Everyone is familiar with the function and significance of ancestral temple. Almost every big family has an ancestral temple. The ancestral temple is a place where future generations sacrifice and mourn their ancestors, and it is also a place where the family inherits fine spirit. Let's take a look at the function and significance of the ancestral temple.
The function and significance of the ancestral hall 1 (1) Since the ancestral hall is a place where ancestors and gods live together, offering sacrifices to ancestors is the main function of the ancestral hall. Every spring and autumn, the whole family get together and get together in the same room, presided over by the patriarch or son as a sacrifice. When Tomb-Sweeping Day visited the grave, he first went to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices to the gods, and then went to various cemeteries to offer sacrifices.
(2) Another important function of ancestral hall is to collect and compile genealogy. Genealogy is a special historical record that records the kinship, seniority, family rules, family law and genealogy of this clan in the form of biographies, records and charts. In order to be mastered and followed by people with their own surnames.
(3) The educational function of ancestral halls. In the ancestral hall, the public land donated by the clan has a function of aiding students, rewarding students or setting up voluntary schools and schools. It is also a great event to honor our ancestors and improve the reputation of the whole family through reading.
(4) The ancestral hall is also a classroom for preaching learning and teaching etiquette. Before the sacrificial ceremony began, there was a special person in the ancestral hall to "read music" to the people, tell the history of ancestors' difficult entrepreneurship, read family rules and regulations regularly, preach and exhort, and quote quotations from sages.
(5) The ancestral hall is also a place to discuss clan affairs. When the clan has a major revolution, people who are closely related to the whole clan, such as electing clan leaders, building churches, maintaining family changes, buying huge clan property, and litigating with neighbors, etc. , are convened by clan leaders in the ancestral temple to discuss.
(6) The ancestral hall is also a family court. If family law is family law. Then family law is also a supplement to feudal state law. The patriarch is a family judge and can enforce family laws in the ancestral hall. The civil and criminal cases that violate the family law judged by Ke Tangli, or those that violate the family law recognized by the patriarch, shall be punished from the public.
(7) Other, whenever the clan has customs, festivals or major festive activities, the ancestral hall is also a place for the whole clan to celebrate or entertain. Larger ancestral halls usually have stage buildings. The play is not only sung for ancestors, but also performed for men, women and children in the clan.
The function and significance of ancestral temple. Ancestral shrine is a place where people worship their ancestors or sages, a ritual building in local architecture in China, the root of local culture, the symbol and center of the family, the symbol of local economic development level and the representative of folk culture. From the perspective of folklorists, ancestral halls are "interpreting the civilization of the times in their own way".
As one of the best preserved ancient buildings in China, the ancestral temple has left many precious historical and cultural research values for future generations. After thousands of years of merits and demerits, the ancestral hall can be seen; China's ancestors, from the ancestral temple, knew that there was a family tree. The ancestral temple originated from the gradual disintegration of clan society. It is a clan organization formed by the unity of blood relatives and regional organizations born by the same ancestor. It is a place built independently outside the room to worship ancestors, worship saints and pray for God.
The name of the ancestral temple officially appeared in the Han Dynasty. Through the function of respecting ancestors, the clan embodies the fundamental principles of the feudal patriarchal clan system and shows the supreme clan power. The ancestral temple has also become a sacred place for clan sacrifice, symbolizing the unity of the clan. Of course, some people usually simply understand the ancestral hall as the home of the dead ancestors, the place where the gods gather and the place where they worship the ancestors' gods.
The main function of the ancestral hall Since the ancestral hall is a place where ancestors and gods live together, offering sacrifices to ancestors is the main function of the ancestral hall, and another important function of the ancestral hall is to collect and compile genealogy. The ancestral hall is also a meeting place to discuss clan affairs, a place to teach and educate people, and a family court. Whenever there are customs and festivals or major festivals within the clan, the ancestral hall is also a place for the whole clan to celebrate or entertain.
The cultural significance of ancestral temple is the symbol and symbol of power, economy and culture of family or clan. In the feudal rule of China for thousands of years, the state ruling group played a core role, and the clan regional groups and family blood organizations also played a certain historical role. They played an important role in assisting and supplementing the feudal legal system and maintaining the stability of feudal rule, and also played a long-term social role of so-called governing the country and keeping the country safe, so they are still an auxiliary rule confirmed by rulers of past dynasties.
The function and significance of ancestral temple 3 1. The ancestral hall is the ancestral hall, the place where the Han people worship their ancestors and the symbol of the clan. The ancestral temple system came into being in the Zhou Dynasty. Ancient literati dared not build ancestral halls, which were exclusively owned by the emperor. In Song Dynasty, Zhu advocated family ancestral temple: every family should build an ancestral temple and four shrines to worship the four gods of Gao, Zeng, Zu and You. The ancestral temple is the center of the interweaving of clan power and theocracy. The chief priest in the ancestral hall is called Zongzi, who is in charge of the affairs of the whole family, as well as Yan Hong and Zong Zhi.
The ancestral hall embodies the characteristics of patriarchal clan system and national integration, and is a place of national unity. It is often the largest and most magnificent architectural group in urban and rural areas. It is not only magnificent, but also infused with the essence of the traditional culture of the Han nationality. It contrasts with ancient pagodas, ancient bridges and ancient temples and becomes a unique local cultural landscape, representing the local economic development level and the folk culture of the Han nationality.
The ancestral hall records the family's glory and tradition, and it is the temple of the family. As a symbol and symbol of the long history and traditional culture of the Han nationality, it has unparalleled influence and historical value.
2. The historical position of ancestral temple:
In the traditional national culture of China, ancestral temple culture is a surname clan culture that cannot be underestimated. Due to the deep-rooted concept of carrying on the family line left over from feudal society, the Chinese nation has produced surname culture. Surname culture in no country in the world has lasted for thousands of years like China, although during the Cultural Revolution.
To some extent, the destruction of capitalism has hindered its development and even been severely criticized. However, as a clan culture and a tradition rooted in people's bone marrow, it spread rapidly in China, and the most concrete aspect is ancestral temple culture.
Ancestral temples, customarily called family temples and ancestral temples, are places where ancestors (commonly known as memorial tablets) and clans are sacrificed, and have always been regarded as symbols of clans.
The phenomenon of offering sacrifices to ancestors and temples existed in the late primitive society. Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty adopted Xia Yan's suggestion and officially allowed all Han people to build temples together. Since then, ancestral temples have been established everywhere, and ancestral temple buildings can be seen everywhere. The ancestral hall was originally built for the purpose of "chasing distant books", so it should be respectful and strict in building regulations. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, ancestral temples were generally family temples. Especially since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, ancestral temples have become an important place for clans to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, hold clan affairs, revise genealogy and decide major affairs.
The ancestral hall is not only a place for offering sacrifices, but also a place for implementing family rules and laws. The coronation ceremony, wedding and funeral of the clansmen are basically held in the ancestral hall. Some clans stipulate that disputes between clans or clans' families must be decided in ancestral halls. Therefore, in the feudal era, the ancestral temple became a yamen in a sense, with the nature of the "imperial court" family.
China people are the nation with the most ancestral worship tradition in the world. In every family, there is often a place to worship the memorial tablet of the deceased ancestors. Therefore, in the past, every family had its own ancestral temple and named it "Tang Hao". The purpose of this is to let future generations know the origin of this family every time they mention their own Tang Hao and to commemorate the achievements of their ancestors.
As the saying goes, a tree attracts the wind. With the transmission and reproduction of life, the family will continue to expand. As a result of expansion, some families will move from their ancestral homes to other places, start new inheritance, and form new branches and new clans. Naturally, many families will go overseas and settle overseas. These newly formed clans and branches often set up new ancestral halls to worship their closest ancestors. As a result, a new ancestral temple was derived from a ancestral temple.
Although ancestral temple is a product left over from feudal society, it has new significance and social function today.
3. With the reform and opening up and the rise of the global Chinese root-seeking craze, many ancestral halls have been built and restored, and their genealogy has been updated, while overseas Chinese are constantly turning over the old ancestral halls and keeping in touch with the old ones. It can be said that today's ancestral temple no longer has the negative effect of "clan doctrine", but only has the positive significance of helping people find their roots, remembering their ancestors, inspiring future generations and helping each other in the same boat, which has a great role in strengthening the cohesion and unity of the Chinese nation.