Ancestor Worship Customs
01 · Historical Records
The Taigong Sacrifice is a family and local worthies' sacrificial ritual custom preserved in Nantian Town, Wencheng County, Zhejiang, which takes Liu Bowen, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, as its object. "Taigong" (Grand Duke) is an honorific given by later generations to Liu Ji (courtesy name Bowen, posthumous title Wencheng), a famous historical figure of the Ming Dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wencheng County is the hometown of Liu Bowen; the county was named after Liu Ji's posthumous title. The public sacrifice day for the worthy falls on the 15th day of the sixth lunar month, Liu Ji's birthday. The Liu clan fixedly holds two sacrifices each year — on the first day of the first lunar month and the 15th day of the sixth lunar month — the spring and autumn sacrifices, passed down through generations to this day. The spring and autumn family sacrifices are decided at meetings of the Liu clan, which selects as sacrificial celebrant a Liu descendant whose parents are both living, whose children are of both sexes, and who possesses both virtue and talent. At these times, Liu clansmen from all parts of the country, Liu descendants in Taiwan, and Liu clan members residing overseas all take part in the sacrificial rites. Similar activities are held in Pingyang and Cangnan counties under Wenzhou City, as well as in neighboring Qingtian County. The center of the Taigong Sacrifice activities is the Chengyi Bo Temple in Nantian. The main contents include: 1. On New Year's Eve, after the celebrant performs the "qima" (setting-out) sacrifice, the spirit pavilion (Liu Bowen's memorial tablet) is carried into the Liu Ji Temple. 2. A procession around the city. 3. Sacrifice at the "Zhuiyuan" (Remembering the Distant Ancestors) Shrine (sacrificing to the seven generations above Liu Ji). 4. At the chen hour (7-9 a.m.) on the first day of the Spring Festival, sacrifice to Taigong. 5. After the rites conclude, folk performances such as dragon dances and flower lanterns are presented.
Choosing the officiant for the spring and autumn rites
A clan meeting picks an officiant of sound family and standing, rotating the honour each rite.
The departure rite and the tablet's entry
On New Year's Eve the tablet is escorted into the temple after the departure rite opens the season.
The single circuit of the town
The procession circles the town once, retracing on ritual day the ground the sage once watched over.
The rite for seven generations above
A second altar serves the seven generations above, widening the rite from one sage to a whole ancestry.
Dragon dance and lanterns after the rite
Once the sacrifice ends, dragon dances and lanterns take the square, so solemnity gives way to celebration.
Kin from across the strait at the altar
Relatives from Taiwan and abroad join the autumn rite, finding the ancestral protocol preserved unchanged.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
This heritage has a powerful cohesive force for the Liu clan; as a folk custom commemorating local worthies, it is widely recognized by the local community, and it is of great significance for carrying forward the traditional humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation, encouraging overseas Chinese to recognize and return to their ancestral roots, and promoting the reunification of the motherland.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Chengyi Bo Temple in Nantian, Wencheng County, is a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. As a living sample of a "family sacrifice," it has important folklore and sociological value. Liu Yixia (per official records of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1948, a native of Wencheng County, Zhejiang. A 20th-generation descendant of Liu Bowen, he has participated in local Liu Bowen sacrifice activities since childhood. Since the Taigong Sacrifice was restored in 1985, he has actively participated in the activities, organized and excavated Ming and Qing sacrificial classics and documents, visited living senior practitioners, and progressively refined the Taigong Sacrifice ritual canon. He is a representative inheritor of the Ancestor Worship Custom (Taigong Sacrifice) project, an item of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has presided over the compilation of the Liu Family Genealogy and participated in a series of efforts aimed at promoting Liu Bowen culture, including cultural relic protection of the Liu Ji Temple (and tomb), a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and the construction of the "Hometown of Liu Bowen." He has meticulously cultivated inheritors of the Taigong Sacrifice, and has achieved notable results.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Yixia 05-3036
- Zhuge Yi 05-3037
- Chen Dunhe 05-3038
- Fan Zhongyi
- Qu Bilaji
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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