Confucius Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
The worship of Confucius can be traced back to 478 BCE, the year after Confucius's death, when Duke Ai of Lu converted Confucius's former residence into a shrine to sacrifice to him. In the Qing dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor alone personally visited Qufu eight times to pay respects to Confucius. The Republican government ordered nationwide sacrifice to Confucius, and its procedures and rites underwent major changes: the offering of wine vessels was changed to the offering of wreaths, classical sacrificial dress was changed to long gowns and mandarin jackets, and kneeling worship was changed to bowing. In 1986, the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius, silent for half a century, was excavated and organized by the cultural departments of Qufu City and reappeared at the opening ceremony of that year's 'Hometown of Confucius Tour'.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius is a large-scale temple music-and-dance activity in Qufu, Shandong Province, dedicated to sacrificing to Confucius. It is also called the 'Ding Sacrifice Music and Dance' or the 'Da Cheng Music and Dance', and is a comprehensive art performance form integrating music, song, dance, and rites, held each year on Confucius's birthday, the twenty-seventh day of the eighth lunar month. When Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, passed through Lu, he sacrificed to Confucius with the 'Tailao' offering, setting the precedent for successive emperors' sacrifice to Confucius. With the praise and noble titles bestowed by successive emperors, the ceremony grew ever more solemn and magnificent, and the ritual vessels, musical instruments, musical pieces, and dance scores were also mostly fixed and promulgated by imperial order. Successive emperors either came in person to preside over the sacrifice, sent officials to sacrifice on their behalf, or paid respects while passing through, totaling one hundred ninety-six occasions. The Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius comprises four forms: music, song, dance, and rites, with music, song, and dance all performed closely around the rites. All ritual requirements demand that the offerings be 'abundant, clean, sincere, and reverent'. The ceremony uses music and dance to express Confucian thought and culture in concentrated form, embodying a high unity of artistic form and political content, vividly explaining the meaning of 'li' (rites) in Confucius's doctrine, and expressing the ideas of 'the humane love others' and 'establishing oneself through rites'. It has strong intellectual affinity, spiritual cohesion, and artistic appeal, and plays an irreplaceable social role in promoting fine traditional culture, creating a harmonious atmosphere, building a harmonious society, and rallying the national spirit.
The music and rite of the twenty-seventh day
Held on the lunar twenty-seventh of the eighth month, the great rite unites music, song, dance and ceremony, with ritual as its frame.
The Ding sacrificial music and dance
Also called the Ding music and dance or the Great Achievement dance, it is a temple entertainment in which music, song and dance serve ceremony.
The Tai Lao sacrifice and envoys in absentia
From the Han founder's great sacrifice onward, emperors either came in person, sent envoys or worshipped in passing, one hundred and ninety-six times in all.
Four requirements of the rite
The rite demands abundance, cleanliness, sincerity and reverence; short of any one of the four, the ceremony is not accomplished.
A fortnight of ceremony
Today the ceremony runs from the twenty-sixth of the ninth month to the tenth of the tenth, half a month during which Qufu becomes an open city.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The ceremony is held at the fixed ritual-music venue of the Confucius Temple in Qufu, with the sacrificial date falling around the twenty-seventh of the eighth month, Confucius's birthday; the present ceremony runs from late September to early October, half a month in all. Beyond the ritual steps, it also accommodates sightseeing and lecturing, so that ritual viewing and receiving instruction take place in the same courtyard. The praise and noble titles bestowed by successive emperors caused ritual vessels, musical instruments, musical pieces, and dance scores to be fixed and promulgated by imperial order; these norms in turn became the basis for the transmission and practice of ritual music in Qufu. Sacrifice to Confucius and the practice of rites are cause and effect: a set of court ritual regulations became here the daily coursework of a locality.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Confucius Memorial Ceremony.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The present Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius runs from September 26 to October 10.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Kong Xiangkai 05-2982
- Li Wenguang
- Kong Lingli
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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