Chengjisihan Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
After Genghis Khan died of illness in 1227, he was secretly buried in accordance with the custom of the time.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan is the place where the heroic spirit of the historical great man Genghis Khan is enshrined. It is located in Holoi Sumu, Hanggin Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (formerly in the Ih Ju League), where the uniquely styled traditional Genghis Khan sacrificial activities are carried out. To commemorate their most outstanding leader, the Mongols built the Genghis Khan mausoleum, the 'Eight White Rooms' (eight movable white yurts), on the northern plateau of Mobei, collecting Genghis Khan's relics and enshrining them in the spirit cases within the Eight White Rooms. Sacrifice to Genghis Khan is held once daily; special sacrificial ceremonies are held more than sixty times a year. The sacrifice to Genghis Khan mainly expresses worship of the Eternal Blue Heaven, ancestors, and heroic figures. In the sacrifices, ancient Mongolian forms are reproduced: animal sacrifice, fire sacrifice, milk sacrifice, wine sacrifice, and song sacrifice. The many distinctive and precious sacrificial vessels express the grassland people's aesthetic conception of nature and animals. The Darhad are the spirit-guarding tribe of the Genghis Khan Mausoleum; for nearly eight hundred years they have sacrificed to Genghis Khan generation after generation, so that the Genghis Khan sacrifice has fully retained its original form of Mongol imperial sacrificial rites from the thirteenth century onward, becoming a national cultural heritage with unique forms, rich content, and profound meaning.
The Eight White Yurts and the coffin
Eight movable white yurts on the northern steppe hold the coffin and the collected relics, a design that let a shrine travel with the herders.
Daily, monthly and seasonal rites
A daily rite, more than sixty special sacrifices a year and seasonal grand ceremonies keep the cult running on two interlocking calendars.
Animal, fire, milk, wine and song
Animal, fire, milk, wine and song sacrifices proceed side by side, each with its own vessels, showing that steppe worship gives away the best of daily life.
The Darhut guardians
The Darhut guardian clan has tended the cult for nearly eight hundred years, keeping imperial Mongol rites in their thirteenth-century shape.
Collecting and publishing the sacrificial texts
Inheritors have published the sacrificial texts and the archives of the mausoleum, fixing by written record what oral transmission once carried alone.
The four rhythms of sacrifice
Daily, monthly, seasonal and special sacrifices each keep their own schedule, and the layered rota is why the cult has never broken down.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the ceremony centers on the Holoi Sumu area of Hanggin Banner, where households of the Darhad spirit-guarding tribe take turns in shifts, forming a roster of officiants unaffected by administrative change. The guardians of the Eight White Rooms and the chief officiant come from the same lineage, so offering sacrifice and performing the rites have never been separated. The levels of sacrifice are also clearly distinguished: the daily sacrifice once every day, uninterrupted by wind or rain; the four-season grand ceremonies held by season; fire sacrifice, monthly sacrifice, and other special rites totaling more than sixty times a year. The density of these observances makes sacrifice a daily institution rather than a festive embellishment.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Genghis Khan sacrifice embodies the national feeling of the Mongolian people and is a testimony to the continuity of Mongolian culture; protecting this activity is of great significance for preserving the distinctiveness of Mongolian culture. Wang Weidong (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Also named Erdeninsenbur; male; Mongolian; born in August 1952; from Hanggin Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He worked to restore major sacrificial rites such as the Eight White Rooms sacrifice and the four-season grand ceremonies, and collected, compiled, and published documents such as the Genghis Khan Golden Book and the Collected Archives of the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, effectively protecting the integrity of the Genghis Khan sacrificial rites. Representative inheritor of the Genghis Khan Sacrifice, a project on the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage list. While serving as director of the Sacrificial Culture Office, he strictly required sacrificial events of all sizes to be conducted according to traditional etiquette and regulations, taking the lead in setting an example in sacrificial offerings, the chanting of sacrificial texts, sacrificial songs and blessings, and the use and protection of sacrificial vessels. Beginning in 2003, he trained thirty-five young officiants for the ceremonies. Guo Rizhabu (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male; Mongolian; born in April 1942; from Hanggin Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Beginning in 1981, he led his son Hasbilig and other young-generation Yamad people in restoring the daily, monthly, and fire sacrifices and other rites that had been interrupted for many years at the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, as well as ovoo sacrifices and parts of the Genghis Khan Mausoleum sacrifices and the Sulde sacrificial contents, thereby maintaining the integrity of the Genghis Khan sacrificial rites. He compiled and published books on the history and culture of the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, such as Sacrificial Texts of Genghis Khan and The Darhad Guardians of the Eight White Rooms of Genghis Khan, and on many television programs explained the cultural knowledge of the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan and its sacrificial ceremony. Representative inheritor of the Genghis Khan Sacrifice, a project on the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage list.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wangweidong 04-1961
- Guorizhabu 05-2981
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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