daily worship was usually undertaken by women, falling as it did within the home, the women’s sphere. On the most important occasions, however, such as New Year or on an ancestor’s birth date, it was more likely that men, particularly the male head of the family, would officiate. There were no monkpriests present, as the ancestors could be worshiped only by their own descendants, and simple rites required no great ritual expertise.

Rites. Designated festivals were observed twice a year—the autumn rites for the distant ancestors and spring rites for the founding generation of the family. During the Song dynasty, spring rites were practiced at the ancestral grave-yard, as kinsmen paid a special visit to “sweep ancestral graves.” The spring ancestral rites usually occurred in the first week of April and were called QingMing. The autumn rites in some regions gradually changed and eventually fell on the Lunar New Year. This festival was also the time for family members and kin-relatives, far and near, to gather together. Rites were usually practiced in the households or in the ancestral halls. The procedures were basically the same. A memorial speech was followed by offerings of burning incense, lit candles, and sacrificial food as symbolic ways to contact the spirits of the ancestors. Foods offered at the shrine table included a whole roasted pig, gourmet dishes, rice, steamed bread, and rice wine. Those in atten-dance then lined up by generation-age order to Kow Ton (kneel and bow) before the ancestral tablets. The rites ended with the reading aloud of ancestral mottos of family instructions, which were passed down through the generations. Etiquette in the ancestral hall called for the utmost solemnity and respect; everyone was required to dress properly to show piety. No one was allowed to come and go at will or to stand without proper manners while the rites were proceeding.

Commensal Feast. After the rites were completed, a commensal feast was held for all attending members to share the sacrificial food. In some regions only a limited number of those in attendance were eligible to eat the sacrificial food—usually only those individuals older than fifty years of age and men with academic degrees and official ranks. The rationale behind this exclusiveness was that old age indicated longevity and prosperity, while degrees and government rankings were symbols of achievement and success. These people, therefore, added to the honor of the family tradition, thus making ancestors proud of them up in Heaven. There was another practical reason to offer such privileges to selected members: they were major sources of donations to defray the expenses of these yearly ceremonies. For some wealthy families the ancestral ritual ceremonies were often followed by kin-group meetings where family matters were discussed and future plans made. Attending the ancestral rites each year was considered a family obligation, but at the same time it was a great honor for all male adults. Most family rules forbade women to attend the ancestral rites. In some cases, if a woman was found at the scene, not only did she have to leave immediately, but her husband or adult son was also flogged forty times as punishment for not having good supervision over her. Women were permitted in some regions to attend the ancestral rites merely for service purposes. Ancestral rites were also the time to punish misbehaving family members. It was an ultimate disgrace for male adults to be excluded from attending the ancestral rites.

Social Role. Ancestral rites played a crucial role in promoting family cohesion. Naturally, they were memorial services for family members to keep past generations in their thoughts and prayers. It was a popular belief in China that the spirits of human beings had a postmortem existence and that the departed spirits of ancestors were able to interfere in the affairs of the living. It was a committed duty of the living to keep communicating with ancestral spirits through these rites so as to be blessed for continued peace or prosperity of the family. Keeping the ancestral rites alive served the purpose of maintaining the family tradition of showing respect for living elders.